Visa For UK Service Suppliers: The Complete Guide

The UK Service Supplier Visa is a type of permission that lets contractual service providers do short-term jobs abroad when they are hired by a service provider or independent professional in that area.

The UK Service Supplier Visa is not a direct path to residency in the UK, though it can allow you to switch to an immigrant visa alternative. If you choose a temporary work visa instead of a direct route to permanent residency in the UK, you can apply for a UK service supplier visa.

What Is A Service Supplier Visa From The UK?

An example of a Global Business Mobility Visa (GBM) is the UK Service Supplier Visa, which enables foreign nationals working for service providers or as independent contractors to do so temporarily in the UK. This kind of permit is good as long as the services being offered are covered by international trade agreements that the UK is a part of.

Only the tasks listed in the application may be completed by the holder of a UK service supplier visa. After completing the aforementioned services, they are not permitted to accept another position inside the UK. But if their visa is still valid, they can take classes or do volunteer work in the UK until the end of the visa’s validity period.

Benefits Of A UK Worker Extension Visa

You are able to do the following using the Global Business Mobility Visa Service Supplier route:

• Arriving in the UK
• Providing the application-relevant services
• Volunteering in the UK while your leave is still in effect
• Enrolling in a course of study while your leave is still in effect
• Going overseas and coming back to the UK
• Bringing eligible family members, such as a spouse or children, to the UK

Eligibility For UK Service Supplier Visa

You must fulfill a number of requirements in order to be eligible to apply for the UK Service Supplier visa. These are the standards:

• Working abroad as a freelancer or as an employee of a company
• Providing contracted services to a company in the UK that are outlined in an international trade agreement
• A sponsorship letter from your UK sponsor detailing your assignment in the UK will be delivered.
• Having a job that qualifies or possesses the necessary training and credentials
• Possessing at least 12 months of work experience or having worked for your employer outside of the UK for at least 12 months.

Service Supplier Visa: Family Inclusion

As long as they meet the financial and relationship standards, the dependents of a holder of a UK service supplier visa—spouse, unmarried children under 18, and unmarried dependent children over 18—may apply through the same process. Each dependent of the service provider is responsible for the annual healthcare surcharge and individual application costs.

Proof of money will be needed for dependents to be able to apply, unless the service provider’s sponsor is paying for their living costs while they are in the UK or the applicant has been living legally in the UK for at least 12 months.

If their petitions are approved, the dependents’ visas will expire on the same day as the main applicant’s.

How To Apply For A UK Service Supplier Visa

To obtain a UK service supplier visa, you must submit an online application using the reference number from your Certificate of Sponsorship. You must include your identifying information, several supporting papers, and biometric data, such as a passport-style photo and fingerprint scans, in this application. For this process to be completed, you might need to schedule and keep an appointment.

A valid passport or other travel document showing the applicant’s nationality and identity is a criterion that cannot be waived, even though it may depend on the specifics of the application. It could also have proof of the applicant’s employment, savings, and that they have the right credentials and degree.

The Service Supplier Visa can be applied for up to three months before the applicant plans to start working in the UK. The mentioned date is included on the Certificate of Sponsorship. Within three months of receiving the Certificate of Sponsorship, you must submit an application for the UK Service Supplier Visa. The COS is a computerized record that contains facts on the service the applicant will be providing to their sponsor in the UK, the start date of the work, and, if appropriate, the sponsor’s certified maintenance.

Applicants inside the UK normally receive a response in eight weeks, while those outside the UK do so in three. If you’ve properly established your identity and supplied the necessary documentation, that is. In some urgent situations, you may be able to pay more to have a quicker response.

Requirements For The UK Service Supplier Visa

You must meet a number of conditions in order to be eligible for the UK Service Supplier Visa. The sections below contain these requirements:

Work Abroad Prerequisite

You must be employed by a UK sponsor as an overseas service provider or for an overseas service provider in order to apply for the UK Service Supplier Visa. Additionally, you must have spent at least a year in a similar role outside the UK. If you have worked consistently for your overseas service provider for at least 12 months before your application, either inside or outside the UK, you can get the right to work outside the UK for any length of time.

On the other hand, if you’re a self-employed overseas service provider, you must have worked continuously in the same industry—the one where you provide services for your sponsor—for the last 12 months before the application date, whether inside or outside the UK.

Only parental leave, sick leave, maternity or paternity breaks, statutory adoption leaves, helping with a national or international environmental or humanitarian disaster, or taking part in a legal strike with the sponsor’s permission can break the 12-month period.

Requirement for a CoS (Certificate of Sponsorship)

A current Certificate of Sponsorship is required in order to apply for a UK Service Supplier Visa. The COS is a digital document that your licensed sponsor in the UK makes and sends to the Home Office.

Your COS must have been issued no more than three months before the deadline for applying for a UK service supplier visa.

The following details must be on the Certificate of Sponsorship:

• The applicant’s full name
• Applicants’ position and pay
• Proof that you worked with an international service provider outside of the UK for at least 12 months.
• Evidence that you’ll begin working no more than three months after you submit your service supplier visa application.
• Proof that the Certificate of Sponsorship has never been used in an application that was accepted or rejected, in which the sponsor withdrew, or in which the home office canceled.

Required by contract

Your employment is subject to the terms of a contract between your UK sponsor and the foreign service provider. The Home Office must register the necessary contract.

Genuine Need for a Job

To be considered an acceptable applicant for the UK Service Supplier Visa, you must demonstrate to the Home Office that you are sponsored to work in a legitimate job.

If the Home Office isn’t confident that you’ll be doing real work, your application for a UK service supplier visa will be rejected. The same will apply if the office has cause to assume that you have manufactured a job only for the purpose of applying for a visa, or that you have a job that doesn’t exist at all. Additionally, they’ll check to see if you’re performing routine services for a third party other than your sponsor, taking on an ongoing function as part of contract work, or filling a position temporarily or permanently without the sponsorship of a third party.

Payroll Requirement

For employers who have received approval from the Home Office to sponsor a service provider through the UK service provider visa, there is no minimum wage requirement or set going rate for the employment post.

Required Job Skill Level

 Option A

To be eligible for the UK Service Supplier Visa, you must be sponsored to perform work at or above a specific level of ability. Even though you don’t need a degree, the job you want to do must be at least RQF Level 6, which is a graduate-level position, in order for you to qualify for the Service Supplier Visa. The Home Office has released a list of the qualifying job categories, designations, and occupational codes. You will most likely meet the employment skill level needed to qualify for the Service Supplier Visa if your sponsored job is on this list.

Your sponsor must select the most appropriate profession code. If not, your employer’s sponsorship request might not be approved by the Home Office, and your Service Supplier Visa application might be turned down.

When deciding if the chosen occupation code is the best, the Home Office looks at things like the applicant’s experience, credentials, and skills as well as the sponsor’s history of following the rules of the immigration system.

Option B

For the UK Service Supplier Visa, you need a degree or a technical qualification that is the same as a degree, unless the overseas service provider who hired you offers one of the services below.

• Fashion and modeling (no degree required)
• The head chef (requires advanced technical training).
• Services related to entertainment, except audiovisual services, are covered by the cariforum-uk economic partnership agreement (no degree required).
• Managers who consult on management issues and provide associated services (university degree required)
• Advertisement or translation (requires relevant technical qualifications)
• Testing and analysis of technology (which requires either a university degree or relevant technical qualifications)

To deliver services in accordance with sectoral requirements or UK law, you must possess the necessary professional certifications or registrations. If you want to work in one of these fields, you must have professional experience in the related field.

• 3 years of experience,
• 6 years if you’re providing services as a chef de cuisine under the cariforum-UK economic partnership agreement,
• Or 6 years if you’re a self-employed international service provider.

Nationality Requirement

You must fulfill a few nationality conditions in order to be eligible for the UK Service Supplier Visa. These are the standards:

 There are a few nationality requirements you must meet in order to qualify for the UK Service Supplier Visa. These criteria are as follows:

• Being a national of the base country/territory of the overseas service provider
• Being a permanent resident in a country that has a trade agreement with the UK, if the service that you provide is covered by a commitment of the relevant agreement. (These countries are namely Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia, EU Countries, and CARIFORUM Countries.); or,
• If the service that you provide is covered by a commitment in the General Agreement on Trade in Services and your employer is based in a country that has made a notification under Article XXVIII(k)(ii)(2) of that agreement, being a permanent resident in the said country.

Financial Requirement

If your sponsor doesn’t say in your Certificate of Sponsorship that they will pay for your expenses until the end of your first month of work, you must meet certain financial requirements to be eligible for the UK Service Supplier Visa.

If your sponsor doesn’t pay for your maintenance costs, you’ll need to demonstrate that you’ve had at least £1,270 in cash on hand for at least 28 straight days, ending no more than 31 days before the date you applied for a UK service supplier visa. If, on the other hand, you have lived legally in the UK for at least a year before your application, you won’t have to show proof of your cash funds because you will already meet the financial requirements.

Immigration Skills Charge Requirement

Employers who will sponsor service who have received Home Office approval Suppliers are not responsible for the Immigration Skills Charge.

Language Prerequisite

The Global Business Mobility Visa—UK Service Supplier does not have any English proficiency requirements.

Documents Needed For A Global Mobility Service Supplier Visa

You must submit a number of documents in order to be considered an eligible applicant for the UK Service Supplier Visa. These papers comprise the following:

• A passport or other travel document that is currently valid
• The applicant’s uk sponsor gave them a reference number for the certificate of sponsorship.
• Job description for the job that the applicant is applying for and the occupation code for the job that qualifies
• Documents demonstrating the applicant’s educational background and degree
• Documents identifying the uk sponsor and their sponsorship license number
• Pay stubs, copies of business accounts, invoices, and bank statements are examples of proof that the applicant has worked abroad for their foreign employer for at least a year.
• When requesting a dependent visa, provide documentation of your connection to the main applicant.
• If you want to study in the UK, you need a current ATAS (academic technology approval scheme) certificate.
• Results of a tuberculosis test (depending on the nation from which you are applying)

Any of these documents that were not written in English or Welsh must have verified translations attached. The original forms of all relevant documents must be presented.

Validity of Service Supplier Visa

Depending on the trade agreement that the services the service provider is supplying come under, the validity duration of the UK service provider’s visa might be either 6 or 12 months. The person with the visa can ask for a visa extension if the agreement with the sponsor to whom the Certificate of Sponsorship has been given is still in effect when the visa expires.

The service provider may have another assignment in the UK. However, a Service Supplier Visa holder is only permitted to stay in the UK for a total of 5 years during a 6-year period. The UK Service Supplier Visa does not result in a UK resident visa that is valid permanently. If you are motivated in this way, you should look for ways to move to a different immigration route that will allow you to settle in the UK.

Switching to the Service Supplier Route

Those who meet the requirements and have previously been in the UK on a different visa are eligible to move to the Service Supplier Visa. The applicant’s partner/spouse and dependent children must also submit separate applications for the switch.

You must remain in the UK, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, or Ireland up until you hear about the outcome of your application if you decide to switch to the Service Supplier Visa. Your application will no longer be valid if that happens.

Settlement in the UK Through Service Supplier Visa

The Global Business Mobility—Service Supplier Visa does not permit you to establish permanent residence in the UK. But since it gives you entry into the UK, you might be able to switch to another visa type that will provide you residency. You can change from the Service Supplier Visa to the Skilled Worker Visa or from the Start-up and Innovator Visas combined in order to get a resident visa in the UK. To get a visa extension for one of these ways to immigrate, you must meet a new set of requirements.

Another immigration path to the UK is long residence, sometimes known as “indefinite leave to remain” (ILR). But in order to get permanent residency through this route, you must have lived legally in the UK for at least ten years.

Service Supplier Visa Application Process:

Global Business Mobility: Service Provider Visa is the most ideal option for assignment-based foreign work as a service supplier, despite the fact that it does not offer the visa holder a direct route to settlement in the UK.

You can change from the Service Supplier Visa to a Skilled Worker Visa or a combination of the Innovator Visa and Start-up Visa if you want to extend your visa to another form that can result in permanent residency in the UK. Also, your family members can apply for the Service Supplier Visa to join you in the UK for as long as you are working there.