Global Business Mobility route: what we know so far

22 December 2021

The Spring 2022 launch of a new business immigration route, the Global Business Mobility (GBM) visa, is fast approaching. The route is being pitched by the Home Office as creating new and slicker provisions for overseas businesses seeking to establish a UK subsidiary or temporarily transfer specialised employees to the UK through a client, supplier or their own UK office. Here’s how it is expected to work and how it may differ from existing routes.

Overview
The new route aims to consolidate some of the existing immigration routes to make it easier for overseas companies to set up a UK office or transfer staff to the UK.

As part of its plan to achieve this, the Home Office has indicated that it will create five sub-categories within the GBM route, some of which may be familiar to existing sponsor licence holders. These categories would be:

  • Senior or specialist worker – sent to the linked UK entity to meet a specific business need, for example to carry out the UK expansion of the business;
  • Graduate trainee – transferred to the UK as part of a training programme;
  • UK expansion worker – sent to establish a presence in the UK to facilitate expansion;
  • Secondment employee – transferred to a UK firm in high-value contracts or investments or sent to the UK entity for specific business purposes; and
  • Service supplier – sent to a UK client in the UK to provide a service in line with a UK trade agreement.

Companies will need a sponsor licence for the Senior or specialist worker and Graduate trainee categories.

As announced in its strategy statement for the New Plan for Immigration in late 2021, the Home Office may not only be regrouping existing work immigration categories, but also introducing some interesting changes under the new route. A new element to the GBM visa route is a specific route for secondments and groups of individuals to be sent to the UK from an overseas branch to set up a presence in the UK or expand an existing UK business.

Who could be eligible?
Requirements include:

  • a mandatory sponsor licence for UK businesses receiving workers;
  • minimum skill level for each job – it is not clear whether the higher Intra Company Transfer route skill threshold will continue to apply;
  • salary threshold for UK roles;
  • transferring workers must be existing employees with a minimum period of employment overseas; and
  • assignments will be temporary but flexible and workers should be able to switch to permanent immigration categories from within the UK (potentially counting time already spent under the GBM route towards settlement).

There may not be an English language requirement.

Applicants will need to demonstrate there is be a sponsor business in the UK receiving them, that they are being sent to the UK by an overseas entity and that there is a business relationship between the two.

What would be different?

IN

OUT

·       Overseas businesses to send groups of up to five individuals to the UK to set up a UK entity and work on expansion – this could include a senior executive and four team members;

·       secondees to be sent to the UK for specific business needs regarding high value import or export contracts and potentially staying for an extended period of time; and

·       business visitor secondments could be extended beyond six months – this would only apply to contracts of more than £50 million.

 

·       Overseas business to send a single experienced representative to the UK to set up a UK entity and work on expansion;

·       overseas clients of UK import companies to send secondees to the UK for up to six months; and

·       business visitors not allowed to work for the UK entity.

 

What else can we expect?
The Home Office is currently finalising the route and is exploring ways to minimise the evidential burden on applicants and sponsors wishing to use it. Via this new route, there is the possibility of greater flexibility being introduced for businesses to establish their offices in the UK or continuing their business relationships with their clients and suppliers in the country. If overseas companies with no presence in the UK were to be permitted to apply for their sponsor licences abroad, some interesting scenarios could play out. The Home Office would be dealing with the new cost and burden of monitoring the compliance of sponsor licence holders based outside the UK, among other things.

In the coming months, we can expect further clarification from the Home Office on how individuals and companies will be able to apply under the GBM route and permitted activities as a GBM migrant in the UK. By Spring 2022, the Home Office should also elucidate the potential sponsor licence system for overseas businesses and how it plans to carry out compliance checks going forward.

Get in touch
To learn more about forthcoming changes to UK immigration law, see our website, contact your assigned LDI lawyer or email enquiries@lauradevine.com.

Nicolette Bostock


Senior Solicitor

Ilaria Iovieno


Trainee solicitor


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