A Senior or Specialist Worker visa allows you to come to or stay in the UK to do an eligible job at your employer’s UK branch. This visa has replaced the Intra-company Transfer visa, previously the Tier 2 (Intra-company Transfer) Long-term Staff visa.
To qualify for a Senior or Specialist Worker visa, you must:
- be an existing employee of an organization that’s been approved by the Home Office as a sponsor
- have a ‘certificate of sponsorship’ from your employer with information about the work you will do in the UK
- do a job that’s on the list of eligible occupations
- be paid at least £48,500 per year
You can stay in the UK with a Senior or Specialist Worker visa for whichever is shorter of: - the time given on your certificate of sponsorship plus 14 days
- 5 years
You can apply to extend your visa or apply for another one as many times as you like up to the maximum total stay. If you’re already in the UK with an Intra-company visa or a Tier 2 (Intra-company Transfer) Long-term Staff visa you can apply to extend your stay as a Senior or Specialist Worker. - The maximum total stay allowed for a Senior and Specialist Worker visa is:
- 5 years in any 6 year period if you’re paid less than £73,900 a year
- 9 years in any 10 year period if you’re paid £73,900 a year or more
Any time you spend in the UK on one of the following visas will be included in your maximum total stay:
- Intra-company Graduate Trainee visa
- Intra-company Transfer visa
- Graduate Trainee visa (Global Business Mobility)
- Secondment Worker visa (Global Business Mobility)
- Senior or Specialist Worker visa (Global Business Mobility)
- Service Supplier visa (Global Business Mobility)
- UK Expansion Worker visa (Global Business Mobility)
You can stay in the UK for as long as your employer is sponsoring you if you’ve been in the UK since 6 April 2011 on any of the following visas:
- Tier 2 (Intra-company Transfer) Long-term Staff visa
- Intra-company Transfer visa
- Senior or Specialist Worker visa (Global Business Mobility). There is no maximum stay.
How you apply depends on whether you’re:
- outside the UK and are coming to the UK
- inside the UK and you want to extend your stay as a Senior or Specialist Worker
- inside the UK and switching from a different visa
Your partner and children can apply to join you or stay in the UK as your ‘dependents’ if they’re eligible.
With a Senior or Specialist Worker visa you can: - work for your sponsor in the job described in your certificate of sponsorship
- study
- bring your partner and children with you as your ‘dependants’, if they’re eligible
- do voluntary work
- travel abroad and return to the UK
You cannot: - apply for most benefits, public funds, or the State Pension
- change jobs unless you are eligible and you update your visa
- have a second job – unless you’ve previously had an Intra-company Transfer visa or a Tier 2 (Intra-company Transfer) Long term Staff visa
- apply to settle permanently in the UK (also known as ‘indefinite leave to remain’)