To accompany a panel discussion Unlocking Talent in Tech Scale-Ups at techUK on 15 October 2024, Ben Maitland, Senior Associate at Vanessa Ganguin Immigration Law has written a guide to help techUK members work out if they may benefit from this useful option for overseas hires.
What are the advantages of a Scale-up sponsor licence?
A Scale-up sponsor licence allows high-growth UK businesses to recruit qualifying highly-skilled migrants. This relatively new immigration option was recently expanded to allow start-ups under four years-old with scale-up potential to qualify too if endorsed by one of the government-appointed organisations. It offers more flexibility than other sponsorship options, plus applying for a licence can be a relatively streamlined, swift process.
There are also potential savings for employers, as there is no skills charge to pay for sponsored employees. The skills charge is an annual fee which ranges between £364 and £1,000 for each sponsored worker, depending on the size of a business. While on the Skilled Worker visa – the main option for sponsoring skilled staff from abroad – hires must be paid an above-average wage for their occupation, on a Scale-up visa the salary need only match or exceed the bottom 25th percentile of the going rate for the job. So, for example programmers and software development professionals sponsored as Skilled Workers must be paid a minimum of £49,400 (based on a 37.5-hour working week) and £25.33 per hour, while on a Scale-up visa, the minimum is £36,300 (£18.62 per hour).
Employers may choose to operate a Scale-up sponsor licence at the same time as a Skilled Worker sponsor licence and other work immigration options for other staff. Other options for tech firms recruiting migrant workers include the Graduate visa, Global Talent visa, Innovator Founder visa, High Potential visa, Youth Mobility Scheme and Global Business Mobility options.
How does the Scale-up visa work?
Unlike other sponsored immigration routes, the Scale-up visa has sponsored and unsponsored stages. Scale-ups need only sponsor Scale-up workers for the first six months of their first two-year visa. After six months of employment, they can work carry on working for their employer without the bureaucracy of sponsorship, work elsewhere or work for themselves if they so choose, or even a mix of all three. So long as their earnings over the first two years met the required threshold, Scale-up workers can keep renewing their visa for another three years without needing to be sponsored.
After five years continuous qualifying residence, Scale-up Workers can apply for indefinite leave to remain in the UK if they meet earning and residence requirements such as passing the Life in the UK test. Qualifying dependent partners and dependent children may apply to accompany or join migrants on a Scale-up visa, and after five qualifying years may also apply for settlement.
The standard pathway to a Scale-up sponsor licence
To qualify under the standard pathway, a business must demonstrate annualised growth of at least 20% for the three-year period prior to the application based on either staff count or turnover. The organisation must have had a minimum of 10 employees at the start of the three years. UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) will assess this from a company’s UK tax record for the period.
The endorsement option for newer ventures
If a company doesn’t have a long enough history with the HMRC it may now apply to one of the UK Government approved endorsing bodies to endorse its qualification as a scale-up before applying for the sponsor licence (within three months of endorsement).
Read the full guide on the techUK website
Find out more about the Scale-up visa
What are the best UK immigration options for recruiting Tech Workers?