Highly skilled migration and the promotion of entrepreneurship in the UK

There is a dearth of research on migrant entrepreneurship in the context of contemporary UK policy. At the same time, there is evidence of burgeoning transnational socio cultural connectivity. This thesis evaluates the impact of these conditions on migrant entrepreneurship in a rapidly changing policy environment. Migrant entrepreneurship is viewed differently in academia, policy and public perception. This causes significant policy tensions and disjunctions that are manifest a migration policy system which fails to take into account the agency of migrant entrepreneurs. In a break from previous studies, the migrant entrepreneur s negotiations of power and agency that stem from transnational connections in a contemporary UK context will be addressed. It is important to acknowledge structures of migration policy and economic landscape at national, regional and local scales. Three areas of the UK are addressed; London, focusing on Inner London East, Birmingham and the West Midlands and Cambridgeshire.