Vince Cable calls for opening up of entrepreneur visa to keep top talent in UK

Business Secretary Vince Cable wants to open up the system for granting visas to entrepreneurs to ensure that top talent capable of creating firms that could spur economic growth stays in Britain.

Currently applicants need to have access to £50,000 in investment funds to qualify for a Tier 1 (entrepreneur) visa, which is seen in some quarters as onerous and unnecessary.

“I would like the system to be opened up,” the Liberal Democrat told a packed forum of the Standard’s entrepreneur network Business Connections at an event in Westminster.

“If you are applying for an entrepreneur visa, you have to have an enormous pile of cash, and the problem we should be concentrating on is if you have a decent business plan. That’s an issue we have got to argue.”

Cable has clashed with coalition partners the Conservatives over immigration targets and visa restrictions, arguing that the UK will prosper if it can tap the global talent pool.

He called on SMEs to lobby government on those issues.

“If you the business community apply pressure, [policy] will become much friendlier,” he said.

"I'm not arguing for unrestricted immigration for skilled or unskilled people, but I do argue for an open, outward-looking system.

"I do believe that if we are going to achieve our aim of being a really entrepreneurial country we have got be open to international talent and that’s the fundamental thing."

Cable also said he will see HSBC chief executive Stuart Gulliver “in the next few days” about allegations the bank helped clients avoid tax.

“[We will] try and unscramble whether there is a problem now or whether we are just talking about history.”