Financial services firms turning to non-EU workers to plug skills gap

An FOI of Home Office data from Eversheds Sutherland found that skilled worker visa applications for non-EU workers are higher than both pre-pandemic and Brexit levels.

The data shows a 178% year-on-year (Q1 2021 to Q1 2022) increase in non-EU skilled worker visa applications to UK financial services and insurance firms. The number of applications for non-EU workers is now higher than pre-pandemic and demonstrates that UK firms are looking beyond the UK borders and the EU for workers.

Skilled worker applications from outside the EU for all sectors doubled year-on-year in Q1 2022 (98%) to almost 25,000 as UK businesses looked beyond the EU for talent.

The global law firm found that despite this rapid increase and the total number of skilled worker visa applications reaching almost 30,000 – the highest number since at least 2010 when Home Office data starts recording – some major UK industries saw the volume of applications for EU skilled workers fall significantly during the first quarter of 2022.

This drop in EU skilled worker applications was recorded in finance and insurance. In Q1 2022, only 5% (113 of 2,194) of applications for financial services skilled worker visas were for EU workers, down from 30% in the previous three quarters.