The UK still has Tier1 visas which, now, are basically buy your way in visas. The retired Tier1-General you could self certify and as long as you made enough money (which increased over the years).
The Tier2 is basically the same as H1B.
Tier1-General was great as it was in between work permit and permanent residency (green card) with no company ties. I got it when req'd income was only 40k.
The UK "hates" immigrants too, and since brexit are now paying for it