Global Business Mobility Route UK consists of five different types of UK work visas. These visas are designed for employees of overseas companies to enter or remain temporarily in the UK to undertake specific types of work or assignments in the country. When the Global Business Mobility Route was introduced, it was reformed and expanded on previous UK work and business visas. This route aims to allow overseas organisations to pursue UK-based opportunities by enabling them to deploy certain types of workers to carry out specific types of work.
The Global Business Mobility Route comprises the following five visas:
1. Senior or Specialist Worker – This is a visa for employees with specialist knowledge to come to or stay in an eligible job with their employer’s UK branch.
2. Graduate Trainee – This visa is for graduates to come to or stay in the UK on specialised training programmes for their employer’s UK branch.
3. UK Expansion Worker – This visa is for employees to come to the UK or stay in the UK to set up a new UK presence for an overseas company.
4. Service Supplier – This visa is for employees of overseas companies or self-employed professionals based overseas to come to the UK to deliver specific services to a UK company under a contract.
5. Secondment Worker – This visa is for employees who are being transferred to the UK temporarily to work for a different organization in the UK.
As you can see, each of these visas is for different objectives.
Out of these five visas, a UK expansion worker visa is for employees of overseas businesses to come or stay in the UK to set up a branch of their overseas business in the UK legally. This visa replaced the previous Representative of an Overseas Business visa and can only be used by overseas businesses that have not yet begun trading in the UK.
The UK Expansion Worker visa under the Global Business Mobility route is for overseas employees looking to undertake temporary assignments in the UK. The employee must be either a senior manager or a specialist employee who is being assigned to the UK to assist with setting up a branch of their overseas business in the UK legally. In other words, a UK Expansion Worker visa allows a senior manager or specialist employee to come to the UK to set up a branch of their overseas business that has not started trading in the UK yet.
In this article, we are going to discuss how to set up a branch of your overseas business in the UK legally.
Out of several business types in the UK, you must select a type that best fits your company’s structure. A business structure will affect your company in many aspects, including taxation, personal liability, and the amount of administrative work you must perform.
You can choose from the following:
Limited Liability Partnership Firm (LLP)
Limited Liability Company
Limited company
The company will be a subsidiary, which means the shares will be held by overseas company.
To set up a UK branch of your overseas business, it is first necessary to register your branch with Companies House, the UK registrar of companies. You are required to give your UK branch a name under which you are planning to trade in the UK. Your branch name may be the original company name or an alternative title.
You’ll also need to secure Articles of Association and your VAT registration through the HMRC.
You should seek advice from experts who specialize in registering overseas companies in the UK, as the application needed to register a UK branch of your overseas company is relatively complex, and along with the registration fee, you will also need to submit supporting documents.
You will need to first apply for a sponsor licence under the Global Business Mobility route in the UK. This is required because you need a non-UK employee of your business overseas to come to the UK to set up your business’s first branch here. An employee of your company can only be assigned this task if you assign them a Certificate of Sponsorship to work in the UK.
In order to apply and obtain a sponsor licence, you must meet the eligibility criteria for the licence. For example, your business must be a genuine entity, there must be a genuine job requirement, you must offer them a salary that meets the required threshold, and there must be systems in place to comply with your sponsor’s duties as set out by the Home Office.
To set up a UK branch, you must recruit an employee from your company to do this job. Only a senior manager or specialist employee of the company can apply for a UK expansion worker visa. For this visa, they need to meet the following eligibility criteria:
They must have a valid CoS (certificate of sponsorship) from their overseas employer – You must sponsor your employee by assigning them a ‘certificate of sponsorship’ with information about the role they will do in the UK.
The employee must apply for a UK expansion worker visa within 3 months of getting their certificate of sponsorship.
They have worked for their employer outside the UK – The employee must have worked for their employer for at least 12 months outside of the UK unless they meet one of the following criteria:
• They are earning over £73,900
• They are a national of Japan doing work for a Japanese company that is setting up its branch in the UK
• They are national or permanent resident of Australia doing work for an Australian company that is expanding to the UK
They must be offered a job that’s on the list of eligible occupations – You must offer the expansion worker an eligible job. Each occupation has its 4-digit occupation code. You can share the code with the worker, or they can get it from their certificate of sponsorship.
To know if a job is eligible, the employees can view the table of eligible jobs.
They must be paid the minimum salary required for their job - You must pay your employee at least £52,500 per year or the ‘going rate’ for the job - whichever is higher.
Each occupation has its own annual going rate, which can be checked in the going rates table.
They can stay in the UK to set up their employer’s overseas business’s branch in the UK, with a UK Expansion Worker visa under the Global Business Mobility route for whichever is shorter of:
• 12 months after the start date of their job
• The time given on their CoS plus 14 days
If your sponsored UK expansion worker wants to stay longer in the UK, they can extend their visa by 12 months. The maximum time they can stay in the UK on a UK Expansion Worker visa is 2 years.
Looking at the huge opportunities available in the UK, you may wish to establish a branch office in the UK. But setting up a branch of your overseas business in the UK can be challenging. You need to set up a separate legal company, obtain a sponsor licence and employ workers, and understand the UK’s employment law. Hence, getting all the details right before you notify Companies House of your registration is important for you.
At Visa and Migration, our team has the expertise and experience to handle UK immigration and employment law. Our expert can help you navigate the branch setup process and ensure that you successfully establish a branch of your overseas business in the UK.
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