Business & Commercial Work Permit | Skilled Worker | UK Work Permit 

The business and commercial work permit allows employers to recruit migrants to be employed under certain categories. This category is only open for limited nationals and may be extended to other nationals. 

There are 6 different routes available:

1. Business and commercial. This is the working visa allowing a person to be employed on a skilled employment which cannot be covered by a resident person in the UK. 

2. Training and Work Experience Scheme (TWES). This allows people from outside of the UK to undertake work-based training for a professional or specialist qualification. 

3. Sports and Entertainments. Allowing established sportspeople, entertainers, and cultural artists to work in the UK. 

4. Student internships. This allows students from outside of the UK who are undertaking study programs and looking to complete a period of internship in the UK. 

5. Sectors Based Scheme (SBS). This category for those in the food manufacturing & hospitality sector only. 

6. General Agreement on Trade in Services. Businesses that are based outside of the UK, to provide a contractual service to a UK company. 

Meeting the requirements of the work permit categories

As an employer, where they cannot find a resident person to fill a vacancy, a migrant from outside of the UK can be employed to cover the post. As part of the requirements, the vacancy must be advertised and the compliance requirements must be met, unless they are applying under a category which is not required.

The work permit application must be lodged to the Home Office and this will be considered based on the evidences supplied. Unlike the Tier 2 program, this does not need the employer to be licensed, however evidences to support the fact that the business is genuine and trading are required. 

Once the work permit document is approved, you will have only 6 months to apply for the visa to come and work in the UK. If the work permit document expires, or will expire by the time the visa is applied, you will need to contact the Home Office to have it extended. 

Applying for the work permit visa

When an employer decides to offer you an employment in the UK, you will need to meet certain requirements of the immigration policy. First of all, you must not fall under the general grounds of refusal, so if you have any criminal or civil convictions, there will be risk of your work permit visa being refused. In certain employments, you would be asked to demonstrate that in the last 10 years, you have not committed any serious offences. 

The visa application is applied online; this is whether you are in the UK or outside of the UK. Once you have completed your work permit application, you will be able to pay for the visa fees and book the visa appointment. As part of the submission, you will need to submit your legal representation and also the evidences to support your work permit application. 

The decision making of a work permit visa does not take more than 15 working days however this would depend on individual applications and country of application. Once a decision is served, the Home Office can issue up to 5 years working visa. 

Refusal of your work permit visa

If your work permit visa application is refused, you can appeal against the decision by lodging an administrative review. The decision letter will tell in full the reasons on the refusal. 

As part of the work permit refusal, you can lodge further evidences to support the application to be reconsidered. You can provide evidences to support your application. 

Taking legal advice on the work permit visa

At ICS Legal, we will advise you on the correct process of applying under the work permit visa and support you throughout the visa application process.

You can speak to one of our UK Immigration Lawyers on the work permit visa requirements by sending us an email on info@icslegal.com or you can call us on 0207 237 3388.