Episode 6, Mobile Workforces: Group Mobility

Ruth:
Hello and welcome to the sixth episode in our mobile workforces mini-series. My name is Ruth Buchanan and I'm an employment law partner, and today I'm joined by Liz Parkin, a senior associate in our London office specialising in employment and business immigration. Our mini-series will explore the ever-changing immigration rules, underpin mobility issues, and provide insights into the latest issues impacting our clients. We'll be covering the life cycle of the employment relationship from recruitment and onboarding issues through some managing a mobile workforce and what happens when the relationship comes to an end. In this episode, our focus is on Intragroup Mobility and the senior specialist worker visa route. You are listening to Ashurst's Legal Outlook.

So our global clients have been relying on the immigration and sponsorship system for a number of years to move their employees from overseas to their UK offices. This route was rebranded following Brexit, and we're going to look at how relevant this route remains and the core eligibility criteria. So Liz, we've covered the skill worker route in our previous podcast, but are there other routes for sponsoring workers in the UK?

Liz:
Yes, there are a number of routes now which fall under this global mobility umbrella, and that includes not just the previous intercompany transfer route, but also consolidated some other routes and introduced some new concepts.

Ruth:
And has the intra-company transfer route changed now that it falls under the global mobility route?

Liz:
So other than a change in name from intra-company transfer to a catchy named senior or specialist worker, not a huge amount has actually changed, and it is still aimed at these overseas companies looking to send their staff to a UK office or branch, so an intergroup transfer. And fundamentally, those core eligibility criteria remain largely the same.

Ruth:
Are these different eligibility criteria than this skilled worker route then?

Liz:
So this route relies on there being an overseas employee being sent to a linked UK company that actually shares common ownership. So the route is predicated on there being this group link and that the individual has been employed by that overseas company for at least 12 months before coming to the UK. But otherwise it's largely quite similar to the skilled worker route. The role needs to be on the list of eligible occupations. The skill level is still the, albeit under this route, it's actually higher than the skilled worker route and requires graduate equivalent skills. And just as a reminder, that's the skills attached to the role, not the actual sort of role requiring a graduate. In addition, they have to be paid a minimum salary and for this particular route that's 42,400 pounds or the going rate for the role.

So again, like the skilled worker route, these going rates are then linked to the specific job coding and the role that person's going to be carrying out. And those job codes and going rates are linked on the home office website. So you can check those in advance> and it's going to be the higher of either that going rate or the 42,400. The role still needs to be genuine and there are, again, financial and maintenance requirements, again as like the skilled worker route. There are two key differences to the skilled worker route, really. The first being there's no need for the individual to prove their English language skills. And the second being that this route doesn't actually offer the option of settlement after being in the UK for five years. So the time spent simply just doesn't count towards settling.

Ruth:
And you mentioned that they need to work for the company outside the UK for at least 12 months. How do you actually assess that in practise?

Liz:
So the rules around this do actually allow for a bit of flexibility here. So they look at a cumulative period of 12 months having been spent working outside the UK for that overseas employer. So if someone's say being employed for three years and they've moved around a lot and they've actually been to the UK before, provided they've done 12 months of that service with the overseas employer outside of the UK, then it's fine. And also the rules take account of people taking time off for things like maternity, paternity and other family leave.

There is also an exemption for the salary requirement and for high earners here. So if the individual is a high earner and they earn more than 73,900 pounds a year, then they don't actually have to have any minimum length of service provided that they are actually employed by that overseas entity.

Ruth:
And are there any benefits to this route?

Liz:
So other than the one that we've already talked about, which is the fact that there's no English language requirement, the only really other notable benefit is potentially the length of time that someone actually can stay in the UK under this route. The maximum length of time under the global mobility business route is usually five years in any wrong six year period. However, applicants who are high earners, so that's that 73,900 pounds, can actually stay for a maximum of nine years in any 10 year period under this senior and specialist worker route.

Ruth:
Okay. So who do you think might use this visa route then?

Liz:
So it's still applicable if you've got a global company and you're wanting to send someone to the UK for what is deemed sort of a temporary, albeit long-term role, and the rules talk about the business in the UK needing to assess the role here. What role are you recruiting for? Is it going to be a temporary role? Have you got a sort of an end date in mind or not? There isn't really a huge amount of difference when you actually look into this. But fundamentally, if it's not going to be temporary, then the skilled worker route is actually probably going to be a better option and more appropriate providing you can get the individual to pass that English language requirement, because that skilled worker route, if you think about it, it's got a lower salary threshold and a lower skills requirement.

So provided it's eligible, that may be the route to go down. But if you are thinking about sending someone to the UK branch for a defined period with no intention of settling, then this route's going to be the one to use. And we've got a number of clients that often second people into the UK on sort of almost a rotation basis for specific projects or roles. They know this isn't going to be a permanent role. There's no intention for the worker to settle here. And in that instance they tend to use this route, but it's not necessarily as clear as it used to be, sort of one route or the other. And it's going to be fact specific for our clients.

Ruth:
Great. So it sounds like this is still a relevant route even in its rebranded forum and that our clients can still make use of intragroup transfers and secondments but noting that the skills and the salary are higher than the general skills worker route.

Liz:
Yeah, that's very much the case, Ruth.

Ruth:
Perfect. Thank you Liz.

Liz:
No, thanks very much.

Ruth:
So thanks everyone for listening. If any listeners want to get in contact with Liz or myself, then our details are on the Asher website, asher.com. We have some more exciting podcasts on the way, including looking at some of the new global mobility options and some tricky sponsorship issues. To ensure you don't miss any future episodes, do you subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favourite podcast platform. While you're there, please feel free to keep the conversation going and leave us a rating or a review. Until then, thanks again for listening.