The UK's new Global Business Mobility visa will target overseas businesses looking to set up a business in the UK or transfer their staff to the UK. The origins can be traced back to March 2021, when Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak announced in his budget speech that the government would implement ambitious immigration reforms to help UK businesses attract the best international talent, aiming to reduce the UK's exposure to the "brain drain" and achieve a bigger vision of innovation by 2035.
What is the Global Business Activity Visa?
Then, in July 2021, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy published the UK Innovation Strategy – Leading the Future by Creating Innovation, which reveals the direction of reform for several new immigration policies, as well as some proposed amendments to existing immigration pathways, including the introduction of new global business activity visas. It is expected to be launched in the spring of 2022. Next, we look at the actual operation of the new visa and the impact on the chief representative visa.
Although the specific details have yet to be announced, according to people familiar with the matter, the new visa will not only be based on the existing framework of internal transfer (ICT) visas, but also integrate ICT and other business activity visas into a single visa.
When certain specific matters of an overseas business in the UK cannot be carried out by local resident employees, they can temporarily dispatch overseas employees to the UK through a new visa.
The types of resident employees will be divided into the following five categories:
1. Senior or professional staff;
2. Graduate intern;
3. Expansion of employees in the UK;
4. Secondment of employees;
5. Service Providers.
The main requirements for the new visa
1. UK businesses receiving overseas employees will need a certificate of sponsorship or sponsorship licence;
2. The job must meet the appropriate skill and wage thresholds;
3. The employee must be an existing employee and have been employed overseas for more than a period of time;
4. Residency will be temporary and flexible, and employees will be able to switch to the permanent visa category;
5. There will be no English language requirement.
The new visa will require the employer to be responsible for sponsoring employees accredited to the UK, which may include the following:
1. Overseas companies with established operations in the UK have staff in the UK for the following reasons:
(1) The professional skills possessed by the employee and the ability to perform a specific job for the UK branch;
(2) Employees are senior executives and must work in a branch office in the UK;
(3) Employees are graduate interns and internships in the UK are part of the training program.
2. Overseas businesses that do not have an established business in the UK have staff in the UK for the following reasons:
(1) Employees who are experts or senior employees who are assigned to the UK on assignments as part of the expansion of their UK operations;
(2) The employee is seconded to a UK branch for a specific job (e.g. knowledge transfer related to high-value imports and exports);
(3) Employees who are service providers travel to the UK to provide certain types of services in order to comply with UK trade commitments (e.g. international trade agreements).
Overseas employee applicants are required to provide the following proof:
(1) Responsible for the enterprise that dispatches this employee to the Uk;
(2) the enterprise responsible for receiving this employee, and will provide sponsorship for the visa application;
(3) There is a commercial relationship between two businesses (e.g. co-ownership, contracts for goods or services or UK expansion plans).
According to the Home Office, the advantages of the Global Business Activity Visa over the Chief Representative visa without sponsorship requirements include the ability of overseas companies to have more than one employee and the ability to manage the assigned employees through a guarantee management system.
The birth of the new Global Business Activity Visa means that several existing visa categories related to overseas employee transfers and secondments will likely be replaced. Of course, the new policy has not yet been introduced at this stage, but the "Expanding UK Business Employees" category of the five categories of resident employees mentioned above seems to be very likely to replace the existing Chief Representative visa as an upgraded version of the visa.
Tips: I'm considering the Chief Representative visa, how do I plan to maximize the benefits?
In view of the fact that the specific rules of the global business visa have not yet been announced, if you are planning or are preparing to apply for the chief representative visa, it is recommended to prepare the materials before the end of the year, and after the introduction of the new visa rules, decide whether to choose the new policy, or stick to the old policy, to achieve offensive and defensive.
The Uk's immigration bill has always been known for its rigor, according to the experience of past changes, after the introduction of the new policy, it will often leave a window period of several months for the old government, so that applicants who prepare the old government can still submit it in accordance with the old policy, and in the subsequent renewal and permanent residence nodes, it will still be processed according to the rules of the old government.
Therefore, prepare in advance to maximize the opportunity of choice.
Ruifeng Deyong reminds everyone again
As the specific details of the new visa are still to be announced, please note that all of the above information, including the time it is expected to be launched in the spring of 2022, may eventually change due to changes in government policy or other reasons.