A work permit is a visa that allows an employee to enter the country where they will be working or conducting business. A work permit may also allow the employee to bring their spouse and children with them. Once the employee is in the country, as long as they have a valid passport and work permit, they can leave and return to the country on a tourist visa multiple times.

UK Work Visas & Permits

Expanding your company abroad and into the United Kingdom requires a team of skilled employees. Whether you already have a trusted team at your parent company ready to move and work in the UK or you’re opening up positions to people around the world, you need to know about the United Kingdom’s work permits and visas.

Many companies already handling a global expansion don’t have time to learn about work visas, permits, and how to obtain them.

Types of Work Visas in the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom’s main immigration route is through the Points Based System (PBS). First, migrants outside the European Economic Area (EEA) apply to one of five tiers based on their desire to work, study, invest, or train in the country. They must pass a points-based assessment focused on the conditions, entitlements, and entry requirements for each tier. Applicants have to get a sufficient number of points based on age, qualifications, language, earnings, and funds to get entry clearance or remain in the United Kingdom.

All five tiers encompass certain visas:

• Tier one: These visas are meant for highly skilled workers, entrepreneurs, investors, and graduate students living outside the European Union (EU) and EEA. These candidates do not need a job offer to apply.
• Tier two: Skilled workers, professional sportspeople, and clergy members outside the EEA can apply for a visa within tier two when they have a job offer and can fill gaps within the country’s labor force.
• Tier three: Tier three visas were meant for low-skilled workers providing temporary labor. However, the government decided not to accept immigrants from outside the EU for tier three positions and have since removed these visas.
• Tier four: Students over age 16 from outside the EEA should apply for a tier four visa if they want to study at a school, college, or university in the country.
• Tier five: This category has six sub-tiers of temporary workers related to creative and sporting positions, charity, religious workers, and young people who work in the UK on working holidays.

Requirements to Obtain UK Work Visas

The requirements for a United Kingdom working visa vary based on which tier and visa your employees need. Tier two encompasses most long-term visas except for the special talent mentioned in tier one. The tier two general UK work visa is the most common for companies expanding, as it’s for people outside the EEA and Switzerland who have a job offer in the UK.

All general work visa applicants must have an employer or a licensed sponsor. Although the requirements vary by type of work permit, the most common include:

• An application form
• Two color photographs taken within the past six months
• A valid passport
• Proof of financial means to cover UK living costs
• Proof of accommodation
• Detailed travel itinerary
• Tuberculosis test results
• Biometric information
• A visa invitation letter if the individual is staying with a friend or family member
• Paid UK visa fees
• Certified translations of any document that’s not in English or Welsh

Application Process

Your employees should apply for a UK visa three months before they want to begin working for you. Visa application processing can take up to three weeks, so it’s important to apply early at an application center or online through the UK Home Office Visas and Immigration Services website. The PBS system means the requirements and evaluations change for each tier, and some categories may have additional requirements, so make sure your employees know what they need to apply.

Other Important Considerations

There are other ways for people to work in the UK besides the traditional work permit and visa routes. For example, Commonwealth citizens with a British grandparent can apply for an ancestry visa to work in the country if they meet other eligibility criteria. These citizens may also have a right of abode to live in the UK. If your company has an employee that left the UK for more than two years through indefinite leave to remain (ILR), they may need only a returning resident visa to come back and work.

The UK is one of the World’s most popular immigration destinations if you wish to live and work in a new country. Since 1 December 2020 before the end of the Brexit transition period the UK visa points system was made easier for skilled workers. However, the UK Innovator visa and UK Start-Up visa schemes have made entry more difficult for many business owners.

In many cases you need to come under the UK points-based visa system which measures applicants against various criteria designed to assess their eligibility for a UK work or study visa. Most work-related visa applications such as the Skilled Worker visa (formerly Tier 2 visa) scheme, as well as study visa (formerly Tier 4 visa) applications are made through this system.  Increasingly the current Boris Johnson government is discontinuing the use of the word “tier” in the points based visa system.

Please see the links below for detailed information on each visa type.

UK Points Based Visa System

The UK visa system consists of the following:

• Tier 1 Visa: This visa category is for ‘high-value migrants’ from outside the EEA and now only covers the £2 million Investor visa scheme.  There is Global Talent visa (formerly Tier 1 Exceptional Talent visa) and Exceptional Promise visa.  On 29 March 2019 the UK Innovator visa scheme replaced the Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa scheme. 
• Skilled Worker Visa: This category is for ‘skilled workers’ from outside the EEA with a job offer in the UK from a Skilled Worker Sponsor. It includes skilled workers who are transferred to the UK by an international company via the Intra-Company Transfer visa route, skilled workers who meet the points requirement, ministers of religion and sportspeople. 
• Tier 3 Visa: This category was designed for low-skilled workers filling specific temporary labour shortages. The Government has so far never allocated any visas under this scheme. Unfortunately, this means that you cannot apply for the Tier 3 visa scheme. 
• Student Visa: This category, formerly called the Tier 4 visa, is for students who wish to study in the UK. Applicants must have a place at a registered UK educational establishment before they can apply. 
• Temporary Work Visa: This work visa category, formerly called the Tier 5 visa, contains six sub-tiers of temporary worker including creative and sporting, charity, religious workers, and the youth mobility scheme which enables about 55,000 young people every year to work in the UK on working holidays.  

Other UK visas

The UK points based visa system covers most work, study, and investment visas. But visitor visas, family visas, and some UK business visas fall outside of the points based visa system.

• UK Business Visas: This section covers a number of long term business visas which fall outside of the UK visa tier system. 
• UK Visitor Visas: This section has the information you need to enter the UK as a visitor, whether for business or pleasure  
• UK Family Visas: Whether you want to bring your family to the UK, or join a family member already living there, this section covers the main UK visa options for families. 

CONCLUSION

We’ve seen a few discussions here on the forums asking about work permits in the UK and what it takes to get one, so we thought it might be useful to share our experience in case it can be useful to anyone else. We’ve been living and working in the UK for the past couple of years (and overstaying our visas for that duration) and have just recently received our Tier 1 Graduate Entrepreneur visas through one of the programs that start-up companies can use to hire international workers.