Global Business Mobility: Senior or Specialist Worker and UK Expansion Worker

Which Global Business Mobility route fits

Global Business Mobility (GBM) is a family of five sponsored routes for temporary assignments to the UK by employees of overseas businesses. The two most used are:

Senior or Specialist Worker

For established UK entities transferring existing employees from a linked overseas business. The worker must normally have worked for the group overseas for at least 12 months, unless they will earn £73,900 or more. Salary must be at least £52,500 or the going rate for the role. The maximum stay is 5 years in any 6-year period, or 9 in 10 for those paid £73,900 or more. The route does not lead to settlement, but workers can switch to Skilled Worker if the role and salary qualify, and time on GBM can count towards settlement in Skilled Worker in some cases.

UK Expansion Worker

For a business that has no UK trading presence yet and wants to send a senior manager or specialist to set it up. The overseas business must have been trading for at least 3 years (with limited exceptions), and the UK entity must have a UK footprint such as premises and Companies House registration. Up to 5 workers can be sponsored under a provisional licence. Each visa is granted for 12 months and can be extended once, to a maximum of 2 years. Once the UK branch is trading, it applies for a full Skilled Worker sponsor licence and staff switch across.

The other routes, Graduate Trainee (structured graduate programmes), Service Supplier (contractual service suppliers and independent professionals under trade agreements) and Secondment Worker (high-value contracts), are more specialised and we advise on them case by case.

The sponsor licence side

Every GBM route needs the UK entity to hold a sponsor licence for the relevant route. For UK Expansion Worker, the licence is provisional and the Authorising Officer will usually be the first expansion worker, based overseas, which the Home Office allows only on this route. The evidence differs from a standard licence: you must prove the link between the overseas and UK businesses (common ownership or control), the overseas trading history and the plan for the UK expansion.

We prepare the licence, the corporate documents proving the group link, and the Certificates of Sponsorship, and we coordinate with your UK company formation, bank account opening and premises so that the timeline works.

Fees and costs

Figures from the Home Office fee table effective 8 October 2026, checked September 2026. Salary thresholds are reviewed by the Home Office each year.

Frequently asked questions