Skilled Refugee Pilot welcomes new Scotland arrivals

Skilled professionals from displaced backgrounds and their families have started to arrive in Scotland this year as part of the Displaced Talent Pilot, which connects refugees with employers in safe countries who are looking to fill positions across a range of sectors. The first seven individuals to arrive have started their roles in the law and healthcare fields and are now integrating into their new communities in Aberdeen and Glasgow.

As the contributing factors of the refugee crisis continue to aggravate, an increasing number of displaced people continue to seek better lives and opportunities outside of their current refugee contexts, and a number of them have marketable skills to secure their futures. The mission of the pilot and Talent Beyond Boundaries (TBB) is to open safe mobility pathways for displaced people to migrate for work and start a new life with dignity and purpose.

The first-of-its-kind pilot was jointly developed by Talent Beyond Boundaries and Fragomen, with support from the Home Office and the Scottish Government, to provide a new mobility pathway for both employers looking for talent in the UK and skilled refugees who are looking to rebuild their lives and have the necessary professional experience to join the country’s workforce.

For companies, this new pathway provides access to an untapped talent pool filled with professionals from a variety of levels and industries, from IT and engineering, to healthcare and legal. TBB’s Talent Catalog currently features over 60,000 candidate profiles who are then pre-selected according to each position and respective requirements.

As part of the pilot, Scottish companies can now hire refugees and displaced professionals through the existing Skilled Worker Visa pathway but with additional benefits which include free priority processing, case management support.

TBB is working with the Scottish government, partners and employers to continue expanding this pilot in Scotland and is projecting a total of 50 arrivals by September 2023.

If you are interested in learning more about the programme, UK Partnerships Lead Beth Nichols, is speaking to interested organisations about the opportunity. Beth can be contacted at bnichols@talentbeyondboundaries.org

Abdul* arriving at the airport in January 2023. Abdul is is now a health care worker in Aberdeen after coming to Scotland from Lebanon as part of the Displaced Talent Pathway'

*name anonymised