Global Mobility

There are 5 Global Business Mobility visa routes.
These are: Senior or Specialist Worker, Graduate Trainee, UK Expansion Worker, Service Supplier and Secondment Worker.

The visas under this route are aimed at UK based organisations who need to bring an overseas worker to the UK to undertake a temporary work assignment.

The Senior or Specialist Worker visa is for overseas workers who are a senior manager or specialist employee and is coming to a UK business linked to their overseas employer on a temporary basis.

The Senior or Specialist Worker visa is not significantly different from its predecessor, the Intra Company Transfer visa.

The eligibility criteria remain largely the same however the minimum salary is £48,500 per year.

The ICT visa’s graduate trainee route is now a separate standalone visa type.

The maximum total stay in the UK is:

• if you earn more than £73,900 per year, you can hold this visa for 9 years in any 10 year period; and
• if you earn less than £73,900 per year, you can hold this visa for 5 years in any 6 year period.

This includes time spent in the UK on a previous Global Business Mobility visa or Intra-Company Transfer visa.

The employer/sponsor will need to pay a fee to UKVI of £239 to assign the CoS and may also have to pay the Immigration Skills Charge (please see above).

The employee will have to pay the visa application fee, biometrics fee and the Immigration Health Surcharge. Some employers choose to cover all or part of these costs.

Employees will usually prefer to be sponsored for a Skilled Worker visa because it leads to settlement in the UK whereas the Senior or Specialist Worker  visa is a temporary visa and they have to leave the UK at the end of it.

However, Tier 2 ICT and Senior or Specialist Worker visa holders are able to switch  to a Skilled Worker visa which also means that they will subsequently be able to apply for ILR after holding the Skilled Worker visa for 5 years.

For the employer, the Senior or Specialist Worker visa is usually a little quicker and easier to obtain. The applicant also doesn’t have to meet the English language eligibility criteria.  However the minimum salary for the Senior or Specialist Worker visa is often higher than for the Skilled Worker visa.

Employers need to hold a Senior or Specialist Worker  sponsor licence to be able to sponsor workers for this visa type. This is so that the Home Office has evidence of the connection between your UK entity and overseas entity from which the worker will be transferred.

If you currently hold a Skilled Worker licence only, you can apply to add Senior or Specialist Worker  sponsorship to this. This can be done online for an additional fee and we can assist with the same.

Yes, it is £48,500 per year.

The Home Office will take account of the following when calculating the minimum salary:

• basic pay (excluding overtime)
• guaranteed allowances (such as accommodation allowance up to a set level, London weighting), and
• guaranteed bonuses.

Yes.  The role that you the worker will be sponsored to do must be at RQF Level 3 or above (equivalent to A Level). There are some limited exceptions to this requirement.

The worker need to have worked for your overseas entity for at least 12 months. This 12 month requirement can be avoided if the role that the worker will carry out in the UK pays a salary of £73,900 pa or more.

The Global Business Mobility Graduate Trainee route is for overseas workers who have been accepted onto a graduate training course/placement with a UK branch of their employer.

The UK based employer must be registered with the Home Office to sponsor graduate trainees and assign a Certificate of Sponsorship to the individual.

The graduate role must be on the list of the Home Office’s eligible occupations, be part of a graduate training programme for a managerial or specialist role and be paid at least £25,410 per year.

The individual must have worked for their employer outside the UK for at least 3 months immediately before they apply for their visa.

The Global Business Mobility UK Expansion Worker route is for overseas workers who are senior managers or specialist employees and who are being assigned to the UK to undertake work related to a business’s expansion to the UK.

The overseas organisation which is expanding into the UK must be registered with the Home Office to sponsor expansion workers and assign a Certificate of Sponsorship to the individual(s).

The individual(s) to be sponsored must work for the overseas business as either a senior manager or specialist employee and have been employed by that organisation for at least 12 months. This can be avoided if the individual(s) earn over £73,900 per year or are a Japanese national doing work for a Japanese company expanding into the UK.

The role that they will fulfil must be on the list of the Home Office’s eligible occupations and pay at least £42,400 per year or the ‘going rate’ for the specific role, whichever is higher.

This route can only be used when the business has not yet begun trading in the UK. If the business is already trading in the UK, workers should consider the Senior or Specialist Worker visa instead.

The Global Business Mobility Service Supplier route is for overseas workers who are either a contractual service supplier employed by an overseas service provider or a self-employed independent professional based overseas, and who need to undertake an assignment in the UK to provide services covered by one of the UK’s international trade agreements.

The UK based organisation who will be the recipient of the suppliers services must be registered with the Home Office to sponsor service supplier workers and assign a Certificate of Sponsorship to the individual(s).

The individual(s) to be sponsored must be an employee of the overseas business or be a self-employed service provider living and working overseas.  They must  have been employed by that business for at least 12 months or be able to demonstrate at least 12 months’ professional experience if they are a self-employed service provider.

The overseas business must have a contract in place with the UK Based organisation and the contract must be covered by a valid international trade agreement.

The Global Business Mobility – Secondment Worker route is for overseas workers who are undertaking temporary work assignments in the UK, where the worker is being seconded to the UK as part of a high value contract or investment by their employer overseas.

The UK based organisation who will be receiving the seconded worker must be registered with the Home Office to sponsor service supplier workers and assign a Certificate of Sponsorship to the individual(s).

The overseas employer of the seconded worker must have employed them for at least 12 months and there must be a contract in place between the UK and overseas organisations for the provision of services worth at least £50 million.

We provide a range of services to Senior or Specialist Worker visa applicants including assistance with their initial application and switching to this visa category. This includes:

• initial correspondence with you regarding eligibility
• review of and advice to you on the draft completed application form
• advice to you on the application process and queries
• advice on which supporting documents to provide with the application
• assist with questions about the process or correspondence from the Home Office.

Fee estimate*: £1,250 – £2,500

*:  Our fees are calculated based on the number of hours it will take us to carry out this work. The exact number of hours it will take depends on the circumstances in your case, such as:

• the volume of supporting documents and evidence that we need to consider
• the quality of the draft supporting documents provided by you, the amount of time required to amend these and the number of amended drafts required
• whether face to face meetings or video calls with you are required and the volume of calls and queries from you
• the urgency of your application
• whether you have an adverse immigration or criminal history
• the need to obtain documentation from or liaise with third parties such as accountants or translation companies
• whether you are applying alone or with dependants
• whether you require advice on your current immigration status.

Fees are excluding VAT at the rate of 20%. VAT may or may not be payable on the above fee estimate as this is dependent on the country in which you reside and you will be advised of this before work on your application commences. Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as visa fees payable to the Home Office and document translation fees. These are not included in the above estimates.

Full details can be found in our comprehensive pricing document, which can be found here, or please contact one of our immigration specialists.

As a registered sponsor of Skilled Worker and Senior or Specialist Worker migrants, you have a wealth of obligations and duties to UK Visas & Immigration and failure to comply can ultimately lead to your licence being revoked.

Have peace of mind from as little as £200 per month

Let our business immigration experts take away that risk and strain by being named as Legal Representative on your sponsor licence, as well as having day-to-day involvement as a Level 1 User of the Sponsor Management System.

Our service includes:

• Submitting reports to UKVI via the SMS in relation to:
  • sponsored migrants, including absences, termination of employment, salary changes
  • key personnel, including changes to named personnel and contact details
  • the organisation, including changes to contact details, size and structure
• Preparing and submitting applications for renewal of undefined Certificates of Sponsorship
• Preparing and submitting applications for renewal of the sponsor licence
• Access to guidance for sponsors on key personnel, record keeping and reporting duties
• Preferential pricing on training packages and immigration audits
• Updates on matters affecting your sponsor licence

Contact us or click here to find out more.

We run an in-depth training course on Sponsor Management for Senior or Specialist Worker  sponsor licence holders. This half day course is aimed at members of HR and Management and those who are Key Personnel named on the sponsor licence. This training, previously delivered at your premises but available to be delivered online, covers:

• the current immigration landscape
• the roles of the organisation’s Key Personnel
• the Sponsor Management System
• Senior or Specialist Worker visa  sponsorship requirements – skill and salary level and genuine vacancies
• the Immigration Skills Charge
• record keeping and reporting duties as a sponsor, and
• the future for UK immigration sponsorship.

Alternative courses are also offered including use of the Sponsor Management System.

Prices for our training courses start at £1,500 plus VAT and can be delivered in-house to your staff.  To discuss your immigration training requirements or the above courses, please contact us.

Our immigration solicitors provide Right to Work training for HR and Recruitment teams and those who are responsible for carrying out right to work checks on employees. Using practical examples and case studies, the course is designed to up-skill your staff and ensure compliant right to work checks are completed. This training can be delivered at your premises and covers:

• the history of illegal working legislation
• the groups of individuals who are subject to right to work checks
• the statutory excuse – what it is and how to obtain it
• how to carry out a compliant right to work check
• types of right to work documentation commonly encountered
• right to work checks for EU nationals in light of Brexit, and
• responding to Home Office enquiries and civil penalties.

Prices for our training courses start at £1,500 plus VAT and can be delivered in-house to your staff. To discuss your immigration training requirements or the above courses, please contact us.

Correctly managing your organisation’s Senior or Specialist Worker sponsor licence and retaining copies of all of the relevant documents is an onerous but important task.

If you are concerned that the organisation is not on top of this, or you want peace of mind that your reporting and record keeping is up to date, or perhaps you have a pending visit from a Home Office Immigration Compliance Officer, a member of our expert immigration team can carry out a thorough compliance audit for you.

This typically includes:

• attendance at your offices (where possible)
• review of the organisation’s sponsor licence
• interview with a member of the Key Personnel responsible for the sponsor licence
• review of your HR systems and processes
• review of all sponsored Senior or Specialist Worker and ICT visa holder’s personnel files
• sample review of employee right to work checks and procedures in place, and
• provision of report and action points.

Prices start from £2,000 plus VAT.  Contact us to find out more.