Eligibility and Requirements for UK Expansion Worker Visa

Overview of the UK Expansion Worker Visa Route

The Global Business Mobility (GBM) routes are immigration routes where overseas businesses send their workers to undertake a temporary assignment in the UK. The UK Expansion Worker Visa is for employees who hold the positions of a senior manager or specialist employee who are coming to the UK to undertake work related to the business’s expansion to the UK. This is a sponsored role where the company has a UK Expansion Worker sponsor licence and the UK business has not yet started trading.  

This route allows the worker to be accompanied by their partner and dependent children if the requirements are met. 

The other GBM routes are Senior or Specialist Worker, Graduate Trainee, Service Supplier and Secondment Worker.

Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS)

To apply for a UK Expansion Worker visa, you must be issued a Certificate of Sponsorship no more than 3 months prior to the date of application.  The CoS must include your personal details, details of the job you are being sponsored as a UK Expansion Worker for and have the required overseas work experience. The CoS must not have been withdrawn by the Sponsor. 

The Sponsor must also hold an A-rated Expansion Worker Sponsor Licence on the Home Office’s register of licenced sponsor unless you were last granted permission as a UK Expansion Worker and are applying to continue working for the same sponsor. If you are also the authorising officer and are making an entry clearance application, the rating will initially be ‘Provisional’ until your visa application is granted. In our earlier post, UK Expansion Worker Sponsor Licence: Responsibilities and Requirements, we set out the additional responsibilities of a UK Expansion Worker sponsor licence, and the steps to take after a sponsor licence is granted. 

Genuine vacancy

The role that you will be undertaking in the UK must be genuine. If the Home Office has any doubt that the job may be a sham or that it does not exist, this may trigger a compliance visit to the sponsor. 

Compliance with employment regulations

When the Home Office is considering the visa application, they will assess whether the salary complies with the National Minimum Wage Regulations or the Working Time Regulations and if there are any exemptions.

Working for third parties

The Home Office must not have reasonable grounds to believe that you are hired by the sponsor to fill a position with a third party (whether temporary or permanent) or undertaking contract work which is ongoing or providing an ongoing routine service for the third party regardless of the nature or length of the arrangement between the sponsor and the third party.

3. Overseas Work Experience Requirement for the UK Expansion Worker Visa

When choosing this route, you must already be working for the overseas business and have worked for at least 12 months unless you are applying as a high earner or exemptions apply. There must be a qualifying link between the sponsor and the overseas business. 

The Home Office guidance states that absences for the following reasons are not considered as a break in the period of continuous employment:

• statutory maternity, paternity, parental, or shared parental leave; 
• statutory adoption leave; 
• sick leave; 
• assisting with a national or international humanitarian or environmental crisis, with the agreement of the sponsor group; 
• taking part in legally organised industrial action; 
• jury service; 
• attending court as a witness;

12 months overseas

When considering the period of the 12 month employment, it does not need to be immediately before the application and consecutive as long as you have continuously been working for the overseas business from the start of the 12 months to the date of application. The exceptions are:

High earner

You are applying as a high earner if the proposed salary in the UK role is at least £73,900 per annum, based on a maximum 48-hour week average. You must be currently working for the overseas business and do not need to have worked outside the UK for 12 months.

Specified Trade Agreement

You do not need have worked for outside the UK for 12 months if you are a Japanese national seeking to establish a UK branch or subsidiary of their sponsor group under the UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement or you are a national or permanent resident of Australia seeking to establish a UK branch or subsidiary of the sponsor group under the UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement.

4. Job Skill Level Standards for UK Expansion Worker Visa Applicants

To be eligible for the UK Expansion Worker visa, you must be sponsored in an occupation code in Appendix Skilled Occupations eligible for the GBM route.

As mentioned above, the CoS should contain the details of the job, such as the duties, salary and the occupation code. The job description of the role should correctly reflect the duties of the role and if it is just standard or extracted from a template, this may lead to a visa refusal. The Home Office will take into account whether the occupation code is selected in order to pay the applicant at a lower salary.

The Home Office guidance also states that they may consider:

(a) whether the sponsor has shown a genuine need for the job as described; and

(b) whether the applicant has the appropriate skills, qualifications and experience needed to do the job as described; and

(c) the sponsor’s history of compliance with the immigration system including, but not limited to, paying its sponsored workers appropriately; and

(d) any additional information from the sponsor.

Choosing the correct occupation code is essential to the visa application and you may wish to seek legal advice.

5. Salary Threshold and Allowances for the UK Expansion Worker Visa

In this route, the general salary threshold is £48,500 per year. If your hours are more than 48 hours a week, only the first 48 hours per week will be considered unless your regular working hours are not the same each week. If allowances are guaranteed for the duration of your employment in the UK, this can be included.

In the Appendix Skilled Occupations, a list of going rates for the eligible GBM routes is published based on a 37.5 hour working week. Your full weekly hours will be included when checking your salary against the going rate, even if you work more than 48 hours a week.

6. Additional Eligibility Criteria for the UK Expansion Worker Visa

The other requirements that you will need to meet are as follows:

• You must be at least 18 years old;
• You are currently working for an overseas business that has a qualifying link to the UK sponsor;
• You must not fall for refusal under Part 9 of the Immigration Rules and the mandatory and discretionary grounds for refusal are set out in our article entitled Criminality, Serious Harm & Immigration Decisions;
• You have at least £1,270 to support yourself (held for at least a 28-day period) unless you are applying for permission to stay and have been in the UK for more than 12 months;
• You may need to provide a valid TB certificate, if required;

There is no English language requirement for the UK Expansion Worker route.

If you are applying for permission to stay in the UK, your most recent grant of permission must not be in one of the following categories:

• As a visitor;
• As a Short-term Student; or
• As a Parent of a Child Student; or
• As a Seasonal Worker; or
• As a Domestic Worker in a Private Household; or
• Outside the Immigration Rules.

The GBM routes do not lead directly to settlement in the UK as the workers are coming to the UK to undertake a temporary assignment. There are other immigration routes that lead to settlement, such as Skilled Worker , Scale-up or Global Talent.  

For expert advice and assistance in relation to a Sponsor Licence application, contact our  immigration barristers in London on 0203 617 9173 or via the enquiry form below.