Global Business Mobility - Senior or Specialist Worker

Introduction of the New Global Business Mobility routes

The Global Business Mobility routes are a new category of sponsored routes for overseas businesses seeking to establish a presence in, or transfer staff to, the UK for specific business purposes.

There will be five new routes that correspond to different assignment types which are listed below:

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

Below you will find the detailed information on one of them.

Global Business Mobility – Senior or Specialist Worker

A. General overview

The Global Business Mobility – Senior or Specialist Worker route is for overseas workers who are undertaking temporary work assignments in the UK, where the worker is a senior manager or specialist employee and is being assigned to a UK business linked to their employer overseas. This type of assignment is often called an intra-company transfer or ICT.

B. Immigration requirements

The requirements are the following:

• The applicant must be aged 18 or over on the date of application.
• An applicant applying for entry clearance or permission to stay as a Senior or Specialist Worker who has received an award from a Government or international scholarship agency in the 12 months before the date of application which covers both fees and living costs for study in the UK, must have provided written consent to the application from that Government or agency.
• An applicant applying for permission to stay must be in the UK and must not have, or have last been granted, permission:

(a) as a Visitor; or

(b) as a Short-term Student; or

(c) as a Parent of a Child Student; or

(d) as a Seasonal Worker; or

(e) as a Domestic Worker in a Private Household; or

(f) outside the Immigration Rules.

• A person seeking to come to the UK as a Senior or Specialist Worker must apply for and obtain entry clearance as a Senior or Specialist Worker before their arrival in the UK.
• A person applying for entry clearance as a Senior or Specialist Worker must provide a valid medical certificate confirming that they have undergone screening for active pulmonary tuberculosis and that this tuberculosis is not present in them.

C. Points requirement for a Senior or Specialist Worker

The applicant must be awarded 60 points based on the table below:

Points requirements	Points
Sponsorship	20
Job at an appropriate skill level	20
Salary at required level	20

Points for salary for a Senior or Specialist Worker

Salary under these requirements includes only:

(a) guaranteed basic gross pay (before income tax and including employee pension and national insurance contributions); and

(b) allowances which are guaranteed to be paid for the duration of the applicant’s employment in the UK (such as London weighting) or are paid as a mobility premium or to cover the additional cost of living in the UK.

Where allowances are solely for the purpose of accommodation they will only be taken into account up to a value of 30% of the total salary package.

General salary requirement for a Senior or Specialist Worker

If the applicant is being sponsored for a job in one of the occupation codes listed in the Appendix Skilled Occupations, the general salary requirement is £45,800 per year.

If the applicant is being sponsored to work more than 48 hours a week, only the salary for the first 48 hours a week will be considered towards the general salary requirement. For example, an applicant who works 60 hours a week for £15 per hour will be considered to have a salary of £37,440 (£15 x 48 x 52) per year and not £46,800 (£15 x 60 x 52).

D. Financial requirement for a Senior or Specialist Worker for the main applicant

If the applicant is applying for permission to stay and has been living in the UK with permission for 12 months or longer on the date of application, they will meet the financial requirement and do not need to show funds.

If the applicant is applying for entry clearance or has been living in the UK for less than 12 months on the date of application either:

(a) the applicant must have funds of at least £1,270; or

(b) the sponsor must certify on the certificate of sponsorship that they will, if it is necessary, maintain and accommodate the applicant up to the end of the first month of their employment up to a maximum amount of £1,270.

E. Maximum length of assignments requirement for a Senior or Specialist Worker

If the applicant is applying as a high earner, the grant of permission must not lead to the applicant being granted cumulative periods of permission on the Global Business Mobility routes and Intra-Company routes totalling more than 9 years in any 10-year period.

If the applicant is not applying as a high earner, the grant of permission must not lead to the applicant being granted cumulative periods of permission on the Global Business Mobility routes and Intra-Company routes totalling more than 5 years in any 6-year period.

F. Period and conditions of visa as a Senior or Specialist Worker

The grant will be subject to all the following conditions:

(a) no access to public funds; and

(b) only the following work is permitted:

    (i) the job for which the applicant is being sponsored; and

    (ii) if the applicant is applying for permission to stay and was previously granted permission on the Intra-Company routes under the rules in force before 11 April 2022 and since then has continuously had permission as a Senior or Specialist Worker (including any period of overstaying disregarded under paragraph 39E), supplementary employment is permitted; and

    (iii) voluntary work is permitted; and

    (iv) working out a contractual notice period is permitted, where the applicant was lawfully working in that job in the UK on the date of application; and

(c) study is permitted, subject to the ATAS condition in Appendix ATAS; and

(d) the applicant will be required to register with the police.

Permission will be granted for a period which is the shortest of the following:

(a) 5 years after the start date of the job detailed in the Certificate of Sponsorship; or

(b) 14 days after the end date of the job detailed in the Certificate of Sponsorship; or

(c) if the applicant is applying as a high earner, the date at which the applicant will have had cumulative permission on the Global Business Mobility routes and Intra-Company routes totalling 9 years in any 10-year period; or

(d) if the applicant is not applying as a high earner, the date at which the applicant will have had cumulative permission on the Global Business Mobility routes and Intra-Company routes totalling 5 years in any 6-year period.

G. Dependent Partner (“partner”) and dependent child (“child”) of a Senior or Specialist Worker

A person applying as a partner must be aged 18 or over on the date of application.

A person seeking to come to the UK as a partner or child must apply for and obtain entry clearance as a partner or child of a Senior or Specialist Worker before they arrive in the UK.

A person applying for entry clearance as the partner or child of a Senior or Specialist Worker must provide a valid medical certificate confirming that they have undergone screening for active pulmonary tuberculosis and that this tuberculosis is not present in them.

If the applicant and their Senior or Specialist Worker partner are not married or in a civil partnership, all of the following requirements must be met:

(a) they must have been living together in a relationship similar to marriage or civil partnership for at least the two years before the date of application; and

(b) any previous relationship of the applicant or their Senior or Specialist Worker partner with another person must have permanently broken down; and

(c) the applicant and their Senior or Specialist Worker partner must not be so closely related that they would not be allowed to marry or form a civil partnership in the UK.

The relationship between the applicant and their Senior or Specialist Worker partner must be genuine and subsisting.

The applicant’s parents must each be either applying at the same time as the applicant or have permission to be in the UK (other than as a Visitor) unless:

(a) the parent applying for, or with, entry clearance or permission to stay as a Senior or Specialist Worker or as the partner of a Senior or Specialist Worker is the sole surviving parent; or

(b) the parent applying for or with entry clearance or permission to stay as a Senior or Specialist Worker or as the partner of a Senior or Specialist Worker has sole responsibility for the child’s upbringing; or

(c) the parent who does not have permission as a Senior or Specialist Worker:

(i) is a British citizen or a person who has a right to enter or stay in the UK without restriction; and

(ii) is or will be ordinarily resident in the UK; or

(d) the decision maker is satisfied that there are serious and compelling reasons to grant the child entry clearance or permission to stay with the parent who is applying for or has entry clearance or permission on the Global Business Mobility - Senior or Specialist Worker route.

The child must be under the age of 18 on the date of application, unless they were last granted permission as the dependent child of their parent or parents.

If the child is aged 16 or over at the date of application, they must not be leading an independent life.

H. Financial requirement for a partner or child of a Senior or Specialist Worker

The required funds are:

(a) £285 for a partner in the UK or applying for entry clearance; and (b) £315 for the first child in the UK or applying for entry clearance; and

(c) £200 for any other child in the UK or applying for entry clearance.

The funds held must be held in addition to any funds required for the Senior or Specialist Worker to meet the financial requirement and the funds required for any dependants in the UK or applying at the same time.

The funds must have been held for a 28-day period.

I. Settlement Prospects

The Global Business Mobility – Senior or Specialist Worker route is not a route to settlement.

J. Administrative Review (Entry clearance and extension applications)

If the entry clearance or extension application is refused by the ECO in the British Diplomatic post or by the Home Office, the applicant will be given a right to make a request for a review of the decision that must be exercised within 28 days of the date of service of the decision if application was submitted outside the UK or 14 days if application is made inside the UK. The applicant will only be able to rely on the information/documents already submitted with the application and will not be allowed to provide or submit any fresh evidence with the review request.

It is therefore strongly advised to take professional help while making grounds for making review request.

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