UK Work Visas

Yes, you can switch from T5 Religious Worker visa to T2 Minister of Religion visa from inside the UK.

Yes, you can apply for switching into T2 Minister of Religion visa from inside the UK using Super Priority Service whereby your application will be decided by the Home Office UKVI within 24 hours of biometrics enrolment date.

Yes, a Student visa holder can switch into T2 Minister of Religion visa from inside the UK.

The International Agreement Worker route is for a person who wants to come to the UK to provide a service covered under international law, such as private servants in diplomatic households, employees of overseas governments and international organisations, or under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) or another agreement under which the UK has commitments.

The maximum period of entry clearance that can be grantedon this route is 24 months at a time.

However, private servants in diplomatic households may apply to extend their stay for 24 months at a time up to a total of 5 years.

A Contractual Service Supplier (CSS) or Independent Professional (IP) can be granted up to a maximum length of stay of 6 months in any 12-month period, unless they are:

• providing services under the Temporary Agreement between the Swiss Confederation and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on Services Mobility, in which case they can be granted up to a maximum length of stay of 12 months in any 24-month period
• providing services under the UK-EU Trade and Co-Operation Agreement, in which case they can be granted up to a maximum of 12 months

No, the International Agreement route is not a route to settlement.

In the case of ‘CARIFORUM’, the relevant countries are:

• Antigua and Barbuda
• Dominican Republic
• St Lucia
• The Bahamas
• Grenada
• St Vincent and the Grenadines
• Barbados
• Guyana
• Suriname
• Belize
• Jamaica
• Trinidad and Tobago
• Dominica
• St Kitts and Nevis

You can apply for entry clearance for T5 International Agreement worker visa as a Contractual Service Supplier (CSS) if you are employed by a company based outside the UK that has a contract to supply services to their sponsor in the UK. When a sponsor issues a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) to a  contractual service supplier (CSS), they guarantee that service falls within scope of the commitments in the relevant agreement under which they are supplying a service. 

• The General Agreement on Trade in Service (GATS)
• UK-Chile Association Agreement
• CARIFORUM-UKEconomic Partnership Agreement
• UK-Georgia Strategic Partnership and Cooperation Agreement
• UK-Ukraine Political, Free Trade and Strategic Partnership Agreement
• UK-Moldova Strategic Partnership, Trade and Cooperation Agreement
• UK-Andean Trade Agreement
• UK-Canada Trade Continuity Agreement
• UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement
• UK-Switzerland Temporary Agreement between the Swiss Confederation and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on Services Mobility
• UK-European Union Trade and Cooperation Agreement
• Least Developed Country (LDC) services waiver –these are additional commitments notified to the World Trade Organisation by the UK in respect of service suppliers of least developed countries

T5 International Agreement Worker visa is a Points Based visa category and points can be awarded for the Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) and funds for maintenance. A T5 International Agreement Worker should score 40 points in total to qualify for entry clearance for T5 International Agreement Worker visa. The breakdown of the required points for T5 International Agreement Worker visa entry clearance is given in the table below:

No, you cannot switch into T5 International Agreement Worker visa as Contractual Service Supplier (CSS) from inside the UK and you have to apply for entry clearance from outside the UK.

A Contractual Service Supplier (CSS) can be granted up to a maximum length of stay of 6 months in any 12-month period, unless they are:

• providing services under the Temporary Agreement between the Swiss Confederation and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on Services Mobility, in which case they can be granted up to a maximum length of stay of 12 months in any 24-month period
• providing services under the UK-EU Trade and Co-Operation Agreement, in which case they can be granted up to a maximum of 12 months

You can renew / extend your Skilled Worker visa from inside the UK using Super Priority Service (decision within 24 hours) or using Priority Service (decision within 5 working days).

As specialist Skilled Worker visa solicitors, we can provide Super Priority Service or Priority Service for renewal of your Skilled Worker visa.

To be eligible for extension of Skilled Worker visa / Tier 2 General visa, you should meet the following requirements:

• You must be in the UK with leave to remain as a Tier 2 General migrant or as a Skilled Worker;
• score 50 points from mandatory non-tradeable points;
• score at least 20 points from tradeable points;
• have have funds for maintenance in the UK or your Skilled Worker sponsor has certified your maintenance in the Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS);
• meet the suitability criteria and not fall for refusal under the general grounds for refusal.

A total of 70 points are required to be eligible to apply for extension of Skilled Worker visa / Tier 2 Generarl visa; 50 points from mandatory non-tradeable points and the remaining 20 from tradeable points.

If your new or prospective employer does not hold the sponsor licence for Skilled Worker visa, your employer can apply for Skilled Worker sponsor licence to be able to sponsor you for renewal of your Skilled Worker visa. Our expert team of Sponsor licence solicitors can provide the required legal help and assistance to your prospective employer with an application for Skilled Worker sponsor licence application.

The Tier 2 General visa category has been replaced by the Skilled Worker visa. You can extend or renew your Tier 2 General visa by making an application under the Skilled Worker visa category. Your employer / sponsor should assign you with a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) so that you can apply for your visa renewal as a Skilled Worker.

Applicants can be new entrants for a maximum of 4 years. The 4 years include time spent in any Tier 2 route or as a Skilled Worker, whether or not that permission was for a continuous period. An applicant cannot be considered as a new entrant for only part of the time they are applying for. If the applicant is applying for more than 4 years, or if granting the application would mean they would have more than 4 years’ permission in total (whether continuous or not) as a Tier 2 migrant and/or as a Skilled Worker, they cannot score tradeable points as a new entrant. They will need to score tradeable points in another way.  

If your application for renewal / extension of Skilled Worker visa has been refused by the Home Office UKVI, you may have one of the following options available to you:

Option 1: You can file an Administrative Review (AR) against the refusal of your application if you believe that the Home Office caseworker has made a caseworking error in deciding your application for renewal of Skilled Wokrer visa. Our expert team of Skilled Worker visa solicitors can help you with your application for an Administrative Review (AR) of the Home Office UKVI refusal decision.

Option 2: You can submit a fresh application within 14 days (if your leave has already expired whilst the application was pending with the Home Office UKVI) by using a new Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) assigned by your employer to you. Our specialist skilled worker visa solicitors can provide the required legal help and assistance with your fresh application for extension of Skilled Worker visa after the refusal of your application.

No, you do not have to resign from your current job before applying for Skilled Worker visa extension through your new employer and you can resign and after you have been granted extension of your Skilled Worker visa.

If your application for Skilled Worker visa gets refused for any reasons, your current visa will remain intact and you can continue with your job with your current employer, if you so wish.

Following changes in the Immigration Rules with effect from 1 December 2020, there is no time limit set by the Home Office UKVI as to maximum period for which a person can extend his/her Skilled Worker visa. It is therefore possible for a person to extend Tier 2 General or Skilled Worker beyond 6 years if for any reasons an application for ILR cannot succeed for the time being and the extension application is the only option available.

You can apply for ILR as a Skilled Worker 28 days before you complete 5 years qualifying period for ILR.

You can apply for ILR as a Skilled Worker online using application form SET (O).

You can apply for ILR as a Skilled Worker using Super Priority Service for decision within 24 hours or using Priority Service for decision within 5 working days.

Our specialist team of Skilled Worker visa solicitors can provide expert legal help and assistance with your application for ILR as a Skilled Worker.

The applicant must have spent a continuous period of 5 years in the UK, consisting of time with permission in any of, or any combination of, the following routes:

• Skilled Worker
• Tier 2 (General)
• Global Talent
• Innovator
• T2 Minister of Religion / Tier 2 (Minister of Religion)
• T2 Sportsperson / Tier 2 (Sportsperson)
• Representative of an Overseas Business
• Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent)
• Tier 1 (Entrepreneur)
• Tier 1 (Investor)
• Tier 1 (General)

The most recent permission must have been in either the Skilled Worker or Tier 2 (General) route. An applicant does not need to have switched from Tier 2 (General) to Skilled Worker before applying for settlement as a Skilled Worker, as the definition of Skilled Worker in the Immigration Rules includes those with permission in the Tier 2 (General) route.

The applicant must meet the continuous residence requirement as set out in Appendix Continuous Residence during the qualifying period for ILR as a Skilled Worker / Tier 2 General Migrant.

To apply for ILR as a Skilled Worker, you must meet the Knowledge of Life in the UK requirement as set out in Appendix KOL UK.

You do not need to meet an English language requirement for settlement, as you will have met this in your previous Skilled Worker visa application.

No, you are not allowed to combine time spent under ECAA Turkish Worker visa or ECAA Turkish Businessperson visa with time spent under Skilled Worker visa to apply for ILR after 5 years as a Skilled Worker. Your qualifying time for ILR as a Skilled Worker will start from scratch once you switch from ECAA Turkish Wroker visa or ECAA Turkish Businessperson visa to Skilled Worker visa.

According to the Home Office UKVI Immigration Rules on switching into Graduate Route visa, the applicant must have, or have last had, permission to stay in the UK as a Student / Tier 4 General Student.

The Graduate route, also known as Post Study Work (PSW) visa route is for a Student in the UK who wants to work, or look for work, following the successful completion of an eligible course of study at UK bachelor’s degree-level or above. The study must have been with a higher education provider with a track record of compliance. The Graduate route is an unsponsored route. The Graduate route visa category will become operational from 0900 on 1 July 2021.

Any Student / Tier 4 General having a valid leave to remain as a student / Tier 4 General student who has completed an eligible qualification will be able to apply for switching into Graduate route from 1 July 2021.

The Graduate route is not a route to settlement; however, any time spent on the Graduate route does count towards ILR on the basis of 10 years long residence.

No, you can only apply for switching into graduate route visa from inside the UK. You can apply for entry clearance for Graduate route visa from outside the UK.

No, you cannot apply for Graduate Route visa (Post Study Work visa) if you previously held Doctorate Extension Scheme(DES) visa in the UK.

No, you cannot apply for Graduate Route visa (Post Study Work visa) if you previously held Graduate Route visa in the UK. 

You can apply online for switching from Student / Tier 4 General student visa to Graduate route visa. You must provide a degree certificate, academic transcript or an academic reference on official headed paper of the institution. You may have been sponsored in your studies by Her Majesty’s Government, your home government or any international scholarship agency. If you have had such sponsorship within the past 12 months, you must provide Home Office UKVI with the Government or international scholarship agency’s unconditional consent in writing, giving you their permission to remain in, or re-enter, the UK.

The applicant must be awarded a total of 70 pointsbased on the table below:

• The applicant must have last been sponsored by a Student sponsor which is a higher education provider with a track record of compliance on the date of application;
• The applicant must have successfully completed the course of study which was undertaken during their last grant of permission to study on the Student route (wherethe applicant was allowed to change their course ofstudy without applying for further permission as a Student, this requirement only applies to the course to which they changed);
• The student sponsor must have notified the Home Office, by the date of Graduate route application, that the applicant has successfullycompleted the relevant course of study.

The applicant will meet the qualification requirement if they have successfully completed acourse of study for which they have been or will be awarded a UK bachelor’s degree, a UK postgraduate degree, or successfully completed a relevant qualification listed below.

A relevant qualification is one ofthe following:

• a law conversion course validated by the Joint Academic Stage Board in England and Wales; or
• the Legal Practice Course (LPC) in England and Wales, the Solicitors Course in Northern Ireland, or a Diploma in Professional Legal Practice in Scotland; or
• the Bar Practice Course in England and Wales, or the Bar Course in Northern Ireland; or
• a foundation programme in Medicine or Dentistry; or
• a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) or Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE); or
• a professional course requiring study at UK bachelor’s degree level or above in a profession with reserved activities that is regulated by UK law or UK public authority.  

If the name of the applicant’s course of study was changed by the Student sponsor, but the course content remained the same, or if an integral and assessed work placement or permitted study abroad programme was added, this will not prevent the applicant being able to meet the qualification requirement.

The qualification must have been gained during the last grant of permission to study as a Student / Tier 4 General Student, or in the period of permission immediately before the applicant’s last grant of permission, if the last grant of permission was to undertake a role as a Student Union Sabbatical Officer.

The applicant must have studied in the UK for a minimum period of thecourse for which they were last granted permission to study on the Student route (the relevant period), as in the table below:

Where distance learning took place overseas between 24 January 2020 and 27 September 2021, this will not prevent the applicant meeting the requirement to spend the relevant period of studying in the UK if:

• they began their course in 2020 and entered the UK on or before 21 June 2021and complete that course of study in the UK with permission as a Student; or
• they began their course in 2021 and entered the UK before 27 September 2021 and complete that course of study in the UK with permission as a Student.

Any period of distance learning between 24 January 2020 and 27 September 2021 as part of a course of study lasting longer than 12 months whilst the applicant held permission as a Student, will not prevent the applicant from meeting the requirement to spend the relevant period of studying in the UK.

The applicant will be granted the period of permission as set out in the table below dependent on how they met the qualification requirement:

The grant will be subject to all the following conditions:

• no access to public funds; and
• work (including self-employment and voluntary work) is permitted, apart from work as a professional sportsperson; and
• study is permitted, except study with an education provider which is a Student sponsor, and which would meet the approved qualification and level of study requirements of the Student route which are set out in Appendix Student; and
• study is subject to the ATAS condition in Appendix ATAS; and
• if Part 10 applies the person will be required to register with the police.

You can apply for switching into Graduate route visa using Super Priority Service whereby decision on your application will be made by the Home Office UKVI within 24 hours of the enrolment of biometrics at a UKVCAS service centre.

Our immigration solicitors can prepare and submit your application to the Home Office, UKVI through Super Priority Service (SPS) and get decision on your immigration application within 24 hours. This way, you will not have to wait for the decision on your application for months.