Visa red tape 'harms tech industry'

London-based Cryogenic, whose equipment was used to develop graphene, the “material of tomorrow”, warns this weekend that it has lost key skilled staff due to visa regulations.

The accusations come at a time when the Government has championed science as part of the country’s long-term economic plan and set up a £300m fund to create jobs in the sector and spur innovation.

Mr Good told of an occasion where it took more than a year to get a visa for a Ukrainian scientist.

The renewal of the visa was also a “demoralising” experience after the UK Border Agency said it was only processing emergency applications that legally should have meant the scientist was unpaid during the application process.

The Cryogenic founder also claimed that the company has missed out on about 25pc of revenues because of visa restrictions.

“Customers want to come and see the equipment before they buy it. We’ve had cases where we’ve had to wait six months for a visa. It’s hugely damaging to cash flow to have £250,000 worth of equipment sitting in the factory while we wait for the visa application to go through.”

Rather than recruiting scientists to work in the UK, when visas are denied Cryogenic has to fly out to train scientists in a foreign country, at significant cost. As a result, the graphene company is considering moving some of its operations out of the UK and outside Europe.

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