Coming soon: Global Business Mobility
The Home Office is set to introduce a new ‘Global Business Mobility visa’ in spring 2022.
As part of the wider modernisation of the immigration system that the government set out in their sponsorship roadmap, a new visa called the ‘Global Business Mobility visa’ will be introduced in spring 2022. The overall aim is to reform the immigration system, creating a more cohesive system with shorter processing times and an improved user experience whilst being able to adapt to changing business needs.
The Global Business Mobility visa will cover overseas businesses with or without a UK Presence and enable them to send employees to the UK temporarily for a specific corporate purpose. A new IT system will build on the framework of the existing Intra-company routes with a focus on improving business mobility.
The assignment types will be grouped into five categories:
- Senior or specialist worker
- Graduate trainee
- UK Expansion worker
- Secondment worker
- Service supplier
The main requirements will be based on the existing intra-company route, including:
- UK businesses receiving workers will need a sponsor licence;
- Jobs must be at the appropriate skill level;
- Pay must meet the salary threshold;
- Workers must be existing employees with a minimum length of employment overseas;
- Assignments will be temporary but flexible and workers will be able to switch to permanent routes;
- There will be no English language requirement.
The Global Business Mobility sponsorship (GBM sponsorship) is for businesses with or without UK presence and is looking to accommodate a range of scenarios. These include:
- An Overseas parent company sending a worker to a UK branch or subsidiary;
- An Overseas service supplier sending a worker to a UK client;
- An Overseas purchaser sending a worker to a UK supplier; or
- An Overseas business sending a worker to a UK branch (pre-trading)
The UK business receiving the worker will be the licence holder. Applicants will need to demonstrate that the receiving business is their sponsor, and the sending business has a business relationship with the sponsor. This can include, common ownership, contract for goods or services or UK expansion.
Comparison to existing routes
Compared to the existing unsponsored sole representative route the UK Expansion Worker category of the Global Business Mobility visa provides a number of benefits including the ability to send more than one worker, access to the Sponsor Management System (SMS) for managing assigned workers and a streamlined transition into sponsorship system for other assignment types. Before the UK Expansion Worker visa would be considered, the Home Office is likely to look at work activities to be carried out in the UK pre-trading and what stage of operation the UK business is at before sending workers together with evidence of genuine business expansion.
The Intra-Company Transfer (ICT) and other business assignments where the job cannot be done by a resident worker will be covered under the new Global Business Mobility route.
The skilled worker visa will still be required to hire a new migrant to fill a vacancy, as the Global Business Mobility visa only covers workers already employed by the business.
Until the full guidance is available, we do not know what specific requirements must be met for the Global Business Mobility route.
We will publish updates as more information is made available from the Home Office on these exciting new visa categories.
FSP can advise you on all aspects of recruiting skilled workers from overseas, including sponsorship applications and compliance. We will also keep you up to date with the latest developments as they are released from the Home Office.
If you require our assistance, please contact our Head of Immigration, [email protected].
