Who is exempt from the immigration skills charge?
Published on 9th Mar 2023
The Home Office has confirmed that a new immigration skills charge (ISC) exemption is now available for employers who use the global business mobility: senior or specialist worker route for EU national workers from their overseas offices based in the EU.
The new exemption came into force on 1 January 2023 and the Immigration Skills Charge (Amendment) Regulations 2022 confirms that sponsors of the global business mobility – senior or specialist route will be exempt from paying the ISC if all of the following apply;
- The certificate of sponsorship (CoS) was assigned on or after 1 January 2023
- The worker is a national of an EU country (does not include Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway) or is a Latvian "non-citizen".
- The worker has been assigned to the UK by a business established in the EU, and which forms part of the same sponsor group.
- The end date of the assignment, as specified on the CoS, is no more than 36 months after the start date.
The Global Business Mobility (Senior or Specialist Worker) visa enables staff from an overseas business to transfer to and work for a branch or subsidiary of the same company in the UK. Applicants under this route must be an existing employee of an existing sponsor, hold a CoS from their employer, have an eligible job, and receive a salary of at least £42,400 per year.
What is an ISC?
The immigration skills charge is a charge payable by employers to the Home Office when sponsoring workers under both the skilled worker and global business mobility – senior or specialist workers route.
How much a company pays is calculated based on the size of the sponsoring organisation and the length of employment on the CoS. A large company sponsor must pay an ISC fee of £1,000 per year per worker and small and charitable companies must pay £364 per year per worker.
Cost reduction for employers
In some cases, the exemption could provide a considerable cost saving when compared to the Skilled Worker route.
Employers can now take advantage of the new exemption to save on Immigration Skills Charge and reduce the overall costs when sponsoring specialist employees to come to or stay in the UK to undertake temporary work assignments with a UK business that is linked to their employer overseas.
It should be noted that the ISC exemption will not apply to applicants who are nationals of Switzerland, Iceland, Norway or Liechtenstein.
