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About Global Business Mobility visas

If you have an overseas business, you can sponsor or transfer your workers to the UK under a Global Business Mobility visa.

There are five Global Business Mobility visas:

  • UK Expansion Worker visas
  • Senior or Specialist Worker visas
  • Graduate Trainee visas
  • Secondment Worker visas
  • Service Suppliers visas

UK Expansion Worker visas

You can send your senior managers or specialists to the UK. You can send up to five at a time. Their work must be connected to the expansion of your business in the UK.

You can use this route if your business has not yet started trading in the UK.

To apply, expansion workers need:

Visas are usually granted for the shorter of these two:

  • One year from a job’s start date on the certificate of sponsorship
  • The end date on the certificate of sponsorship, plus 14 days

You can extend for another year. The maximum total stay is two years.

Partners and children can apply to join an expansion worker in the UK.

Read about Expansion Worker visas (gov.uk)

Senior or Specialist Worker visas

You can send your senior managers or specialist employees to the UK. Their work must be connected to your business outside the UK.

To apply, senior or specialist workers need:

Visas under this route are usually granted for the shorter of these two:

  • The time on the certificate of sponsorship plus 14 days
  • Five years

Workers can extend their visas up to the maximum total stay. This is:

  • Five years in a six-year period, if the pay is less than £73,900 a year
  • Nine years in a 10-year period, if £73,900 a year or more

Partners and children can apply to join a senior or specialist worker in the UK.

Read about Senior or Specialist Worker visas (gov.uk)

Graduate Trainee visas

You can sponsor your workers on graduate training courses to do a work placement in the UK. The placement must be connected to their graduate training.

Graduate trainees need:

Visas are usually granted for one year.

There’s no option to extend a Graduate Trainee visa.

There is an option to apply for another Graduate Trainee visa from abroad.

Partners and children can apply to join a graduate trainee in the UK.

Read about Graduate Trainee visas (gov.uk)

Secondment Worker visas

You can second workers to the UK to work on a high value contract or investment.

Secondment workers need:

Visas under this route are usually granted for one year.

There’s an option to extend for another year.

Partners and children can apply to join the worker in the UK.

Read about Secondment Worker visas (gov.uk)

Service Supplier visas

You can sponsor service suppliers that either work for you or are self-employed overseas.

You can send them to the UK to provide a service to a UK business. The service must be linked to the UK’s international trade commitments.

Service suppliers need:

  • An eligible job (gov.uk). Alternatively, certain qualifications and experience
  • To have worked for your overseas business or as self-employed overseas for 12 months
  • To provide a service under a contract covered by an international trade agreement
  • To provide a service to a business approved by the Home Office
  • A certificate of sponsorship
  • Savings of at least £1270, unless an exception applies
  • A tuberculosis test, if from a listed country (gov.uk)

Visas under this route are usually granted for six to 12 months.

Service suppliers can return to the UK for more work if they meet the requirements.

Partners and children can apply to join a service supplier in the UK.

Read about Service Supplier visas (gov.uk)

To sponsor a worker under a Global Business Mobility visa, you need a sponsor licence.

Read about applying for a sponsor licence.

You’ll need to show you:

  • Can offer jobs that meet the requirements of the relevant visa
  • Are linked to an overseas business
  • If applying on the UK Expansion Worker route, meet the additional requirements (gov.uk)

If you have a licence to sponsor workers, you can apply online to add the Global Business Mobility route(s) to your licence (gov.uk)

You need a worker sponsor licence to sponsor a senior or specialist worker. There’s a fee of:

  • £536 for small or charitable organisations
  • £1476 for medium or large organisations

You need a temporary worker sponsor licence to sponsor a Global Business Mobility worker. There’s a fee of £536.

You’ll also need to pay an Immigration Skills Charge.

Small or charitable organisations pay £364 for the first 12 months. There’s a fee of £182 for every six-month period after that.

Medium or large organisations pay £1000 for the first 12 months. There’s a fee of £500 for every six-month period after that.

The fee to give a certificate of sponsorship is:

  • £239 for senior or specialist workers
  • £25 for all other Global Business Mobility routes

How to apply for a visa

Workers can apply online for a specific Global Business Mobility visa from outside the UK.

Workers can apply to switch to a specific Global Business Mobility visa if they meet the requirements.

In some cases, workers can extend a Global Business Mobility visa from inside the UK.

To apply, Global Business Mobility workers need to:

  • Meet the requirements of one of the five visa routes
  • Have a certificate of sponsorship from a sponsor
  • Fill in an online form
  • Pay the application fee
  • Pay the Immigration Health Surcharge to use the NHS
  • Prove their identity
  • Have a tuberculosis test if they're from a listed country (gov.uk)
  • Send their supporting evidence to the Home Office

To prove their identity, workers can:

  • Use the UK: Immigration ID Check smartphone application
  • Have their fingerprints and photograph taken at a visa application centre

A certificate of sponsorship automatically expires after three months. A worker must apply for a visa within three months from the date on the certificate.

Who can apply for a visa

Each Global Business Mobility visa has its own criteria.

Global Business Mobility workers must:

  • Be 18 or over
  • Meet the skill-level requirement of the specific route
  • Have worked for an overseas business (the sponsor) for at least 12 months, unless an exception applies
  • Be paid in line with the requirements of the specific route

Workers need sponsorship for all five visas.

Who is suitable for a visa

Workers will need to be ‘suitable’ for a visa.

The Home Office will look at:

  • Their character
  • If they have followed UK immigration rules in the past
  • Any criminal records

How much it costs to apply

There’s a fee of:

  • £719 - £1420 for a Senior or Specialist Worker visa
  • £298 for all other Global Business Mobility routes
  • £1035 per year for an Immigration Health Surcharge to the use the NHS

How long it takes to apply

Processing times are published online.

At the moment:

  • Applications from inside the UK are taking eight weeks
  • Applications from outside the UK are taking three weeks

If you need advice on whether you can switch to a Global Business Mobility visa from another visa, we recommend booking a one-to-one appointment with us.

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