The new visa will enable an overseas business to temporarily send an employee to the UK for a specific corporate purpose that could not be done by a resident worker. It will also require employers to sponsor the workers they are bringing in under this route.

Who will be able to use the Global Business Mobility route?

The Global Business Mobility visa will be an umbrella category for the following five types of temporary workers from overseas firms:

1. Senior or specialist worker to meet specific business needs.

2. Graduate trainee as part of a training programme.

3. Secondment worker to UK firms in high value contracts or investments.

4. Service supplier to the UK in line with UK trade agreements.

5. UK expansion worker to establish a UK presence.

This new route reforms existing visas such as the Intra-Company Transfer and Intra-Company Graduate Trainee visas, Representative of an Overseas Business and Temporary Work – International Agreement. For example, the current Representative of an Overseas Business rule allows an overseas company to send only one person to the UK. Alternatively, the new proposed UK expansion worker category will allow companies to send a small team of employees to the UK.