UK Expansion Worker visa

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About UK Expansion Worker visas

You can send your senior or specialist workers to the UK to expand your business.

Their work must be connected to expanding your business in the UK.

You can only sponsor workers under this route if you have not yet started trading in the UK.

The UK Expansion Worker visa is one of five Global Business Mobility routes. Read about the Global Business Mobility visas.

We’ll cover both the requirements to sponsor and apply for a UK Expansion Worker visa.

UK Expansion Worker visa sponsor licence

If you’re an overseas business, you’ll need a sponsor licence to sponsor an expansion worker.

If you already have a sponsor licence, you can apply online to add the UK Expansion Worker route to your licence (gov.uk)

You’ll need:

• A UK ‘footprint’
• A trading presence abroad
• Credible plans to expand and set up a trading presence in the UK within two years

UK footprint

You can only sponsor a UK Expansion Worker if you have not yet started trading in the UK. However, you must have a UK ‘footprint’.

This means that your overseas business has either:

• Business premises in the UK
• A registered branch or subsidiary with Companies House in the UK

Trading presence outside of the UK

You’ll need to show you:

• Are actively trading abroad, unless an exception applies
• Were actively trading abroad during the 12 months before you applied
• Were actively trading for three years before you applied

Read the list of documents you can provide to evidence a trading presence outside the UK (gov.uk)

A credible expansion plan

You’ll need to show you:

• Genuinely intend, and are able, to expand to the UK
• Can establish a trading presence within two years

You must be expanding in the same type of work you’ve been doing overseas. You can’t use this visa for new business plans.

Read about credible expansion plans for UK Expansion Worker visas (gov.uk)

A UK Expansion Worker licence is valid for four years. It cannot be renewed.

With a licence, you can give workers a certificate of sponsorship.

There’s a fee of £25 for giving a certificate of sponsorship. You’ll be able to sponsor up to five people at a time.

How to apply for a visa

Workers can apply online from outside the UK (gov.uk)

Workers can apply to switch to a UK Expansion Worker visa from inside the UK, if they meet the requirements (gov.uk)

Workers can apply to extend a UK Expansion Worker visa from inside the UK, if they meet the requirements (gov.uk)

To apply, expansion workers need to:

• Get a certificate of sponsorship from their sponsor
• Fill in an online form
• Pay the application fee
• Pay an Immigration Health Surcharge to use the NHS
• Prove their identity
• 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

To apply, expansion workers need to:

• Be 18 or over
• Have an eligible job (gov.uk)
• Have worked for their sponsor abroad for at least 12 months, unless: 
  • They earn more than £73,900
  • They are a national of Japan and work for a Japanese company that is expanding in the UK
  • They are a national or resident of Australia and work for an Australian company that is expanding to the UK
• Have the higher of: an annual salary of at least £45,800 or the ‘going rate’ for the job (gov.uk)
• Have savings of £1270 for at least 28 days before they apply, unless they’re exempt, or you can cover their expenses for the first month as their sponsor
• Have a tuberculosis test, if from a listed country (gov.uk)

Who is suitable for a visa

Workers need to be 'suitable' for a UK Expansion Worker visa.

The Home Office will look at:

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

Dependants

Partners and children can apply to join an expansion worker in the UK, if they meet the requirements. They can apply online (gov.uk)

A partner includes:

• A spouse
• A civil partner
• An unmarried partner, if they have been in a relationship for at least two years

 A child can be:

• Under 18, or
• Over 18 if they’re already in the UK as a worker’s dependant

The worker will need to pay extra fees for a partner or children. They’ll also need to show evidence to prove their family relationship. Read the requirements for a partner or children of a UK Expansion Worker (gov.uk)

How much it costs to apply

There’s a fee of £298.

There’s an Immigration Health Surcharge to use the NHS of £1035 per year of the visa.

How long it takes to apply

Processing times are published online (gov.uk)

At the moment:

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

Outcomes

Visas are usually granted for up to two years. They cannot be extended for longer than two years.

If a worker has already spent time in the UK on this or another visa, they might not be able to stay on a UK Expansion Worker visa for the full two years.

If their application is unsuccessful, there’s no right of appeal. We recommend getting legal advice about applying for an administrative review or judicial review.

If you need advice on whether someone can switch to an Expansion Worker visa from another visa, we recommend booking a free one-to-one appointment with us.

Photo credit: Scottish Enterprise