Global Business Mobility – UK Expansion Worker Visa

Global Business Mobility – UK Expansion Worker Visa 

Global Business Mobility – UK Expansion Worker route replaces the Sole Representative provisions in the Representative of an Overseas Business route. It introduces a sponsored route for businesses to send workers to establish a branch or subsidiary in the UK.

If you are a sole representative in the UK, you can apply to extend your stay in the UK and settle here.

The Global Business Mobility – UK Expansion 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 the UK to undertake work related to a business’s expansion to the UK. This route can only be used when the business has not yet begun trading in the UK.

Your sponsor must apply for a sponsor licence under the Global Business Mobility UK Expansion Worker route to come to the UK as UK Expansion Worker

Requirements

To enter the UK as Global Business Mobility – UK Expansion Worker you must show that:

  • You have a Certificate of Sponsorship issued by a sponsor authorised by the Home Office to sponsor a UK Expansion Worker,
  • Your sponsor must be listed as A-rated on the Home Office’s register of licensed sponsors, unless you hold the role of authorising officer and the sponsor has a provisional rating, or you were last granted permission as an Expansion Worker and are applying to continue working for the same sponsor,
  • The job you are being sponsored to do must be genuine,
  • You must be an existing employee of the sponsor with at least 12 months employment outside the UK,
  • Your pay must meet the general salary threshold of £42,400, and be at least the going rate for the job,
  • High earners paid over £73,900 and Japanese national seeking to establish a UK branch or subsidiary of the sponsor group under the UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement are exempt from the overseas work requirements,
  • You must meet the financial requirement of £1270 for the first 12 months in the UK,
  • You can stay for up to 1 year with the possibility to extend for a further year if required,
  • You meet the suitability requirements – you do not have anything untoward about your character, and
  • You provide a TB screening certificate.

Once the business has been established and is trading, your sponsor can then apply for Skilled worker category to be added to your licence and sponsor the UK Expansion workers to switch to that route so that they can be localised to the UK on a permanent basis, settling after 5 years on that route.

Sponsors can send a maximum of 5 workers at a time under the UK Expansion Worker route

 Dependants

A dependent partner and dependent children can apply to come to the UK on this route.

The Global Business Mobility – UK Expansion Worker route is not a route to settlement.

Extension application: Sole Representative
To extend your stay in the UK as a Sole representative , you will need to show that:

  • You are still working for the same employer and have established the company’s first presence in the UK; and
  • Your employer’s principal place of business remains outside the UK; and
  • You are still required for the employment in question, as certified by your employer; and
  • You can maintain and accommodate yourself and any dependants adequately without recourse to public funds.

Length of leave: The extension will be granted for 2 years.

Settlement application: Sole Representative
To qualify for indefinite leave to remain in the UK as a representative of an overseas business, you will need to show that:

  • You have spent a continuous period of 5 years lawfully in the UK and have met the requirements of the sole representative route throughout the 5 year period; and
  • You are still required for the employment in question, as certified by your employer; and
  • You have not spent more than 180 days outside the UK in any of the five consecutive 12 calendar month periods preceding the date of application; and
  • You have demonstrated sufficient knowledge of the English language and life in the United Kingdom.

Fees
Our fixed fees for UK Expansion Worker Visa and Sole Representative extension application  range from £3000 to £5000 plus VAT and disbursements. Disbursements typically include Home Office / Visa fees, Immigration Health Surcharge fees, biometrics enrolment fees, optional premium appointments, translations, courier and postage etc.

Contact UK Expansion Worker Visa lawyers in Central London

At Karir, we have a wealth of expertise in assisting clients with their sole representative visa applications. For expert advice and assistance with an application for entry clearance as UK Expansion Worker, an extension of stay or settlement as a Sole Representative, please contact us.

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Contact Us

M: 07881404347
T: 020 7965 7207
Monday - Friday:
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