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Pathway

UK Work Visas for Overseas Business Transfers

United Kingdom Residency
Pathway overview

At a glance

The UK's Global Business Mobility visas cover five kinds of temporary overseas work assignment: senior or specialist work, graduate training, business expansion, supplying services, and secondments. The right visa depends on your overseas employer, the approved UK sponsor, and the business arrangement.

Job offer required?
Yes, for the qualifying sponsored assignment or transfer
Assignment
An eligible company transfer, graduate placement, UK expansion, trade-agreement service, or qualifying secondment
Pay for common categories
Senior/Specialist and UK Expansion: normally at least £52,500 plus the job's required rate; Graduate Trainees and other categories have separate tests

Summary

The UK’s Global Business Mobility routes cover specific overseas assignments, company transfers, expansion plans, and service arrangements. A sponsoring UK business and the route's role and pay requirements are central. These are temporary assignment routes, so an ordinary job search does not provide the necessary basis.

Could this pathway work for you?

Eligibility

Every applicant needs a certificate of sponsorship and a genuine eligible assignment. Senior/Specialist, Graduate Trainee and UK Expansion applicants normally need prior work for the linked overseas business, subject to route and high-earner exceptions. Service Suppliers must work under a qualifying UK trade agreement; Secondment Workers need a qualifying high-value contract or investment.

For certificates assigned under current rules, Senior/Specialist and UK Expansion pay must normally meet both £52,500 and the occupation going rate. Graduate Trainee pay must meet both £27,300 and normally 70% of the going rate; listed health and education jobs require the full going rate. Service Supplier and Secondment use route-specific skill, service and contract rules rather than those two salary figures. GBM has no general English-language requirement.

Select one GBM route for the actual assignment
  1. Map the overseas and UK arrangement Identify the employer, sponsor, worker history, and commercial contract.
  2. Choose the specific GBM category Match the facts to transfer, training, expansion, service supply, or secondment rules.
  3. Check the sponsorship evidence Confirm occupation, pay, prior work, and the certificate requirements for that category.
  4. Calculate permitted time and family plans Count relevant GBM stays and prepare separate dependent applications.

The five routes are not interchangeable. A later move toward settlement needs an independently qualifying route.

What This Route Allows

The holder works only in the sponsored assignment, may study, with additional security clearance for some sensitive subjects and has no recourse to public funds. Eligible partners and children can normally apply and partners may work, except as a professional sportsperson or coach.

Maximum stay differs: Graduate Trainee is normally 12 months; UK Expansion and Secondment no more than two years; Service Supplier six or 12 months depending on the agreement; Senior/Specialist is usually capped at five years in six, or nine in ten for a high earner. Each grant can be shorter.

From 8 April 2026 the Graduate Trainee, UK Expansion, Service Supplier and Secondment application fee is £340. Senior/Specialist costs £819 for up to three years or £1,618 for longer from outside the UK; the in-country figures are £943 and £1,865. IHS normally applies to every family member.

What This Route Is Not

No GBM route leads to settlement, and GBM time does not count toward the qualifying period for settlement on another points-based work route. A business establishing its first UK presence normally uses UK Expansion; initial Sole Representative applications are closed.

Next Steps

  1. Map the overseas entity, UK sponsor, worker employment and contract to one GBM route.
  2. Check the occupation, salary/going rate and prior-overseas-work evidence on the certificate date.
  3. Calculate all GBM time in the applicable rolling six- or ten-year window.
  4. Give each dependent a separate application and plan any settlement-route switch before the cap.

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Discussed in these reports

Similar work permit pathways in other destinations.

Sources