The Global Business Mobility Visa

April 1, 2022
|In IMMIGRATION
|By admin

The Global Business Mobility Visa

The Home Office recently have release new visa category – The Global Business Mobility Visa. The Global Business Mobility Visa is designed for overseas businesses seeking to establish a presence in the UK, or to transfer staff to the UK, for specific business purposes. The Global Business Mobility Route will open to new applicants on 11 April 2022.

The Global Business Mobility visas reformed and expanded on a number of existing business visas including the Representative of an Overseas Business Visa and the two types of Intra-Company Visas. There are five routes:

  • UK Expansion Worker Route
  • Senior or Specialist Worker Route
  • Graduate Trainee Route
  • Service Supplier Route
  • Secondment Worker Route

The Global Business Mobility Visas will not lead directly to settlement in the UK. However, once in the UK, Global Business Mobility visa holders may be able to switch into other immigration routes that leads to settlement.

 

UK Expansion Worker Visa Route

The UK Expansion Worker Visa is to replace the Representative of an Overseas Business Visa. The UK Expansion Worker Visa can only be used when the business has not started trading in the UK. If the business is already trading in the UK, workers should apply for the Senior or Specialist Worker Route.

The visa is for overseas senior managers and specialist employees looking to undertake temporary assignments related to the expansion of their businesses in the UK.

UK Expansion Worker Visa applicants need to be currently working outside of the UK for a business that is linked to their UK sponsor group for a cumulative period of at least 12 months, unless they will be working in the UK as a high earner earning at least £73,900 per annual or as a Japanese national seeking to establish a UK branch or subsidiary under the UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.

Applicants will need to have a valid Certificate of Sponsorship for the job they’re proposing to do, issued by an employer that’s authorised by the UK Home Office to sponsor a UK Expansion Worker.

Applicants will also need to have an eligible job at or above an appropriate minimum skill level, with a salary of at least £42,400 per annual or the ‘going rate’ for that job, whichever is higher.

The UK Expansion Worker Visa is not a route to settlement. If successful, permission will be granted for one year at a time, and up to two years in total. Applicants, however, may be able to switch to another route.

 

Senior or Specialist Worker Visa

Senior or Specialist Worker Visa is to replace the Intra-Company Transfer Visa, it will open on 11 April 2022. The Senior or Specialist Worker Visa is designed for senior managers and specialist employees undertaking a temporary assignment in the UK. The UK company needs to be linked by common ownership to the overseas employing company.

The applicant needs to have worked outside the UK for the linked business for a cumulative period of at least 12 months, unless the applicant is a high earner earning £73,900 or more per year. The Sponsor of the Senior or Specialist Worker Visa must be listed as A-rated company on the Home Office’s register of licensed sponsors. The applicant’s Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) must have been issued no more than 3 months before the date of the applicant’s Global Business Mobility – Senior or Specialist Worker Visa application.

The job needs to be genuine and the salary needs to be more than £42,400 per year or the “going rate” for the job, whichever is higher.

The applicant needs to have enough funds without relying on public funds for support and have a valid TB certificate if required.

The Senior or Specialist Worker Visa does not lead directly to settlement in the UK.  However, applicants may be able to switch into another immigration route which leads to settlement.

Dependent partner and dependent children can apply for this route.

 

Graduate Trainee Route

 Graduate Trainee Route is to replace the Intra-Company Transfer Graduate Trainee Route.  The Global Business Mobility – Graduate Trainee Visa is designed for workers on a graduate training course leading to a senior management or specialist position, and are required to do a work placement in the UK. The Graduate Trainee Route will open on 11 April 2022.

The Graduate Trainee Visa Route does not lead directly to settlement in the UK.  However, applicants may be able to switch into another immigration route which leads to settlement.

Dependent partner and dependent children can apply for this route.

The applicant needs to have worked outside the UK for a business for at least three months before the date of your visa application. The overseas business and the UK sponsoring company are needed to be linked by common ownership or control, or by a joint venture.

The job sponsoring is genuine and the salary is no less than £23,000 per year or 70% of the “going rate” for the job, whichever is higher.

The applicant needs to have enough funds without relying on public funds for support and have a valid TB certificate if required.

The Sponsor of Graduate Trainee Route must be listed as A-rated company on the Home Office’s register of licensed sponsors. The applicant must have a valid Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) for the job you are planning to do, and your Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) must have been issued no more than 3 months before the date of the applicant’s Global Business Mobility – Graduate Trainee Route application.

 

Service Supplier Route

The Service Supplier route is for contractual service suppliers employed by overseas service providers, or self-employed independent professionals based overseas, looking to undertake temporary assignments in the UK to provide services covered by a UK international trade agreement.

This route is to replace the contractual service supplier and independent professional provisions under the Temporary Work – International Agreement route. The service Supplier Route will open on 11 April 2022.

Service Supplier Visa applicants will need to be currently working as or for an overseas service provider that will provide services to their UK sponsor and have worked as or for the overseas service provider outside the UK for a cumulative period of 12 months.

The applicant must have a valid Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) for the job they’re proposing to do, issued by an employer that’s authorised by the UK Home Office to sponsor a Service Supplier. The UK sponsor must have a relevant Home Office registered contract with an overseas service provider on which the applicant will work in the UK.

Applicants will not need to satisfy a salary requirement but the job is required at or above a minimum skill level, or applicants have a university degree or equivalent level technical qualification and experience meet the nationality requirement for a Service Supplier.

Applicants need to be a national of the country or territory in which the overseas service provider is based; or where the service that you will provide is covered by a commitment in the General Agreement on Trade in Services and your employer is established in a country or territory that has made a notification under Article XXVIII(k)(ii)(2) of that agreement, a permanent resident of that country or territory; or where the service that you will provide is covered by a commitment in the Temporary Agreement between the Swiss Confederation and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on Services Mobility, a permanent resident of Switzerland; or where the service that you will provide is covered by a commitment in the United Kingdom-European Union Trade and Cooperation Agreement, a national of any Member State of the European Union or any other person included in the definition of “natural person of a Party” for the European Union in Article 512(k) of that agreement; or where the service that you will provide is covered by a contractual service supplier commitment in the CARIFORUM-United Kingdom Economic Partnership Agreement, a national of any CARIFORUM State that has provisionally applied or brought into force that agreement.

Permission will be granted for either the time given on the Certificate of Sponsorship plus 14 days, the length of time that will take the applicant to the maximum time period allowed in the category or the maximum single assignment period of either 6 months or 12 months.

Applicants under Global Mobility Visa – Service Supplier Route will be able to extend your stay in the UK up to a maximum period of 5 years in any 6 year period.

The Service Supplier Route does not lead directly to settlement in the UK.  However, applicants may be able to switch into another immigration route which leads to settlement.

Dependent partner and dependent children can apply for this route. Access public funds are not permitted.

 

Secondment Work Route

The Secondment Work Visa is designed for overseas workers who wish to be temporarily seconded to the UK by their overseas employer as part of a high value contract or investment. The Secondment Worker route will open on 11 April 2022.

Applicants need to be currently working for an overseas business that has a contract with UK sponsor which has been registered with the Home Office. The applicants need to have worked outside the UK for that overseas business for a cumulative period of at least 12 months.

The Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) will need to have been issued by a UK-based business that is authorised by the Home Office to sponsor a Secondment Worker. The UK-based business must be listed as A-rated on the Home Office’s register of licensed sponsors, unless you were last granted permission as a Secondment Worker and are applying to continue working for the same sponsor as in your last permission.

The job needs to be genuine and at an appropriate skill level. The applicant needs to have enough funds without relying on public funds for support and have a valid TB certificate if required.

The Certificate of Sponsorship must have been issued not more than 3 months before the date of your Global Business Mobility – Secondment Worker Visa application.

The Secondment Worker Route does not lead directly to settlement in the UK.  However, applicants may be able to switch into another immigration route which leads to settlement.

Dependent partner and dependent children can apply for this route. Access public funds are not permitted.

 

If you have any further questions about the personal immigration routes or business immigration routes or any other visa related queries, please contact our immigration team. We speak many other languages including Mandarin, Cantonese, Gujarati, Portuguese, Korean etc. With access to our solicitors at two locations, one in City and one in Mayfair.