AI Minister Kanishka Narayan has renewed calls for expanded visa access for top engineers, warning that Britain must do more to help technology companies scale domestically.
Narayan, speaking in his first interview since joining Andy Burnham’s cabinet, said he would use his position to push for visa reform and planning changes to support globally competitive British tech firms.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Narayan said: “We are going to be the best, fastest partners to tech investors and others wanting to do business and create jobs in the UK.”
He also warned Britain “can’t have a situation where the best shots that we have at large-scale economic value and strategic leverage for this country are started here, initially scaled here but ultimately supported elsewhere.”
The minister’s visa push builds on proposals he unveiled earlier in the year to reimburse visa fees and accelerate applications for AI specialists working in Britain.
“With a dedicated AI stream for global talent, we are going to reimburse visa fees and accelerate visa processes, alongside a domestic obsession for training British kids in AI,” he told founders at the AI hub in February.
The UK government has since launched a visa reimbursement scheme allowing eligible scale-ups in digital technology, life sciences and clean energy to reclaim up to £25,000 a year in immigration costs.
The scheme covers overseas recruitment through the Skilled Worker, Global Talent and Scale-up visa routes, forming part of a broader push to help high-growth companies “start, scale and stay” in Britain.
Britain has produced a string of globally recognised technology companies, from semiconductor giant Arm to industry leaders Darktrace and Deliveroo, yet many promising firms have relocated or listed overseas as they expand.
Narayan said he welcomed foreign investment but wanted “the bulk of the economic value, the bulk of the strategic value and the jobs to stay here in the UK,” adding that he hoped Britain could also build a manufacturing ambition focused on AI chips.
Britain’s Global Talent visa has proved resilient despite a broader slowdown in migration, with Home Office figures for the first quarter of 2026 showing applications fell just 2.4 per cent year-on-year, while more than 99 per cent of decisions resulted in a visa being granted.
However, Charles Avens, head of immigration at Collyer Bristow, said Narayan’s ambitions were “not grounded in reality” while high business costs persisted alongside what he described as “a UK visa system run by a hostile Home Office that makes it incredibly difficult for talent to come to the UK.”
Avens said the Global Talent visa remained too restrictive for many promising founders, with applicants frequently unable to meet narrow evidential requirements despite holding strong technical credentials.
He also criticised the Innovator Founder route, arguing the endorsement process was lengthy and unpredictable, while sponsorship costs for Skilled Worker visas had effectively priced many smaller businesses out of hiring overseas specialists.
“Only very large companies can afford them,” he said. “All in all it is not a good picture for UK PLC, which dreams of being a tech, AI, engineering, pharma and life sciences superpower.”
Research from Boston Consulting Group further underlined the importance of talent to Britain’s technology sector, with its Intelligent Cities Index ranking London among the world’s leading technology hubs.
The management consultancy’s managing director, Arturs Smilkstins, argued that success depended less on new infrastructure than on “how well a city uses technology, AI and digital services” alongside its wider innovation ecosystem.