Have Uk startups turned into a visa ticket?

Cambridge’s 2026 UK Innovation Report found that 80% of UK university spinout IPOs since 2012 occurred overseas, in terms of creating actual material startups there is hardly any and there is no money coming in.

If you go on LinkedIn and you search innovator founder visa you will see a ton of postings from immigration lawyers or LinkedIn influencers primarily from the third world offering help in submitting uk innovator founder visas in order to get a visa and live in the uk.

These visas are meant to be for legit start ups but now with ai, it’s so easy to make a fake a start up and claim a visa and get to the uk. I’m convinced that the startup environment in the uk has turned into a ticket for trash to live in the uk.