In a Spring Statement economic speech chancellor Philip Hammond said PhD level jobs would be removed from the cap on Tier 2 work visas and globe-trotting researchers will be made exempt from settlement rules that penalise their often lengthy absences from the UK for work. The Treasury has reported that overseas research will now count as residence in the UK.
The chancellor also mentioned several measures to make the border regime more liberal including the removal of landing cards from June 2019. Citizens of the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea will also be able to use airport e-gates.
