15 October 2021

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has published a report on the Intra-Company Transfer (ICT) and Intra-Company Graduate Trainee (ICGT) routes, setting out an extensive list of recommendations. Whilst in some areas the MAC recommends the Home Office to maintain the status quo, in others it proposes significant changes to the current provisions. We take a look at some of the more noteworthy recommendations.

Changes to salary thresholds
To apply for the ICT route, an applicant must earn at least £41,500 per year or the “going rate”, whichever is higher. The MAC recommends that the salary threshold be increased to £42,400. This is in line with the median annual gross wage of occupations at Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) level 6 or above (equivalent to graduate level occupations) in the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE). The MAC also recommends that the salary threshold and “going rate” be updated annually.

The MAC does not put forward any revisions to the higher-earner threshold, which is currently set at £73,900 per year but does recommend that this be updated annually.

As for the ICGT visa, the MAC recommends that the salary thresholds be revised downwards to match the level of a graduate entrant (or “new entrant”) in the Skilled Worker (SW) route. This is the higher of £20,480 or 70% of the “going rate” for the occupation code. The current salary threshold for ICGT is £23,000.

Immigration health surcharge
The MAC recommends that the immigration health surcharge (IHS) continues to be levied on the ICT, subject to any trade agreement precluding this. One such agreement is the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement which prevents the IHS from being applied to EU nationals from 1 January 2023. This will be a significant saving for employers, with the IHS costing £3,120 (£624 per year) for a five-year visa.

Increased scrutiny of allowances
Allowances paid by employers to ICT workers may be included as part of the workers’ salary threshold assessments. The MAC recommends that the Home Office take a more proactive approach to scrutinising any allowances paid. This may be done via enhanced data sharing with the HMRC, a move which the Home Office previously alluded to in its sponsorship roadmap.

Separately, the MAC also recommends that the Home Office takes a stricter approach to compliance to determine whether there is “widespread abuse of the rules”. Again, this is something which the Home Office mentioned in its sponsorship roadmap, with a key focus of compliance checks set to be reported salaries.

Route to settlement
Whilst switching to other routes, such as Skilled Worker, is now permitted under the ICT, any time spent on this route does not count towards settlement. The ‘settlement clock’ does not start to run until an ICT employee has switched to an eligible route.

The MAC recommends that this restriction be removed, so that an ICT employee does not need to switch route in order to settle. The MAC goes further to say that the ICT route itself should lead to settlement.

Introduction of new subsidiary route
The MAC recommends the Home Office introduce a new subsidiary route to overcome the shortcoming of the Representative of an overseas business route (RoBR). The new visa would be limited to a maximum of two years and five team members, one of which must meet the criteria of the RoBR whilst the others must meet the SW criteria. The MAC has said that it is willing to support the Home Office with the trial of this new route.

Introduction of secondments
The MAC proposes that a secondment route be established that has a strict set of criteria, namely that the contract value be in excess of £50 million, that the overseas business be in operation for at least 12 months, and that the visa be issued for a maximum of 12 months with the possibility of a single renewal.

Review short-term assignments
The MAC does not recommend that the Home Office reinstate the previous ICT short-term route. Instead, it recommends that the Home Office introduce a new short-term assignment route and amend the current Visitor rules to facilitate short-term visits for essential work.

Maintaining the status quo
There are a number of areas which the MAC does not recommend changing, these include the English language requirement, the skills threshold, and the length of time an employee is required to have worked overseas to be eligible for the ICT.

Of course, it remains to be seen when, or if, the Home Office adopts the MAC’s recommendations. If it does, it could mean sweeping changes for ICT employees and employers.

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.