UK Expansion Worker Visa

• Sponsorship and certificate of sponsorshipThe worker must have a valid certificate of sponsorship from an employer authorised by the Home Office to sponsor this route, confirming the job, salary and any allowances on offer. The sponsor must normally be A-rated, unless the worker is continuing in the same job with the same sponsor as their last permission, or is the licence's named authorising officer sponsored by a business holding a provisional sponsor rating.
• Current employer and overseas workThe worker must already be working for the sponsor's group. Unless they are being paid at or above the route's higher-earner salary level of £73,900 a year, or qualify under the UK-Japan or UK-Australia trade-agreement exceptions, they must have worked for that group outside the UK for a cumulative period of at least 12 months.
• Business not yet trading in the UKThe route is for setting up a UK branch or subsidiary of the overseas business that has not yet started trading in the UK; once it is trading, further sponsorship normally continues under the Senior or Specialist Worker route instead.
• Eligible occupation and skill levelThe job must be in an occupation code listed as eligible for the Global Business Mobility routes at the required skill level, and the sponsor must choose the occupation code that most closely matches the job actually being done.
• Minimum salarySalary must equal or exceed both the route's general threshold of £52,500 a year and the published 'going rate' for the occupation code, whichever is higher; only guaranteed basic pay and certain guaranteed allowances count towards this.
• National Minimum Wage and working-time complianceThe sponsored job must pay at least the National Minimum Wage and comply with the UK rules on working hours; the application will be refused if it does not.
• English languageThis route does not include a separate English language test requirement for the worker, unlike some other UK work routes.
• Financial (maintenance) requirementThe worker must show personal savings of at least £1,270 held for a 28-day period, unless they have already been in the UK with permission for 12 months or more; this route does not offer a sponsor-certified maintenance alternative.
• GenuinenessThe worker must genuinely intend, and be able, to do the sponsored role, and must not intend to work outside that role except where the published conditions of grant allow it.
• General suitabilityThe application must not fall for refusal under the general suitability requirements that apply across UK immigration routes.

• Certificate of sponsorship reference numberGiven by the employer; needed to start the online application.
• Valid passport or other identity documentShows identity and nationality.
• Job title, annual salary and occupation codeConfirmed on the certificate of sponsorship.
• Employer name and sponsor licence numberShown on the certificate of sponsorship.
• Evidence of personal savingsFor example bank statements.
• Proof of relationship with a partner or childWhere a partner or child is applying at the same time.
• Tuberculosis test resultsWhere required for applicants from a listed country.
• Evidence of overseas employmentMay be requested after you apply, unless a published exception to the 12-month overseas-work requirement applies.
• Certified translationsFor any document that is not in English or Welsh.

Application fee (all application types)

£340

Immigration Health Surcharge

£1,035 per year of stay

Money you must show you have (unless exempt)

£1,270

Fees are set by the Home Office and can change. A partner or child pays a separate application fee for the same length of stay. Source: GOV.UK https://www.gov.uk/uk-expansion-worker-visa/how-much-it-costs

Apply outside the UK

Usually within 3 weeks

Apply inside the UK (extend, switch or update)

Usually within 8 weeks

Standard service times published by the Home Office; a faster decision may be available for an extra fee.

• Hold the licence before you assign a certificateYou need a UK Expansion Worker sponsor licence before you can assign a certificate of sponsorship. This licence sits in the Temporary Worker band, so its fee does not change with the size of your organisation.
• Show a UK footprint, without trading here yetYou must not already be actively trading in the UK. If you are, apply on the Senior or Specialist Worker or Skilled Worker route instead. You do still need a UK footprint. Evidence is either UK business premises or registration of the UK business with Companies House. Employing the person you want as your Authorising Officer counts as pre-trade activity, not trading.
• Choose your Authorising Officer with the rating in mindYour Authorising Officer should be a worker already based in the UK who will oversee the expansion. Name someone already here and the licence is granted A-rated, with your full allocation. Only where no suitable UK-based person exists may you name a senior employee of the overseas business. That person is then also your Level 1 User, and they assign a certificate to themselves.
• Know what a provisional rating restrictsIf your Authorising Officer is overseas, you start provisionally rated with one certificate. They use it to apply, then update your licence details once permission is granted. They must also request an upgrade to an A-rating before you can sponsor anyone else. A provisional rating cannot be downgraded to a B-rating, so there is no action plan to fall back on. While you are provisionally rated you also cannot add another route to your licence. The Home Office will normally revoke the licence of a provisional sponsor that fails its duties.
• Sponsor only a genuine roleThe role must be real. The Home Office refuses the sponsorship points where it has reasonable grounds to believe the role does not exist. The same applies to a sham role, or one created mainly so the worker could apply. Assigning a certificate for a role that is not genuine means refusal for the worker and revocation for you.
• Check the right to work before the job startsYou check that the worker has permission to work in the UK, and to do that job, before they start. As a licensed sponsor you carry this duty for every worker you sponsor, whatever the employment relationship. The civil penalty is up to £60,000 for each illegal worker.
• Report worker changes in 10 working days, organisation changes in 20You report a change in a sponsored worker's circumstances within 10 working days of the event, unless the guidance sets another period. A worker who does not start is one of them. Changes to your own organisation go to UKVI within 20 working days, covering a merger, a takeover, insolvency, and a change in size or type. Where your Authorising Officer assigned their own certificate, they must start the role within 28 days. That clock runs from the start date on the certificate, or the date their entry clearance takes effect, whichever is later.
• Keep the sponsorship recordsAppendix D of the sponsor guidance lists the documents you keep for each sponsored worker. Paper or electronic is fine, as long as you can produce them on request. Keep them until a year after your sponsorship of that worker ends, unless a compliance officer agrees otherwise. There is no resident labour market test on this route. You must still be able to explain how you recruited the worker if you did not advertise the role.
• Get the UK business trading within two yearsYou must normally have established a UK trading presence within 2 years of the licence being granted. By then you must also have applied to add at least one other route to your licence. Miss it and your allocation on this route drops to zero. That stops new sponsorship, and it stops extensions for the workers you already sponsor. The licence itself lasts a maximum of four years and cannot be renewed.
• Do not recover sponsorship costs from the workerYou must not recoup the licence fee, the certificate fee, or the associated administrative costs from a worker you sponsor. The Home Office will normally revoke the licence of a sponsor that does. This bites on anything recouped on or after 9 April 2025.

Certificate of sponsorship, UK Expansion Worker

£55

Immigration skills charge

Not payable on this route

You pay the certificate fee yourself and must not recover it from the worker. The sponsor licence fee is separate, and this route is licensed in the Temporary Worker band. The immigration skills charge reaches the Skilled Worker and Senior or Specialist Worker routes only. Sources: GOV.UK https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/visa-regulations-revised-table/home-office-immigration-and-nationality-fees-8-april-2026 and https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sponsor-a-global-business-mobility-worker/workers-and-temporary-workers-sponsor-a-global-business-mobility-worker-accessible