

TechStars London brings access to UK visa - brendan_gill
http://brendangill.tumblr.com/post/45752718669/international-entrepreneurs-techstars-london-comes

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leoedin
It's a pity the UK immigration system as a whole isn't so forward looking. Our
prime minister's recent drive to appease the right has meant a target to cut
net migration to 5 figures by 2015. Result? Thousands of people graduating
from UK universities no longer have the right to stay for any length of time.
Skilled workers from outside the EU find it virtually impossible to move here.

This is a step in the right direction, but for every foreigner accepted into
an accelerator like this there's thousands of skilled and willing people being
kicked out and turned away.

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jiggy2011
We already have a high level of graduate unemployment/underemployment as is,
I'm not sure more immigration is the answer.

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leoedin
Employment is completely field specific, but visa rules aren't. I don't know
of anyone from my graduating class of mechanical engineers who's still
unemployed 6 months after we graduated. The current system denys capable
people with valuable skills the ability to seek employment in the UK. We have
a shortage of engineers as it is.

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JamesCRR
Great post, but I think that Startup Chile was the first accelerator program
to guarantee a Visa, though whether that counts as a top-tier program is
subject to debate. Whatever the case, it's great to see the UK leading the US
here.

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brendan_gill
Yeah, Startup Chile is a great program but I don't think it's in the same
league as TechStars, YCom, 500 startups & Angelpad.

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kokey
Interesting, I was actually looking for something like this late last year.
Instead I've decided to leave the UK and join the totalsend.com team here in
Cape Town which was a great move.

