Global Business Mobility Visa

On 28 September 2020, the Home Secretary asked the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to research the Intra-Company Transfer Visa route.

They also asked the MAC to assist the Home Office with designing new visa routes, which will help overseas businesses send teams of workers to establish branches or subsidiaries in the UK.

 

How the Global Business Mobility Visa Route was Born

Global Business Mobility Visa
Global Business Mobility Visa

The Intra-Company Transfer Visa route needed renovation as it did not efficiently address the market needs. In particular, it could only admit a single worker for the purposes of extending businesses to the UK.

Also, there were no adequate visa routes which would enable workers to undertake ‘a secondment in relation to a high-value contract for goods or services’.

Secondment /səˈkɒndm(ə)nt/

The temporary transfer of an official or worker to another position or employment.

“he spent two years on secondment to the Department of Industry.”

Also, the existing Intra-Company Transfer Visa route slightly overlapped and duplicated the Skilled Worker route. However, there were some advantages of the Intra-Company Transfer Visa route:

  • No English language test requirement;
  • Allowances for housing costs when assessing whether a worker meets the salary threshold;
  • more flexibility for time spent in the UK over the duration of the visa; and
  • the requirement for workers to only meet the salary threshold for the route when working in the UK (rather than throughout the validity period of the visa).

Also, the Skilled Worker route had higher skills and salary requirements.

It took the MAC 1 year to prepare such a report.

After analysing and implementing some of the MAC’s recommendations, a new Global Business Mobility Visa route was born.

 

Replacing the Intra-Company Transfer Route

The Global Business Mobility Visa route opened on 11 April 2022. It replaced three old routes:

  1. Intra-Company Transfer (including the Intra-Company Graduate Trainee route)
  2. The T5 (Temporary Workers) under International Agreements
  3. Representative of an Overseers Businesses

Also, the Global Business Mobility Visa route introduced another radically new route for secondment workers from overseas service providers in high-value contracts.

As a result, the Global Business Mobility Visa route now consists of 5 categories.

 

Five Categories of the Global Business Mobility Visa Route

We can subdivide these 5 categories into two types:

  • routes for firms with a UK presence
  • routes for firms without a UK presence

Routes for Firms with a UK presence

  1. Senior or Specialist Worker to meet specific business needs (old Intra-Company Transfers route)
  2. Graduate Trainee as part of a training programme (old Intra-Company Graduate Trainee route)

Routes for Firms without a UK presence

  1. UK Expansion Worker to establish UK presence (old Representative of an overseas business)
  2. Service Supplier to the UK in line with trade agreements (old T5 International Agreements route)

A Route for Firms with and without a UK presence

  1. Secondment Worker to UK firms in high-value contracts or investments

You can explore routes in more detail by clicking the links above.

Below, I’ll explain the purpose of all 5 routes and their common features.

 

The Global Business Mobility – Senior or Specialist Worker Route

This route is for overseas workers undertaking temporary work assignments in the UK, where the worker is a senior manager or specialist employee and is assigned to a UK business linked to their employer overseas.

 

The Global Business Mobility- Graduate Trainee Route

This route is for overseas workers who are undertaking temporary work assignments in the UK, where the worker is on a graduate training course leading to a senior management or specialist position and is required to do a work placement in the UK.

 

The Global Business Mobility – UK Expansion Worker Route

This one is for overseas workers undertaking temporary work assignments in the UK, where the worker is a senior manager or specialist employee and is being assigned to the UK to undertake work related to a business’s expansion to the UK.

 

The Global Business Mobility – Service Supplier Route

This path is for 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, and they need to undertake an assignment in the UK to provide services covered by one of the UK’s international trade agreements.

 

The Global Business Mobility – Secondment Worker Route

This visa route is for overseas workers 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.

 

Common Features for All 5 Routes

No Settlement

All Global Business Mobility routes are for temporary assignments in the UK. Irrespective of how much time workers spend in the UK – they’ll never be able to settle in the UK (i.e. apply for indefinite leave to remain).

The Validity and Suitability Requirements

They are all the same for all Global Business Mobility routes applicants.

In simple terms, the validity requirements ensure that all applicants follow the same application procedure.

The suitability requirements are there to ensure that the person is ‘suitable’ (or of ‘good character’) for entering and residing in the UK.

Points-Based Applications

All routes are a part of the points-based UK Immigration system. In other words, all applicants need to score points to succeed in their applications:

No Global Business Mobility Visa Route

 

Points to Score
1. a Senior or Specialist Worker 60

 

2. a Graduate Trainee

 

60
3. a UK Expansion Worker 60

 

4. a Service Supplier

 

40
5. a Secondment Worker

 

40

 

Sponsorship from a Licenced Sponsor

All 5 routes require sponsorship from a licenced sponsor. This sponsor has to be registered and A-rated by the Home Office.

With the exception of the UK expansion worker category, these sponsors need to be a UK-based entity connected to an overseas business.

The nature of the link will depend on the category:

No Global Business Mobility Visa Route

 

The Nature of the Link
1. a Senior or Specialist Worker ownership or control of the business
2. a Graduate Trainee ownership or control of the business
3. a UK Expansion Worker an eligible contract between the sponsor and the service provider
4. a Service Supplier an eligible contract between the sponsor and the service provider
5. a Secondment Worker No link required

 

The Maximum Stay

All applicants can remain 5 years (cumulatively) in any six-year period. There is only one exception for Senior or Specialist Workers with an annual salary of £73,900.

No English Language Requirement

The Global Business Mobility Visa applicants don’t need to meet the English language requirement.

Jobs at Appropriate Skill Level

All Global Business Mobility Visa applicants need to be sponsored for a job in an occupation code listed in Appendix Skilled Occupations that is identified as eligible for the Global Business Mobility routes.

Conditions of Stay

They are the same for almost all visa routes:

  1. No recourse to public funds
  2. Working for one sponsor only
  3. Can study
  4. Can invite dependants (spouse and dependent children under 18)
  5. Registrationton with the police (if your country is on THIS LIST )

 

More

You can find out more about the specific route by clicking the links below:

  1. Senior or Specialist Worker to meet specific business needs (old Intra-Company Transfers route)
  2. Graduate Trainee as part of a training programme (old Intra-Company Graduate Trainee route)
  3. UK Expansion Worker to establish UK presence (old Representative of an overseas business)
  4. Service Supplier to the UK in line with trade agreements (old T5 International Agreements route)
  5. Secondment Worker to UK firms in high-value contracts or investments

 

Global Business Mobility Visa