GLOBAL BUSINESS MOBILITY ROUTES

GLOBAL BUSINESS MOBILITY ROUTES

The Home Office brought in radical changes to the Intra-Company routes in the UK. New Global Business Mobility routes were introduced on 11 April 2022 which replaced the existing Intra-Company routes with the following new routes:

GBM: Senior or Specialist Worker: this will replace the Intra-Company Transfer route

This route takes the place of the current Intra-Company Transfer visa, a route for senior managers or specialist employees who are being temporarily assigned to a UK business linked to their overseas employer. The core eligibility criteria remain the same as with the ICT route, including in respect of evidencing common ownership between the UK and overseas entity and the length of stay. Applicants remain exempt from meeting the English language requirement via this route. However the amendments increase the minimum salary threshold to £42,400 per year (previously £41,500) or the going rate for the relevant occupation code (whichever is the higher).

To be eligible for this specific route, an applicant must:

  • be working for the sponsor group and have worked for that group outside the UK for a cumulative period of at least 12 months, unless they’ll be working in the UK as a high earner being paid a gross salary of £73,900 per year or more
  • have been issued 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 Senior or Specialist Worker and who has paid any required Immigration Skills Charge in full
  • have sponsorship for an eligible job at or above an appropriate minimum skill level, with an annual salary of at least £42,400 or the ‘going rate’ for that job, whichever is higher.
GBM: Graduate Trainee: this will replace the Intra-Company Graduate Trainee route

As with the above, this is a replacement for the existing sub-category within the ICT rules and applies to workers on graduate training courses who are required to undertake a work placement in the UK. The amendments to the original route are minimal, although the general salary requirement has slightly increased to £23,100 per year.

To be eligible for this specific route, an applicant must:

  • be currently working for the sponsor group at the time of the application and have worked for that group outside the UK for a continuous period of at least 3 months prior to the date of their application
  • 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 Graduate Trainee
  • have sponsorship for an eligible job at or above an appropriate minimum skill level, with a salary of at least £23,100 per year or the ‘going rate’ for that job, whichever is higher, with clearly defined progression toward a managerial or specialist role within the sponsor organisation as part of a structured graduate training programme.
GBM: UK Expansion Worker

This is a new route for overseas workers who are senior managers or specialist employees, and are being assigned to undertake work related to expanding the business presence in the UK. As with the existing Sole Representative of an Overseas Business route (which closes to new applicants from 11 April 2022), this route can only be used where the business has not begun trading in the UK and is looking to assign senior individuals to establish a UK entity. However there are a number of core differences with the new route.

Unlike the Sole Representative of an Overseas Business provisions, the UK Expansion Worker route is not a route to settlement, and this may act as a deterrent for senior executives (given the disruption to families in relocating cross border without longer term certainty).

To be eligible for this specific route, an applicant must:

  • be currently working for the sponsor group and have worked for that group outside the UK for a period of at least 12 months, unless they’ll be working in the UK as a high earner or as a Japanese national seeking to establish a UK branch or subsidiary under the UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement
  • 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
  • have sponsorship for an eligible job at or above an appropriate minimum skill level, with a salary of at least £42,400 per year or the ‘going rate’ for that job, whichever is higher.
  • Applicants will not, however, need to satisfy an English language requirement.
GBM: Secondment Worker

This is a new business immigration route 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 overseas employer.

The Secondment Worker Visa will be 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. This is a new immigration route.

Second Worker Visa applicants will need to be currently working for an overseas business that has a contract with their UK sponsor that has been registered with the Home Office by the UK sponsor and have worked outside the UK for that overseas business for a cumulative period of at least 12 months.

Applicants will also need to have a valid Certificate of Sponsorship for the job they are planning to do, issued by an employer that is authorised by the Home Office to sponsor a Secondment Worker. The job will need to be an eligible job at or above a minimum skill level but applicants will not need to satisfy a salary requirement. Secondment Worker Visa applicants will also not need to satisfy an English language requirement.

GBM: Service Supplier

This route replaces the existing contractual service supplier and independent professional provisions in the Temporary Work – International Agreement route. Again, the eligibility requirements broadly align with the previous routes. The route applies to overseas workers who are undertaking temporary work assignments in the UK, where the worker is either a contractual service supplier employed by an overseas service provider or a self-employed independent professional based overseas. They will need to undertake an assignment in the UK to provide services covered by one of the UK’s international trade agreements.

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.

Their UK sponsor must have a contract with an overseas service provider, where that contract has been registered with the Home Office, and on which the applicant, as a Service Supplier, will work.

Applicants will also need to have a valid Certificate of Sponsorship for the job they are planning to do, issued by an employer that is authorised by the Home Office to sponsor a Service Supplier.

The job will need to be an eligible job at or above a minimum skill level but applicants will not need to satisfy a salary requirement. Service Supplier applicants will also not need to satisfy an English language requirement, but they will need to satisfy a nationality requirement.