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UNITED KINGDOM: Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules March 2022 | Business Routes
March 18, 2022
Following the Home Office’s Statement of Changes of 15 March 2022, in this alert we focus on those scheduled changes to the Immigration Rules providing new routes for individuals coming to the UK for business purposes under both sponsored and non-sponsored routes.
New Global Business Mobility routes and upgrade to existing routes
As part of the UK Government’s “Plan for Growth changes” initiative, new Global Business Mobility routes (see 1-5 below) have been created in order to replace existing business mobility provisions, including the creation of a new provision for secondments (see 2 below), as well as the tightening-up and expansion of existing routes (see 6-9 below).
We will now explore, in turn, each of these developments.
1. Graduate Trainee route
Effective from: 09:00 on 11 April 2022
Summary of new route: this route is primarily there to replace the Intra Company Graduate Trainee route currently used by UK sponsors. It is designed for overseas workers who are undertaking temporary work assignments in the UK, where the worker is on a graduate training course leading to a senior management or specialist position, and is required to complete a work placement in the UK.
Analysis: the route adopts much of the same requirements as the previous Intra Company Graduate Trainee route and, as such, it is not a route to settlement, but applicants can bring their dependant partner and children under the age of 18.
Applicants will be required to obtain 60 points for the following:
Requirement |
Points |
Notes |
| Sponsorship | 20 | This requires a valid Certificate of Sponsorship for the role being sponsored for, as issued by a permitted sponsor.
The applicant should currently be working for the sponsor group and have worked outside the UK for the sponsor group for a continuous period of at least 3 months immediately before the date of application. A “sponsor group” means the sponsor and any business or organisation that is linked to the sponsor by common ownership or control, or by a joint venture on which the applicant is sponsored to work and should be linked to the sponsors licence before an application is made. |
| Job at an appropriate skill level | 20 | The role needs to fall within an accepted occupation code (also known as a “SOC code”). The job must be part of a structured graduate training programme, with clearly defined progression towards a managerial or specialist role within the sponsor organisation. |
| Salary at required level | 20 | The applicant must be paid at least GBP 23,100 per year and 70% of the going rate for their job type. If the applicant is being sponsored for a job in one of the health or education occupation codes the going rate requirement is 100% of the pro-rated going rate.
Salary can include guaranteed basic gross pay and allowances which are guaranteed to be paid for the duration of the applicant’s employment in the UK (such as London weighting) or are paid as a mobility premium or to cover the additional cost of living in the UK. |
Applicants will still need to meet a financial requirement as part of their visa application. This will automatically be met if either they have been living in the UK with permission for 12 months or longer on the date of application, they can show their own personal funds, or rely on a certification of maintenance on their certificate of sponsorship.
Permission will usually be granted for one year after the start date of the job detailed in the Certificate of Sponsorship. Applicants who are refused under this route will need to follow the Administrative Review process.
2. Secondment Worker
Effective from: 09:00 on 11 April 2022
Summary of new route: this route is for overseas workers who are undertaking temporary work assignments in the UK, where the worker is being seconded to the UK as part of a high value contract or investment by their employer overseas. This is a new immigration route, for which sponsors will need to be authorised, and cannot be used to supply resources to vacant roles for third parties. Nor can this route be used to fill an ongoing routine role or to provide an ongoing routine service for third parties, regardless of the nature or length of any arrangement between the sponsor and the third party.
Analysis: This route shall be offered to applicants who are coming to work in the UK on select contracts. It is not a route to settlement, but applicants can bring their dependant partner and children under the age of 18. It is expected that “high value contract or investment” are terms that will be defined once Home Office guidance for the new route is published.
Applicants will be required to obtain 40 points for the following:
Requirement |
Points |
Notes |
| Sponsorship | 20 | This requires a valid Certificate of Sponsorship for the role being sponsored for, as issued by a permitted sponsor. The sponsor must have a registered contract with an overseas business.
The applicant should currently be working for the overseas business that has a contract with the sponsor that has been registered with the Home Office by the sponsor (it is expected that the registration process will be clarified in Home Office guidance for the new route) and has worked outside the UK for that overseas business for a cumulative period of at least 12 months |
| Skill Level
|
20
|
The role needs to fall within an accepted occupation code |
Applicants will still need to meet a financial requirement as part of their visa application. This will automatically be met if either they have been living in the UK with permission for 12 months or longer on the date of application, they can show their own personal fund, or rely on a certification of maintenance on their certificate of sponsorship. This route allows for an initial grant of up to 12 months and can be extended by up to two years.
3. Senior or Specialist Worker
Effective from: 09:00 on 11 April 2022
Summary of new route: this route is primarily introduced to replace the current Intra Company route. It is to permit UK sponsors to sponsor overseas workers who are undertaking temporary work assignments in the UK, where the worker is a senior manager or specialist employee and is being assigned to a UK business linked to their employer overseas.
Analysis: The route follows much of the same requirements as the previous Intra Company route and it is not a route to settlement, but applicants can bring their dependant partner and children under the age of 18.
Applicants will be required to obtain 60 points for the following:
Requirement |
Points |
Notes |
| Sponsorship | 20 | This requires a valid Certificate of Sponsorship for the role being sponsored for, as issued by a permitted sponsor.
The applicant should currently be working for the sponsor group and have worked outside the UK for the sponsor group for a continuous period of at least 12 months unless classed as a high earner. A “sponsor group” means the sponsor and any business or organisation that is linked to the sponsor by common ownership or control, or by a joint venture on which the applicant is sponsored to work and should be linked to the sponsors licence before an application is made. |
| Job at an appropriate skill level | 20 | The role needs to fall within an accepted occupation code. |
| Salary at required level | 20 | The salary requirement is being increased from 41,500 GBP to 42,400 GBP and “high earners” will need to earn 73,900 GBP or more
Salary can include guaranteed basic gross pay and allowances which are guaranteed to be paid for the duration of the applicant’s employment in the UK (such as London weighting) or are paid as a mobility premium or to cover the additional cost of living in the UK. |
Applicants will still need to meet a financial requirement as part of their visa application. This will automatically be met if either they have been living in the UK with permission for 12 months or longer on the date of application, they can show their own personal fund, or rely on a certification of maintenance on their Certificate of Sponsorship.
Applicants on this route will capped at five years or, if a high earner, nine years. Applicants who are refused under this route will need to follow the Administrative Review process.
4. Global Business Mobility – Service Supplier
Effective from: 0900 on 11 April 2022
Summary of new route: this new route, to replace the Temporary Work – International Agreement route, is for overseas workers wishing to undertake temporary work assignments in the UK, where the worker for at least a cumulative period of 12 months prior to applying is either a contractual service supplier employed by an overseas service provider, or a self-employed independent professional based overseas, and they need to undertake an assignment in the UK to provide services covered by one of the UK’s international trade agreements. It is not a route to settlement, but applicants can bring their dependant partner and children under the age of 18.
Analysis:
Applicants will be required to obtain 40 points for the following:
Requirement |
Points |
Notes |
||||||||||||
| Sponsorship | 20 | This requires a valid Certificate of Sponsorship for the role being sponsored for, as issued by a permitted sponsor.
The applicant should currently be working as or for an overseas service provider for the period required. The sponsor must have a contract with an overseas service provider, where that contract: (a) has been registered with the Home Office; (b) is for a service covered by one of the UK’s international trade agreements; and (c) is the contract on which the applicant will work as a Service Supplier |
||||||||||||
| Job at an appropriate skill level | 20 | Option A: The role needs to fall within an accepted occupation code (also known as a “SOC code”) eligible under the Global Business Mobility routes. | ||||||||||||
Option B: applicant must have a university degree or equivalent level technical qualification unless they are employed by an overseas service provider supplying one of the following services, in which case the qualification requirements in the following table apply:
The applicant must hold any professional qualifications or registrations required to provide the services under UK law or sectoral requirements. The applicant must have professional experience in the sector in which they will supply services as follows: (a) 3 years’ experience; (b) if they are supplying chef de cuisine services under the CARIFORUM-UK Economic Partnership Agreement, 6 years’ experience; or (c) if they are a self-employed overseas service provider, 6 years’ experience |
Applicants will still need to meet a financial requirement as part of their visa application. This will automatically be met if either they have been living in the UK with permission for 12 months or longer on the date of application, they can show their own personal funds, or rely on a certification of maintenance on their certificate of sponsorship.
Permission will usually be granted for six months after the start date of the job detailed in the Certificate of Sponsorship, however in limited circumstances it may be issued for 12 months. Applicants who are refused under this route will need to follow the Administrative Review process.
5. Global Business Mobility – UK Expansion Worker
Effective from: 0900 on 11 April 2022
Summary of new route: this new route, to replace the Sole Representative provisions in the Representative of an Overseas Business route, is for overseas workers who are undertaking temporary work assignments in the UK, where the worker is a senior manager or specialist employee, and is being assigned to the UK to undertake work related to a business’s expansion to the UK. The business cannot have already commenced trading in the UK. It is not a route to settlement, but applicants can bring their dependant partner and children under the age of 18.
Analysis:
Applicants will be required to obtain 60 points for the following:
Requirement |
Points |
Notes |
| Sponsorship | 20 | This requires a valid Certificate of Sponsorship for the role being sponsored for, as issued by a permitted sponsor.
The applicant should currently be working for the sponsor group and have worked outside the UK for the sponsor group for a cumulative period of at least 12 months unless classed as a high earner or a Japanese national seeking to establish a UK branch or subsidiary of the sponsor group under the UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. A “sponsor group” means the sponsor and any business or organisation that is linked to the sponsor by common ownership or control, or by a joint venture on which the applicant is sponsored to work and should be linked to the sponsors licence before an application is made. |
| Skill Level
|
20
|
The role needs to fall within an accepted occupation code. |
| Salary at required level | 20 | The salary for the job for which the applicant is being sponsored must equal or exceed both the general salary requirement (£42,400 per year) and the going rate requirement specific to the accepted occupation code.
Salary can include guaranteed basic gross pay and allowances which are guaranteed to be paid for the duration of the applicant’s employment in the UK (such as London weighting) or are paid as a mobility premium or to cover the additional cost of living in the UK. |
Applicants will still need to meet a financial requirement as part of their visa application. This will automatically be met if either they have been living in the UK with permission for 12 months or longer on the date of application or they can show their own personal funds. This route allows for an initial grant of up to 12 months and can be extended by up to two years.
6. Appendix High Potential Individual (HPI)
Effective from: 0900 on 30 May 2022
Summary of new route: as part of the UK government’s commitment to “an elite points-based route to attract the brightest and best to the UK to maintain our status as a leading international hub for emerging technologies”, this new route is for recent graduates of top global universities, who want to work, or look for work in the UK, following the successful completion of an eligible course of study equivalent to UK bachelor’s degree level or above. The study must have been with an institution listed on the Global Universities List, to be compiled on an annual basis and consists of eligible non-UK institutions that are included in the list of the top 50 universities in at least two of the following ranking systems:
- Times Higher Education World University Rankings
- Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings
- The Academic Ranking of World Universities
It is not a route to settlement, but applicants can bring their dependant partner and children under the age of 18.
Analysis:
Applicants will be required to obtain 70 points for the following:
Requirement |
Points |
Notes |
| Global Universities List degree
requirement |
50 | The applicant must, in the 5 years immediately before the date of the application, have been awarded an overseas degree level academic qualification which Ecctis confirms meets, or exceeds, the recognised standard of a UK bachelor’s or UK postgraduate degree.
The institution at which the applicant was awarded the degree must appear on the Global Universities List in respect of the date the applicant was awarded the degree (this being the date as confirmed by Ecctis) |
| English Language requirement at level B1 | 10 | Unless an exemption applies, the applicant must show English language ability on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages in all 4 components (reading, writing, speaking and listening) of at least level B1 |
| Financial Requirement | 10 | This will automatically be met if either they have been living in the UK with permission for 12 months or longer on the date of application, they can show their own personal funds |
This route allows for a grant of either three years (PhD or other doctoral level qualification) or two years (all other degree qualifications).
7. Minor changes to the existing Skilled Worker route
Effective from: 09:00 on 11 April 2022
Summary of changes: the existing Skilled Worker route is to be amended, updating the minimum salary requirements for certain health and education occupations in line with the latest pay scales.
Analysis: the occupation codes affected cover primarily medical practitioners, pharmacists, dental practitioners, nurses and teaching roles.
8. Expansion and updates to the Seasonal Worker Route
Effective from: 6 April 2022
Summary of changes:
This route is to be revised as follows:
- expanded to include roles in ornamental horticulture (including, but not limited to, growing daffodils, Christmas trees, and also forest nursery workers);
- establishing a new minimum hourly pay requirement of at least £10.10 per hour; and
- removal of all references to poultry production work, haulage driving work involving transportation of food goods, or specified pork butchery work
9. Updates to the Youth Mobility Scheme
Effective from: 6 April 2022
Summary of changes:
This route is to be revised as follows:
- removal of outmoded terms ‘sponsorship’ and ‘deemed sponsorship’ ;
- clarification that those applicants previously referred to those with ‘deemed sponsorship’ as being those nationals who by virtue of their nationality alone and the length of time a bilateral youth mobility agreement had been in place, did not require further assurances from their home government in the form of any sponsorship of their application; and
- clarification of documentary requirements
Organisations and individuals impacted by this development are encouraged to contact a Newland Chase immigration specialist for case-specific advice. For general advice and information on immigration and business travel to the UK, please contact us.
This immigration update is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for legal or scenario-specific advice. Furthermore, it is important to note that immigration announcements are subject to sudden and unexpected changes. Readers are encouraged to reach out to Newland Case for any case- or company-specific assessments.
