Share Now
on May 3, 2024
Read Time: 9 Minutes
For non-UK nationals who aspire to come over to this Western European country in order to both live here and grow a business, attempting to decide between the various potentially relevant UK immigration routes may understandably be daunting. So, if this describes your situation as a prospective migrant to the UK, our experts in UK immigration law here at Cranbrook Legal decided that for today’s blog article, they would focus on just two options that may intrigue you: the Expansion Worker visa, versus self-sponsorship.
Having only launched on Monday 11th April 2022 as one of five then-new UK immigration routes under the “Global Business Mobility” (GBM) banner, the Expansion Worker visa might still be relatively unfamiliar to many people from outside the UK.
The Expansion Worker visa category was introduced as a pathway for overseas workers to carry out temporary work assignments in the UK, as part of an expansion of their employer’s business to the UK. To put it another way, it is a visa that enables the visa holder to come to the UK to set up a branch of an overseas business that has not yet begun to trade in the UK. If, then, an eligible business from outside the UK is interested in deploying senior personnel to the UK to enable them to establish the first UK branch or subsidiary of that company, and the visa applicant complies with certain criteria (for example, doing a job that is on the list of eligible occupations, and having already worked for the given employer outside the UK), the Expansion Worker visa could be an excellent choice.
Although the Expansion Worker visa effectively replaced the unsponsored sole representative provisions of the Representative of an Overseas Business visa route, it is a sponsored route, in common with the four other GBM visa categories.
This requirement for sponsorship is one of the key things the Expansion Worker visa has in common with the self-sponsorship visa. However, in the case of the Expansion Worker route, the company that acts as a sponsor for the visa applicant will need to be an already-established overseas business – specifically, it will need to have been trading for at least three years (albeit, without having started to trade in the UK yet).
By contrast, given that taking the UK self-sponsorship route typically means the successful applicant actually receiving a Skilled Worker visa (as we will explain further below), the employer that sponsors the migrant to come to the UK via self-sponsorship theoretically could be quite a young, or start-up, business.
Bear in mind, however, that if you do opt for self-sponsorship, and need to ensure a UK start-up business that will be employing you can get approved for a sponsor licence, there may be different documents that the start-up company needs to provide, compared to a non-start-up business. The Home Office will also undertake different checks for such younger companies, compared to those required for longer-established businesses.
When a business is seeking to be granted a sponsor licence so that it can recruit foreign nationals on the Skilled Worker visa, the Home Office defines the business as being a start-up if it has been trading or operating in the UK for less than 18 months on the date it submits its sponsor licence application.
If you are confused or uncertain about any of these requirements and the criteria that may apply in your particular circumstances, please call the Cranbrook Legal team today, on 0208 215 0053. You are also welcome to complete and submit our online form to arrange a free consultation with us.
One of the most important points to make about the UK self-sponsorship visa, is that there isn’t officially any such thing as a “self-sponsorship visa”. This is why no visa with that title is mentioned in official sources such as the UK Government’s GOV.UK website, for example.
The term “self-sponsorship visa”, then, is an informal one used by UK immigration specialists such as our own team at Cranbrook Legal. It refers to the practice of someone essentially sponsoring themselves to come over to the UK to work for a UK-based business.
With “self-sponsorship” not officially being a concept in UK immigration law, it might not be feasible for everyone to “self-sponsor” themselves to move to the UK.
For some foreign nationals, however, it might well be possible to establish or invest in a UK-based business, with this business – once it has been granted a sponsor licence by the Home Office – sponsoring the applicant for a Skilled Worker visa.
When executed correctly, the self-sponsored route in the UK is entirely legal. Our award-winning legal professionals at Cranbrook Legal can project-manage the process, working closely with you and your UK-based business, so that you can relocate to the UK on a Skilled Worker visa and benefit from all the rights this visa gives you.
The basic application processes for the Expansion Worker visa and the Skilled Worker visa are similar. For both visa routes, a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) needs to be assigned by the employer, before the given overseas national (and prospective employee) submits a visa application.
In the case of both visa categories, the job that the applicant is seeking to do in the UK will need to be on the UK Government’s relevant list of eligible occupations. Furthermore, applicants for either route will be required to be paid the Home Office’s minimum salary threshold for the work that they will be doing.
As we referenced above, however, individuals seeking an Expansion Worker visa will need to have already worked for their existing non-UK employer outside the UK. They will need to have worked for this employer for a minimum of 12 months outside the UK, unless one of the following is true:
The general salary requirement for the Expansion Worker visa is that the applicant must be paid a minimum of £48,500 per year or the “going rate” for their job – whichever is higher. An applicant seeking to determine whether their job is eligible for this visa will need to know its four-digit occupation code, which they can obtain from their employer or CoS. They will then be able to check the UK Government’s list of eligible jobs, to discover whether it is included.
Candidates for the Skilled Worker visa, too, will need to be mindful of both job eligibility and salary requirements. Again, the prospective migrant will need to know the four-digit occupation code for their job, and there is a list of eligible occupations that they can check for eligibility.
The Skilled Worker visa has been in the news lately, due to the significantly hiked minimum salary requirement that took effect in April 2024.
Presuming the candidate for this visa did not get their CoS prior to 4th April, they will need to be paid the minimum “standard” salary rate for the type of work they will be doing. This minimum “standard” salary is one of the following, whichever is higher:
The UK Expansion Worker visa and the Skilled Worker visa also have a lot in common when it comes to what holders of the given visa are allowed to do.
If you come to the UK on an Expansion Worker visa, for instance, this will entitle you to work for the sponsor in the job described in your CoS. Similarly, a Skilled Worker visa would give you the right to work in an eligible job. In the case of both visas, the holder will only be able to switch to another job in the UK if they are eligible and apply to update their visa.
Whether you opt for the Expansion Worker visa or the self-sponsorship Skilled Worker visa, a positive decision on your application from the Home Office would give you the right to study, do voluntary work, and travel in and out of the UK. Either of these visas would also give you the option of bringing your partner and children with you to the UK as your “dependants”, subject to them meeting the relevant eligibility criteria.
However, while having a Skilled Worker visa would enable you to take on additional work in certain circumstances, the Expansion Worker visa would not grant you any right to do a second job during your time in the UK.
You should bear in mind, too, that the Skilled Worker visa can provide a pathway for the visa holder to eventually settle permanently in the UK – a status known as “indefinite leave to remain” (ILR) – once they have lived in the UK for five years (and presuming they satisfy the other eligibility criteria for this).
If you were to come to the UK on an Expansion Worker visa instead, this visa category would not give you a direct route to settling in the UK. Indeed, if you wish to stay in the UK at all after your Expansion Worker visa expires – the maximum allowable time in the UK on this visa being two years – you will need to switch to an alternative visa category, such as the Skilled Worker visa (which could then, of course, provide a pathway to permanent settlement in the UK).
As we touched on above, one of the potential issues with the Expansion Worker visa from the perspective of aspiring migrants to the UK, is its relatively short duration. This visa gives successful applicants the right to stay in the UK for whichever is the shorter of:
Although holders of the Expansion Worker visa may be able to have their visa extended by a further 12 months, they will only be able to spend a total time of two years in the UK as a holder of this visa. So, any ambition to spend longer than this in the UK will necessitate the visa holder switching to an alternative visa route once those two years end.
The Skilled Worker visa, on the other hand, can last for as long as five years before the holder is required to extend it. Holders of this visa are also entitled to extend it as many times as they wish, provided that they continue to meet the eligibility requirements.
Furthermore, the Skilled Worker visa provides a possible route to settling permanently in the UK after five years, whereas the Expansion Worker visa does not (unless a holder of the latter visa eventually switches to another UK visa that does set out a potential pathway to ILR).
Would you like to discuss in greater detail how the self-sponsorship and Expansion Worker visa categories differ, and the steps that you might take to relocate to the UK on either of these visas (or a completely different immigration route)? If so, please contact our experts in UK immigration law at Cranbrook Legal, whether by filling in and submitting our free consultation form or calling 0208 215 0053.
How Can We Help You?
