Global Business Mobility Visa UK

UK GBM visas offer a work immigration route for overseas employers to temporarily transfer their foreign staff to the country for a specific work assignment that cannot be undertaken by their UK-based employees.

As of 2025, there are five GBM visas: Senior or Specialist Worker visa, Graduate Trainee visa, Secondment Worker visa, Service Supplier visa, and UK Expansion Worker visa. None of these routes lead to a permanent settlement in the UK.

Any time you spent in the UK on these visas will also not count towards the qualifying period of stay required to settle in the country.

While Irish citizens do not need a visa to work in the UK, Irish companies will need to avail the GBM pathway to post their third-country employees in the UK. To this end, the Irish employer must first apply for a GBM sponsor licence in the UK.

Once the employer receives a valid sponsor licence, they will be eligible to assign certificates of sponsorship (CoS) to their foreign staff who will then need to apply for suitable GBM visas.

Page Contents

• What is a Global Business Mobility Visa in the UK?
• Senior or Specialist Worker Visa
• Graduate Trainee Visa
• Secondment Worker Visa
• Service Supplier Visa
• UK Expansion Worker Visa
• How Long Can You Stay in the UK on a Global Business Mobility Visa
• What You Can and Cannot Do on a UK Global Business Mobility Visa
• Dependants on Global Business Mobility Visas
• Eligibility Requirements for UK Global Business Mobility Visas
• How to Apply for a Global Business Mobility visa
• Supporting Documents for a Global Business Mobility visa
• Sponsoring a Global Business Mobility Visa Worker in the UK
• Processing Time and Fees for a Global Business Mobility Visa
• How Can Total Law Help?
• Frequently Asked Questions

If your overseas employee is a senior manager or specialist worker, whom you are assigning to a UK business linked to your company in Ireland to undertake temporary work assignments, they will need to apply for a Senior or Specialist Worker visa.

The Senior or Specialist Worker visa replaced the legacy Intra-Company Transfer visa, formerly known as the Tier 2 (Intra-Company Transfer) Long-term Staff visa.

If the overseas worker is on a graduate training programme leading to a senior management or specialist position, and is required to do a work placement in the UK as part of the said training programme, they must apply for a Graduate Trainee visa. They are assigned to a UK business linked to their Irish employer to undertake temporary work assignments in the country.

The Graduate Trainee visa replaced the legacy Intra-Company Graduate Trainee visa.

A Secondment Worker visa is applicable for foreign workers who are being sent to the UK by their overseas employers to undertake eligible temporary job assignments in a different, UK-based organisation.

An overseas employer must have signed a high value contract (worth at least £50 million) with a UK organisation to send their foreign employees to the UK on secondment.

If the foreign worker is either a contractual service supplier employed by an Irish service provider or a self-employed independent professional based in Ireland, and needs to undertake an assignment in the UK to provide services covered by any of the UK’s international trade agreements (in force or being provisionally applied), they will need to apply for a Service Supplier visa.

This visa replaced the legacy provisions for contractual service suppliers and independent professionals on the International Agreement route.

When an Irish company is planning to send their foreign senior managers or specialist employees to the UK on a temporary basis to help them expand their business footprint in the country, the foreign workers will have to apply through the UK Expansion Worker route.

This visa replaced the (unsponsored) sole representative provisions of the Representative of an Overseas Business route (although not considered a legacy route).

GBM visas offer limited leave to remain to the visa holders and their eligible dependent family members (if any). The period of stay varies among the five routes.

A Senior or Specialist Worker visa holder can stay in the UK for the period mentioned in their CoS plus 14 days or five years, whichever is shorter. You can stay in the UK for a maximum period of two years on a Secondment Worker visa or a UK Expansion Worker visa.

Graduate Trainee visa holders are allowed to remain in the UK for a maximum of 12 months. Foreign nationals holding Service Supplier visas can stay for six months or 12 months (depending on the trade agreement under which they are providing services) or the time mentioned on thor CoS plus 14 days, whichever is shorter.

While all GBM visas allow you to live and work in the UK, there are clear rules in place regarding what you can and cannot do. Usually, on a GBM visa, you can:

• Work for your sponsor in the job described in your CoS
• Study
• Bring your eligible dependent family to the UK
• Engage in voluntary work
• Enter and exit the UK multiple times during your visa period

However, you will not be allowed to:

• Apply to settle permanently in the UK
• Apply for most of the social benefits, public funds, or the State Pension
• Change jobs (unless you are eligible and have duly updated your visa)
• Work in a second job

Eligible family members of an overseas worker coming to the UK via any of the above GBM pathways can apply to join the main applicant and stay in the UK as their dependants, provided they fulfil the eligibility conditions.

For the purpose of GBM visas, a dependent family member refers to any of the following:

• Main applicant’s spouse, civil partner or unmarried partner
• Children under under 18 (including those who were born in the UK during your stay)
• Children over 18 if they currently have permission to be in the UK as your dependants

The eligibility requirements for the different GBM visa routes are mostly similar with slight variations. To apply for a GBM visa, you must:

• Hold a valid CoS from your sponsoring company
• Have worked for your employer outside the UK (at least for three months immediately before you apply for a Graduate Trainee visa, and at least for 12 months while applying for a Secondment Worker visa)
• Do a job that is on the list of eligible occupations
• Be paid the minimum eligible salary for your job

For a Secondment Worker visa, your overseas employer must also have a high-value contract in place with your UK sponsor.

For a Service Supplier visa, you:

• Can be an employee of an overseas business, or a self-employed service provider based overseas
• Must be providing services under a contract covered by a valid international trade agreement
• Must be providing services to a UK company holding an approved sponsor licence
• Do an eligible job, or have relevant qualifications and professional experience to provide the services specified in your CoS
• Have worked for your employer for at least 12 months outside the UK, or have at least 12 months’ professional experience in the same sector as the service you will provide if you are a self-employed service provider

A GBM visa application is an online process. You must create an account on the Home Office website with an email ID to proceed with your online application.

The completed application form and scanned copies of your required supporting documents must be submitted online, along with payment for the visa fees and immigration healthcare surcharge.

The Home Office will also require you to prove your identity while applying for a visa.

Depending on your country of residence and your passport type, you may either use the ‘UK Immigration: ID Check’ app to scan your identity document or have your biometric information taken at a UK visa application centre (VAC).

In many countries, the UK embassy outsources some parts of the consular services to third parties, specifically for collecting hard copies of supporting documents, applicants’ passports, and visa interviews (if required).

These service providers usually have more than one VAC in the respective countries, so you may choose the one nearest to your residence.

To apply for a GBM visa, you will usually require the following supporting documents:

• Your CoS reference number
• Your valid passport (or any other document proving your identity and nationality)
• Your UK job title, its occupation code, and annual salary
• Your sponsoring employer’s name and their sponsor licence number
• Proof of sufficient funds to support yourself and your dependent family members (if any) in the UK (unless your CoS shows that your employer can and will support you)
• Relationship proof for your accompanying dependants (if any)
• Tuberculosis test results for applicants residing in any of the listed countries

Depending on your immigration situation, you may also need to submit:

• Documents proving that you have worked for your employer outside the UK for the required time period
• A valid ATAS certificate (if your job involves researching a sensitive subject at PhD level or higher)
• Details of your training programme if you are applying for a Graduate Trainee visa
• Your degree certificates or qualifications proofs if you are applying for a Service Supplier visa

You will also need to provide certified translation copies if your supporting documents are not in English or Welsh.

The GBM visas are sponsored work routes to the UK, meaning any employer, based in the UK or overseas, will require a valid sponsor licence for the relevant GBM route(s) to sponsor a foreign national. There are two categories of a sponsor licence:

• Worker sponsor licence to sponsor an overseas worker coming to the UK via the Senior or Specialist Worker route
• Temporary Worker sponsor licence to sponsor overseas staff coming to the country via the Graduate Trainee, UK Expansion Worker, Service Supplier, or Secondment Worker routes

If your company does not hold such a licence, you will need to apply for the same. In case your company holds a valid licence to sponsor workers/temporary workers already, but it does not include any of the GBM routes, you will have to apply to add one or more these routes, as required, to your existing licence.

Only when you have a valid licence to sponsor your foreign staff in one of the GBM routes, will you be eligible to assign a CoS to them. The CoS is an electronic record which confirms that the concerned employer has offered a foreign national worker a job in the UK and is sponsoring them for a work visa.

A CoS contains all the pertinent information, such as details about the sponsored employee (e.g. their personal data, contact details, etc.), job description, work location, annual salary, start and end date of employment, and a unique reference number. Your sponsored foreign staff will require the CoS from you for their GBM visa applications.

It takes the Home Office up to three weeks to reach a decision on your GBM visa application if applied from outside the UK, and up to eight weeks if you are applying within the UK. You may be able to pay additional fees to fast-track your application and get a faster decision.

The processing fees for a GBM visa varies depending on your visa type, and whether you are applying from outside the UK or within the country. You will also have to pay an additional immigration healthcare surcharge for all GBM visas.

For example, to apply for a Senior or Specialist Worker visa for up to three years from outside the UK, the fee will be £769, while you will need to pay £319 for a UK Expansion Worker visa applied outside the UK.