Senior or Specialist Worker Visa

Senior or Specialist Worker visa overview

The Senior or Specialist Worker visa is a UK worker visa that is part of the Global Business Mobility visa routes. It is meant for senior and specialist workers of companies that have a UK branch.

The Senior and Specialist Worker route allows them to travel to the UK and work in a business linked to their employer outside the UK. The senior and specialist worker undertakes a temporary work assignment in the UK branch of the company they belong to.

This visa replaces the one that was known as intra-company transfer or ICT. It allows senior and specialist workers to stay in the UK for the time given on their certificate of sponsorship plus 14 days, or 5 years —whichever is shorter.

Senior or Specialist Worker visa requirements

Senior and specialist workers looking to apply for the Senior or Specialist Worker visa will be required to submit:

Biometric information.
A valid passport or other travel documents that prove their identity and nationality.
A certificate of sponsorship from their employer, issued within 3 months before the date of application. This awards them with 20 points of the 60 that are required in the points system of the Global Business Mobility visa routes.
Financial evidence: the applicant must earn at least £42,400 per year to be eligible for the Senior or Specialist Worker visa. This sums 20 points in the points system of the Global Business Mobility visa routes.
Tuberculosis certificate if you come from certain countries.

Applicants must work for an organization approved by the Home Office as a sponsor, and the job they do must be in the list of eligible occupations. This sums the last 20 points in the Global Business Mobility visa routes.

Applicants should also cover the Senior or Specialist Worker visa fees.

Senior or Specialist Worker visa fees

Senior or Specialist Worker visa fees include:

Senior or Specialist Worker visa application fees: £625 if the applicant will be in the UK for 3 years, and £1,423 if the applicant will be in the UK for more than 3 years.
Immigration Healthcare Surcharge: £624 per year.
Personal savings: at least £1,270 available in a bank account for 28 days in a row, unless the applicant’s employer cover their costs during their first month in the UK (up to £1,270).

If the applicant is in the UK and wants to update, switch, or extend their Senior or Specialist Worker visa, the fees change to £719 per person (up to 3 years) and £1,423 per person (more than 3 years).

Conditions of grant of the Senior or Specialist Worker visa

Applicants for this UK worker visa can only do the job for which they’ve been sponsored. Supplementary employment is allowed only if they were previously on another intra-company route under the rules in force before 11 April 2022.

They can also travel abroad and return to the UK, do voluntary work, study, bring their family as “dependants”, and work out a contractual notice period. But they can’t apply for benefits based on public funds, change jobs, or apply to stay in the UK indefinitely.

Senior or Specialist Worker visa application

This UK worker visa requires an online application at the UK Government’s official website. Applicants will be requested identity documents. They can scan them with the UK Immigration: ID Check app or attend a visa application center to provide their fingerprints and photographs for a biometric residence permit.

Applicants must check that the certificate of sponsorship was assigned to them no more than 3 months before the date of application. Otherwise, the application could be refused.

Required documents for Senior or Specialist Worker visa

Certificate of sponsorship reference number (issued by the applicant’s employer).
Passport or other identity documents.
Job title.
Job’s occupation code.
Annual salary.
Financial evidence to prove that applicants have enough savings to support themselves while in the UK (for example, through a bank statement).
Tuberculosis test results if the applicant comes from one of the following countries:

Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Brunei, Burma, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Cameroon, China, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, East Timor, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liberia, Macau, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Micronesia, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Rwanda, São Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Translation of documents

Required documents must be in English or Welsh. Otherwise, the applicant must provide a certified translation made by a professional translator or a translation agency. The Home Office will verify this.

Visa holder family or dependants

The partner and children of senior or specialist workers with a Senior or Specialist Worker visa can apply to join them in the UK as “dependants”.

The term “partner” refers to the applicant’s husband, wife, civil partner, or unmarried partner (provided that they’ve been living together for at least 2 years).

The term “children” include kids under 18 years old, including those who are born during the applicant’s stay in the UK, and kids over 16 years old that live with the applicant (unless they are in full-time education at a boarding school) and depend financially on him/her.

The visa holder’s family must pay the following fees:

£285 for the applicant’s partner.
£315 for one child.
£200 for each additional child.

How to extend this UK worker visa

Senior or specialist workers can extend their Senior or Special Worker visa if they keep doing the same job for the same employer by the time the visa is close to expiration. But, of course, they mustn’t have reached the maximum total stay for the Senior and Special Worker visa. That is:

5 years in any 6 year period if the applicant earns less than £73,900 a year.
9 years in any 10 year period if the applicant earns more than £73,900 a year.

If the applicant spends time in the UK with the intra-company Graduate Trainee visa, intra-company Transfer visa, or other Global Business Mobility visa routes, that time will count.

How to switch to this UK worker visa

People who are in the UK as Visitor, Short-Term Student, Parent of a Child Student, Seasonal Worker, Domestic Worker in a Private Household, or outside common immigration rules can’t apply to switch to the Senior and Special Worker visa. But they can switch to it if they are on other types of visas, or they can leave the UK and apply for the Senior and Special Worker visa from abroad.

Receiving decision on Senior or Specialist Worker visa

Senior or specialist workers will be informed about the decision on their application for the Senior and Special Worker visa within 3 weeks (if they are outside the UK) or 8 weeks (if they are inside the UK) via email or letter.

Frequently asked questions about Senior or Specialist Worker visa

When can I apply for the Senior and Specialist Worker visa?

You can apply for this visa up to 3 months before the day you are due to start work in the UK.

Do I have to provide financial evidence if I’m extending this UK worker visa?

No. If you’ve been living in the UK for at least 12 months, the financial requirement is considered to be fulfilled.

What can I do if my application for the Senior and Specialist Worker visa is refused?

You can ask for an administrative review.

Can I have a second job while I’m in the UK with the Senior and Specialist Worker visa?

No, you can’t have a second job or change jobs while you have this UK worker visa.

Can I travel abroad while I’m waiting for a decision regarding my visa application?

No, you can’t travel outside the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands, or the Isle of Man before you get a decision. If you do, your application could be withdrawn.