Not sure why you believe this. The UK is very unfriendly towards immigrants since the new government formed in 2010 and abolished the tier 1 highly skilled migrant visa.
This means there's no longer a route for highly skilled non-EEA migrants to work for themselves unless they are considerably well off (1m GBP+) and want to play entrepreneur, or they're already the top of their game and qualify for an 'exceptional talent' visa (which is almost nobody).
If you want to work in the UK as a non-EEA person you have to go the tier 2 route and find a sponsor for 5 years. For those 5 years you will NOT be allowed to start your own business on the side. It's debatable if you can even do freelance work on the side. Your sponsor may take advantage of the fact that switching jobs is very difficult and expensive for you.
After 5 years, you can apply for ILR and work for yourself, although there's no guarantee you will get it even if you follow all the rules because the rules can change [1] in those 5 years as the UK grows more anti-immigrant!
I really don't understand what kind of talent they expect to attract -- the idea of having my hands tied behind my back for 5 years at the peak of my life is an absolute deal breaker for me. They might attract very young people, but for highly-skilled people in their late 20s and older the UK is simply not a very appealing option anymore. Furthermore, if you had 1m GBP lying around you'd be better off buying e.g. Maltese citizenship and having access to the whole of the EU instantly.
Australia is one of a handful of countries that still has sensible highly-skilled migrant policies, but anti-immigration sentiment is rising there too.
Not sure why you believe this. The UK is very unfriendly towards immigrants since the new government formed in 2010 and abolished the tier 1 highly skilled migrant visa.
This means there's no longer a route for highly skilled non-EEA migrants to work for themselves unless they are considerably well off (1m GBP+) and want to play entrepreneur, or they're already the top of their game and qualify for an 'exceptional talent' visa (which is almost nobody).
If you want to work in the UK as a non-EEA person you have to go the tier 2 route and find a sponsor for 5 years. For those 5 years you will NOT be allowed to start your own business on the side. It's debatable if you can even do freelance work on the side. Your sponsor may take advantage of the fact that switching jobs is very difficult and expensive for you.
After 5 years, you can apply for ILR and work for yourself, although there's no guarantee you will get it even if you follow all the rules because the rules can change [1] in those 5 years as the UK grows more anti-immigrant!
I really don't understand what kind of talent they expect to attract -- the idea of having my hands tied behind my back for 5 years at the peak of my life is an absolute deal breaker for me. They might attract very young people, but for highly-skilled people in their late 20s and older the UK is simply not a very appealing option anymore. Furthermore, if you had 1m GBP lying around you'd be better off buying e.g. Maltese citizenship and having access to the whole of the EU instantly.
Australia is one of a handful of countries that still has sensible highly-skilled migrant policies, but anti-immigration sentiment is rising there too.
[1] http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/visa-refusal-for-...