As of 6 August 2026, the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has expanded the Global Talent visa‘s existing endorsed funder route to include more than 100 UK research-intensive businesses as approved employing or hosting organisations. An endorsed funder is an organisation approved by UKRI as a trusted source of research and innovation funding. Each endorsed funder has a strong track record of awarding funding to researchers with critical skills, based on a rigorous peer review process.
The newly approved businesses can now recruit eligible overseas research and development talent through the endorsed funder pathway for qualifying funded projects. Eligible research and development researchers now have a wider choice of UK employers outside universities and traditional research institutes.
What does Global Talent visa expansion mean to the applicants?
The expansion of the route means more researchers can potentially use the UKRI Endorsed Funder route as long as their qualifying research is carried out through one of the newly approved UK businesses. The business may either employ the researcher or host their research. Previously, the approved employing or hosting organisations were much more concentrated around universities and research institutes. The expansion adds over 100 research-intensive businesses, so an eligible researcher employed or hosted by one of those companies may now use the UKRI Endorsed Funder route, provided the other Endorsed Funder requirements are also met.
The UKRI Endorsed Funder route is a pathway within the Global Talent visa that allows a researcher to gain endorsement based on holding a qualifying grant or award from an approved funder, without needing an individual peer-review endorsement application.
It is important to note that the newly added research-intensive businesses cannot provide endorsement for the Global Talent visa. UKRI is still the endorsing body. The approved businesses only qualify as eligible employing or hosting organisations for the purposes of the route.
What does the Global Talent visa expansion mean for those businesses?
Newly approved businesses can now use the UKRI Endorsed Funder pathway to help recruit or host eligible international researchers working on qualifying funded research, without needing to sponsor the worker as a Skilled Worker through a sponsor licence.
This may give qualifying businesses more flexibility when recruiting international talent, since the worker applies for their own Global Talent visa rather than being sponsored by the employer.
From an employer’s perspective, the Global Talent visa avoids the cost and ongoing duties of holding a sponsor licence, and the worker is not tied to a single employer in the way a Skilled Worker is tied to their sponsor, giving the worker more flexibility to move between eligible roles. However, the employer has less control over the process, since UKRI, not the business, decides on endorsement, and the employer must still confirm that the role and grant meet the Endorsed Funder requirements.
A Skilled Worker visa gives the employer more direct control as the sponsor, but requires holding and maintaining a sponsor licence, meeting salary thresholds, and complying with sponsor duties. The most suitable route depends on the nature of the funding, the role, and the business’s appetite for sponsorship responsibilities.
How can approved businesses use the Global Talent endorsed funder pathway?
In order to use the Global Talent endorsed funder route as an approved business, you will need to:
- Check that your business is UKRI-approved: confirm that the business is on UKRI’s list of approved employing or hosting research organisations.
- Check that the grant or award qualifies: it must come from a UKRI-endorsed funder, be worth at least £30,000, cover at least two years, and be either a one-off grant or award won in open competition or a large institutional renewable award subject to periodic peer review.
- Check that the researcher and role are eligible: the researcher must make a critical contribution to the funded research or innovation, be essential to the execution of the grant or award, and normally spend at least 50% of their working time on the qualifying grant or award. Principal investigators and co-investigators can aggregate time across multiple eligible grants.
- Make a job offer or hosting agreement and obtain acceptance: the applicant must have accepted the job offer or hosting agreement, and there must be at least one year remaining on the employment contract or hosting agreement.
- Provide the required supporting evidence: the approved business must provide a declaration from its HR Director or equivalent confirming the required details, including the applicant’s role, their connection to the qualifying grant, their critical contribution, the 50% time requirement, and, where applicable, that a robust recruitment process was followed.
- Global Talent visa application: once the required evidence is available, the applicant can apply for UKRI endorsement and, if endorsed, apply for the Global Talent visa.
References:
UKRI: Global Talent visa expanded to innovative research businesses
GOV.UK: UK Research and Innovation endorsement
