UK Expansion Worker Visa: How Overseas Businesses Set Up in the UK

The UK Expansion Worker visa lets an overseas business send a senior manager or specialist to the UK to set up its first UK branch or subsidiary. The business must not yet trade in the UK, needs a UK footprint and a sponsor licence, and must pay at least £52,500 or the going rate. Stays last up to 2 years.

It’s one of five Global Business Mobility routes. The others are Senior or Specialist Worker, Graduate Trainee, Service Supplier and Secondment Worker. This guide covers the business’s side. It draws on GOV.UK’s UK Expansion Worker pages and the Home Office’s guidance on sponsoring a Global Business Mobility worker (version 04/26). We aren’t immigration advisers. For advice on your case, use an OISC-regulated adviser or a solicitor. The Home Office decides every application.

Who is the UK Expansion Worker visa for?

The route is for an established overseas business that wants to open a UK branch or subsidiary and hasn’t started trading in the UK yet. The person it sends must:

• already work for the overseas business as a senior manager or specialist employee
• have worked for it outside the UK for at least 12 months, unless they earn over £73,900 or a Japanese or Australian business exception applies
• be doing a job on the list of eligible occupations
• be paid at least the minimum salary

If your business already trades in the UK, the guidance says you should use another route, such as Senior or Specialist Worker or Skilled Worker.

What does the business need to show?

On top of the usual sponsor licence requirements, the guidance says the business must show three things.

1. A UK footprint

You must show one of these:

• a UK branch or subsidiary registered at Companies House (the reference number is enough), or
• UK business premises you have bought or leased

The guidance says it will refuse the application if the evidence shows you already have a UK trading presence. Limited pre-trade activity, such as employing the person you’ll name as Authorising Officer, doesn’t count as trading.

2. An established overseas business

The overseas business must be trading now and must have been trading for at least 3 years. Appendix A lists the evidence, which includes 12 months of corporate bank statements and certified accounts or annual reports covering the 3 years. There are exceptions for some Japanese and Australian businesses and for businesses listed on the London Stock Exchange or certain other regulated markets. Investment-only businesses, such as private equity or venture capital funds, aren’t eligible.

3. A credible plan to expand within 2 years

You must show that you genuinely intend, and are able, to set up a UK trading presence within two years. The UK business must be in the same line of business as the overseas one, not a new venture. It must also be linked by ownership: wholly owned, a branch of the same legal entity, or one of the other set structures in the guidance.

What are the salary and visa rules?

Requirement	UK Expansion Worker
Minimum salary	£52,500 a year or the going rate, whichever is higher
Hours counted towards £52,500	Up to 48 a week
Accommodation allowance	Can count, but no more than 30% of the total salary package
Initial stay	The shorter of 12 months from the CoS start date, or the CoS period plus 14 days
Extension	Up to 12 more months
Maximum on the route	2 years (and 5 years in any 6 across GBM routes)
Second job	Not allowed
Settlement	Doesn’t lead to indefinite leave to remain

The worker pays their own visa costs. GOV.UK lists a £340 application fee and a healthcare surcharge of usually £1,035 a year. They normally also need to show £1,270 in savings. Decisions usually take 3 weeks from outside the UK and 8 weeks from inside.

How does the sponsor licence work for this route?

UK Expansion Worker sits under the Temporary Worker licence. GOV.UK lists the Temporary Worker licence fee as £611 for all sizes of sponsor, and a Temporary Worker certificate of sponsorship costs £55. The GBM sponsor guidance lists the Immigration Skills Charge for Senior or Specialist Workers, not for UK Expansion Workers.

The route has its own limits:

• Up to 10 workers at any one time, and only as many as you genuinely need to set up the UK business.
• If your Authorising Officer is overseas, you start with a Provisional rating and an allocation of 1. The Authorising Officer must also be the Level 1 user, assign that certificate to themselves and get their visa. Then they ask for an A-rating in the sponsorship management system and can ask for up to 9 more certificates.
• If your Authorising Officer is already in the UK, you get an A-rating and the full allocation of up to 10.
• The licence lasts 4 years and can’t be renewed. After 2 years, your allocation on this route drops to zero. You can’t sponsor new UK Expansion Workers or extend existing ones.

Once you’re trading in the UK, you can add other routes to your licence, such as Skilled Worker or Senior or Specialist Worker. Your workers can then apply to switch if they qualify. The full application process is in our sponsor licence application guide.

UK Expansion Worker visa or an employer of record?

These answer different questions. Many businesses use both, one after the other.

The UK Expansion Worker route moves your existing people to the UK. It’s the right tool when a specific senior manager or specialist from head office has to be physically in the UK to set things up. It requires a UK footprint, a licence, Home Office fees and a 2-year deadline to start trading.

An employer of record hires people who are already in the UK. We become the legal employer of staff who already have the right to work here. We run their contracts, payroll, PAYE, pension enrolment and right to work checks, so you don’t need a UK company or premises first.

	UK Expansion Worker	Employer of record
Who it’s for	Your existing overseas senior staff	New hires with UK right to work
UK company or premises needed	Yes (UK footprint)	No
Sponsor licence needed	Yes	No, for staff who already have right to work
Home Office fees	Licence, CoS, worker visa costs	None
Time limit	2 years to start trading	None set by the route
Headcount	Up to 10 sponsored workers	No route-specific cap

There is one thing to settle with your adviser before you hire locally. This route is only for businesses that haven’t started trading in the UK. If you plan to apply for it later, ask whether having UK staff working for you, even through an employer of record, could affect how your UK activity is viewed. Plan the order of the two steps first.

For a wider look at the choice, see EOR vs setting up a UK entity.

Where we fit

We help overseas businesses with the employment side of a UK launch. That means hiring your first local staff through our employer of record service and getting HR records and payroll ready for a sponsor licence once you set up. On immigration advice, we work alongside your OISC-regulated adviser or solicitor rather than replacing them.