Global Business Mobility – Service Supplier

Global Business Mobility – Service Supplier is targeted workers who is either a contractual service supplier employed by an overseas service provider or a self-employed independent professional based overseas, to undertake an assignment in the UK to provide services covered by one of the UK’s international trade agreements. 

A partner and dependent children can apply to come to the UK on Global Business Mobility – Service Supplier too. However, this route does not lead to settlement. People who want to stay have to switch to another immigration route which leads to settlement.

Eligibility

You must satisfy the following requirements when you apply the Global Business Mobility – Service Supplier visa:

• You are aged 18 or above on the date of application;
• You have a valid Certificate of Sponsorship you are planning to do;
• You are currently working for the sponsor group listed as A-rated on the Home Office’s register of licensed sponsors, unless you were last granted permission as a Service Supplier and is applying to continue working for the same sponsor as in your last permission;
• You also meet the requirements in the next few sections.

Sponsorship requirement

The job you are planning to do is genuine and is not created mainly for application of entry clearance or permission to stay. In addition, the sponsor must have a contract with an overseas service provider, where that contract:

• has been registered with the Home Office;
• is for a service covered by one for the UK’s international trade agreements;
• is on which you will work as a Service Supplier.

Job Skill Level Requirement

Option A

You must be sponsored for a job that you are eligible or above a minimum skill level. Your job must be in an occupation code listed in Global Business Mobility: Eligible Occupations and Codes. This shows a list of jobs which are eligible for the Global Business Mobility routes with occupation codes, job type and related job titles. The sponsor must have chosen an appropriate code and you have the appropriate skills, qualifications and experience needed to do the job described.

Option B

You must have a university degree or equivalent level technical qualification unless you are employed by an overseas service provider supplying one of the following services, in which case the qualification requirements apply:

• Fashion and modelling – no qualification required
• Chef de cuisine – an advanced technical qualification required
• Entertainment services (excluding audio-visual services under the CARIFORUM-UK Economic Partnership Agreement) – no qualification required
• Management consulting services and services related to management consulting (managers and senior consultants) – university degree required, and equivalent level technical qualification is not permitted
• Advertising or translation – relevant qualifications are required
• Technical testing and analysis – university degree or a relevant technical qualification required

You must hold any professional qualifications or registrations required to provide the services under UK law or sectoral requirements. You must also have professional experience in the sector in which you will supply services as follows:

• 3 years’ experience; or
• If you are supplying chef de cuisine services under the CARIFORUM-UK Economic Partnership Agreement, 6 years’ experiences; or
• If you are a self-employed overseas service provider, 6 years’ experience.

Nationality requirement

You must be:

• A national of the country or territory in which the overseas service provider is based; or
• where the service that you will provide is covered by:
  • a commitment in the General Agreement on Trade in Services and your employer is established in a country or territory that has made a notification under Article XXVIII(k)(ii)(2) of that agreement, a permanent resident of that country or territory; or
  • a commitment in the Temporary Agreement between the Swiss Confederation and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on Services Mobility, a permanent resident of Switzerland; or
  • commitment in the United Kingdom-European Union Trade and Cooperation Agreement, a national of any Member State of the European Union or any other person included in the definition of “natural person of a Party” for the European Union in Article 512(k) of that agreement; or
  • a contractual service supplier commitment in the CARIFORUM-UK Economic Partnership Agreement, a national of any CARIFORUM State that has provisionally applied or brought into force that agreement.

Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS)

The valid CoS must be issued by the authorised sponsor and show the following details:

• applicant’s name, details of the job to be sponsored, salary which complies with the National Minimum Wage;
• job’s start date which is no more than 3 months after the date of application;
• the CoS has not been used in previous application which was either granted or refused (but can has been used in a previous application which was rejected as invalid, made void or withdrawn);
• the CoS has not been withdrawn by the sponsor or cancelled by the Home Office;
• confirmation that the applicant has worked outside the UK for the sponsor group for at least 12 months
• confirmation of the sponsor’s contracts you will work on registered with the Home Office
• confirmation of whether the Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) requirement applies.

Overseas Work Requirement

You must be currently working for an overseas service provider, and have worked as or for the overseas provider outside the UK for a cumulative period of at least 12 months.

The 12 months’ work outside the UK can have been accumulated over any period that you were:

• continuously working for the overseas service provider above; or
• if you are a self-employed overseas service provider, continuously working in the same sector as the service you will provide to the sponsor,

either in or out of the UK, for at least 12 months before the date of application. The breaks caused by the following reasons will be counted in the continuous period:

• statutory maternity, paternity, parental, or shared parental leave; or
• statutory adoption leave; or
• sick leave; or
• assisting with a national or international humanitarian or environmental crisis, with the agreement of the sponsor group; or
• taking part in legally organised industrial action.

Maintenance

You must show that you have enough money to support yourself (and any dependants). They must have the adequate amount (see below) of personal savings in cash held for at least consecutive 28 days before the date of application;

• £1,270 for the main applicant
• £285 for a dependent partner
• £315 for a first child
• £200 for each subsequent child

If you have been in the UK with permission for 12 months or longer on the date of application, you will meet the financial requirement and do not need to show funds.

Length and Maximum length of visa

If your application is successful, you will be granted entry clearance or permission to stay for either:

• the time given on your CoS plus 14 days; or
• the date at which you will have has cumulative permission in the Global Business Mobility routes totalling 5 years in any 6-year period, or
• the maximum single assessment is also based on the commitment you covered – 6 months or 12 months,

whichever is shorter. In the calculation of cumulative periods of permission, all periods of permission granted on Global Business Mobility routes and those on the Intra-Company routes will be included.

Your partner will be granted permission which ends on the same date as yours; while your dependent children will be granted permission, which ends on the same date as whichever of their parents’ permission ends first.

Conditions of the visa

If you are granted as a Service Provider Migrant, you are permitted to work for the job which is being sponsored generally, but you are allowed to study and do voluntary work. In addition, you are not allowed to access the public funds.

Switching into the Global Business Mobility – Service Supplier visa

Applicants who have other permissions to stay in the UK can switch to Global Business Mobility – Service Supplier visa except where you were last granted permission as a Visitor, a Short-term Student, a Parent of a Child Student, a Seasonal Worker, a Domestic Worker in a Private Household or outside the Immigration Rules.