UK Work Visa from China: Obtain a Visa to Move Workers

Overview of UK Work Visa Routes

The UK immigration system has several visa options through which multinational businesses can send foreign employees to work in or start a UK branch/subsidiary of the company.

There are different visa categories for specific job roles you want to sponsor your Chinese employees to fill in the UK. Some visas only allow you to sponsor non-UK nationals for temporary roles and require the employee to leave the UK after a specified timeframe. While many others allow you to sponsor your overseas employees to fill more permanent positions.

The most common visa routes for sponsoring employees from China include:

• Skilled Worker visa
• Global Business Mobility visas
• Innovator Founder visa
• International Agreement Worker visa (Temporary Work)
• Creative Worker visa (Temporary Work)
• Government Authorised Exchange visa (Temporary Work)

Each of these visas has specific eligibility requirements both for the sponsoring employer and the Chinese employee. To sponsor an overseas worker for your Chinese business, you must have a valid sponsor licence and an adequate sponsorship management system to maintain your sponsor licence.

Skilled Worker Visa from China

The Skilled Worker visa enables you to bring skilled workers from China to undertake an eligible job in your company in the UK, provided your business is approved by the UK Visas and Immigration services (UKVI).

To bring an employee from China on the Skilled Worker route, you must meet the following requirements.

• You must have a valid sponsorship licence
• You must issue the employer a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) with information about the role they’re coming to fill in the UK.
• The job you’re bringing the Chinese worker to do must be on the eligible occupations list.
• You must pay the Chinese employee the minimum salary for a Skilled Worker visa or the going rate for the type of job they’re coming to do. The minimum salary threshold for Skilled Worker visas in 2026 is £41,700.
• You must pay the Immigration Skills Charge.

As a skilled worker from China, you must also meet specific eligibility criteria to qualify for sponsorship. They include:

• Your skill level must be at least RQF Level 6 or above, which is equivalent to holding at least a bachelor’s degree. If your skill is below RQF Level 6, then your job must be on the Immigration Salary List or the proposed Temporary Shortage List.
• You must be proficient in English to at least CEFR Level B1.
• The job you’re being sponsored for must be a genuine vacancy and not one merely created for sponsorship purposes.
• You must have sufficient financial resources to support yourself and any dependent family member without recourse to public funds. If your employer is covering your maintenance costs for the first month of your stay, it must be included in your certificate of sponsorship.
• You must meet the genuineness requirement. That is, you must show that you will only undertake the job you’re sponsored for and will not take additional employment in the UK.
• You must have a clean criminal record.

A Skilled Worker visa is usually issued for 5 years and can be extended as many times as required, provided that you continue to meet the requirements. You can apply for indefinite leave to remain after five years of stay in the UK, if eligible. 

You can also bring your dependent family members (spouse/partner and dependent children below 18) with you, except if you work in healthcare or your job is in the Immigration Salary List.

Global Business Mobility Visas

The Global Business Mobility Visas allow multinational companies, including Chinese corporations, to sponsor their employees to start up or work in a UK branch/subsidiary of the business temporarily. There are five visa routes under the Global Business Mobility Scheme. They include:

• UK Expansion Worker visa
• Senior or Specialist Worker visa
• Secondment Worker visa
• Graduate Trainee visa
• Service Supplier visa

Each of these visa categories requires employer sponsorship and has specific eligibility requirements for both the employer and employees.

UK Expansion Worker Visa

The UK Expansion Worker visa is for senior managers or specialist workers coming to the UK temporarily to set up a branch of an overseas business that has not started trading in the UK. The visa is issued for 12 months and can be extended for another 12 months, after which the holder must leave the UK or switch to another visa route.

You can sponsor your senior staff from China to set up a branch of your company in the UK through the Expansion Worker visa. However, you can only sponsor 5 workers on this visa at a time.

To sponsor workers from China to the UK, you must meet the following requirements.

• Your UK office or partner must hold a valid sponsor licence and issue a certificate of sponsorship to the expansion worker.
• You must pay the overseas worker at least £52,500 per year or the going rate for their occupation code.
• The position they’re coming to fill must be in the Eligible Occupation List.
• The employee must have worked for your company in China for at least one year unless they’re earning over £73,900.

Senior or Specialist Worker Visa

The Senior or Specialist Worker visa is for existing employees of overseas businesses coming to work in a senior or specialist role in a UK branch/subsidiary of their overseas employer. 

Chinese companies with functional branches/subsidiaries in the UK can sponsor management staff from China to fill senior or specialist roles in their UK office. Foreign employees can work in the UK on this visa for a maximum of 5 years in any 6-year period or 9 years in a 10-year period if they earn above £73,900.

To qualify for the Senior or Specialist Worker visa, the Chinese worker must:

• Receive a certificate of sponsorship from the UK employer
• Be coming to do a job on the list of eligible occupations.
• Be paid at least £52,500 or the going rate for the job code
• Have worked for the company in China for at least 12 months, unless they earn above £73,900.
• Have sufficient funds to support themselves and any dependants in the UK, except their UK employer is covering their maintenance for the first month.

Graduate Trainee Visa

The Graduate Trainee visa allows foreign nationals to come to or stay in the UK to work for the UK office of their overseas employer as part of a graduate training programme for a specialist or managerial role. It provides an opportunity for multinational companies to train young employees for managerial roles.

You can apply for the Graduate Trainee visa if your Chinese employer offers you a position in their UK office and you have an eligible job role. To qualify for the Graduate Trainee visa, you must:

• Be an employee of a company approved by the Home Office to sponsor foreign workers
• Have worked for your employer overseas for at least 3 months.
• Receive a certificate of sponsorship from your employer’s UK office.
• Be paid at least £25,410 per year
• Be able to support yourself in the UK

The Graduate Trainee visa is valid for 12 months and cannot be extended. You can bring your eligible dependents with you on this visa.

Secondment Worker Visa

The Secondment Worker visa allows overseas businesses to transfer staff to work in the UK for a different organisation as part of a high-value contract. If your company in China has a high-value contract with a UK company, the UK company can sponsor you to work with them as a secondment worker for the duration of the contract.

To qualify for a Secondment Worker visa, you must:

• Be an existing employee of a Chinese company that has a high-value contract (worth at least £50 million) with a UK organisation approved by the Home Office to sponsor foreign workers.
• Have worked for your overseas employer for at least 12 months.
• Receive a certificate of sponsorship from the UK sponsoring organisation.
• Be coming to do a job on the Eligible Occupations List.

The Secondment Worker visa is valid for a maximum duration of 2 years. It is first issued for 12 months and can be renewed for another 12 months if necessary. You can bring your eligible dependants with you to the UK on this visa.

Service Supplier Visa

The Service Supplier visa allows employees of overseas organisations or self-employed overseas service providers to provide services to UK companies. You can use this visa to come to the UK if your Chinese employer has a contract to provide services for a UK company or if you’re a self-employed service provider in China.

To qualify for the Service Supplier visa, you must:

• Be the employee of a foreign business or a self-employed service provider based outside the UK.
• Have worked for your overseas employer for at least 12 months or have at least one year of experience if you’re a self-employed service provider.
• Be providing a service for a UK company with a valid sponsorship licence.
• The service you’re providing must be under a contract covered by a valid international trade agreement.
• Have a certificate of sponsorship from the UK company you’re providing the service for.
• Be doing an eligible job or have specific qualifications and experience.

You can stay in the UK on a Service Supplier visa for up to 6 months or 12 months, depending on the international agreement that covers the service you’re providing.

Innovator Founder Visa

If you’re looking to start a new business in the UK as a Chinese national, the Innovator Founder visa may be your best option. It allows foreign nationals to start innovative businesses in the UK. You can apply for this visa if you want to set up an innovative business in the UK that’s different from anything currently in the UK market.

To be eligible for an Innovator Founder Visa, your business must meet the following requirements. It must:

• Be a new entity, not a new product of an existing trade.
• Be innovative and original, different from any existing business in the UK market
• Be viable and have growth potential.
• Be scalable – you must provide evidence that the business will create jobs and can scale to the national and international markets.
• Be endorsed by an approved endorsing body.

You must also meet certain personal eligibility requirements, such as providing evidence of proficiency in the English language and sufficient funds to support yourself in the UK.

The Innovator Founder visa is issued for 3 years. However, you must meet with your endorsing body every 12 months to assess your business progress. Your visa can be cut short if the endorsing body withdraws its endorsement.

You can apply to extend your stay after the initial 3 years, or you can apply for an indefinite leave to remain if eligible. There’s no limit to the number of times you can extend your Innovator Founder visa. And you can bring your depandants to join you in the UK.

Representative of an Overseas Business

The Representative of an overseas business visa allows overseas news agencies to post their employees on assignment to the UK. You can apply for this visa if you’re an employee of a Chinese news agency, broadcasting organisation, or newspaper posted to the UK on a long-term assignment.

To be eligible for this visa, you must:

• Have sufficient finances to support yourself in the UK without recourse to public funds
• Be proficient in English.

The Representative of an Overseas Business visa is issued for an initial 3 years, after which you can extend it for two more years. You may be eligible for settlement (indefinite leave to remain) after holding this visa for 5 years. You can also bring your dependent family with you to the UK.

Sponsor Licence for Chinese Companies

Like most businesses in the UK, Chinese businesses looking to expand their operations in the UK will need to obtain a sponsor licence from the Home Office to enable them to bring staff from China or employ new overseas nationals.

The sponsorship licence requirement is the UKVI’s way of ensuring only skilled and qualified foreign nationals are employed by UK businesses. It also ensures that migrants are only employed to fill genuine vacancies and that the immigration system is not being misused.

There are two main types of Sponsor Licence:

• Worker licence
• Temporary Worker licence

A Worker licence allows you to sponsor overseas employers for over 12 months on eligible visa routes like the Skilled Worker, Senior or Specialist Worker, Minister of Religion, and International Sportsperson visas. It can also be used for self-sponsorship.

On the other hand, a Temporary Worker licence is for sponsoring employees for short-term work, including voluntary/charity work, through any of the UK’s temporary work visa routes. It is typically used to sponsor visas valid for 6 to 12 months. However, it can be issued for up to 2 years when sponsoring certain creative workers, research project participants, and religious workers. 

Applying for a UK Sponsor Licence 

You can apply for a sponsor licence on the UKVI website. After completing the online application form, you must pay the licence fee and send the submission sheet and your supporting documents to UKVI via email. The email address where you’re to send the application will be written on the submission sheet.

Your UK-based Chinese business must meet the following requirements to be eligible for a sponsor licence. The business must:

• Be registered and approved to trade in the UK and eligible to sponsor workers.
• It must not have had a sponsor licence revoked in the last 12 months or 24 months if your licence has been revoked more than once.
• It must have adequate HR systems and key personnel to manage the sponsorship process and monitor immigrants to ensure compliance.
• The company’s directors and all sponsorship personnel must not have any unspent convictions for immigration-related offences, fraud, or money laundering.
• Prove that it has genuine vacancies for skilled and qualified overseas workers and that the jobs meet the minimum salary requirements.
• If applying for a sponsor licence to sponsor a UK Expansion Worker, the business must have been trading overseas for at least 3 years and must provide evidence that they are able to trade in the UK.

After you submit your application, the UKVI may visit your organisation to ensure you have sufficient resources and personnel to manage the sponsorship system before making a decision.

If your sponsorship licence application is approved, you’ll receive an A-rated sponsor licence. Your business will be included in the eligible list of sponsors, and you can start issuing certificates of sponsorship to eligible overseas workers.

UKVI will visit your business premises at intervals for audits and monitoring to ensure compliance with sponsorship requirements. Failure to measure up during audits will result in your sponsor licence getting downgraded to a B rating, and you won’t be able to issue new certificates of sponsorship until you meet the requirements and are upgraded back to an A rating.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Once you obtain your sponsor licence, you must issue a certificate of sponsorship to each worker you intend to bring from China. A Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) is an electronic record containing details of the job role a foreign employee is being sponsored for. It has a unique reference number that the employee will use to apply for their UK visa.

Your Chinese worker must use the CoS to apply for the appropriate work visa within three months of issuance, or it will become invalid. However, they cannot apply for their visa more than 3 months before their expected work resumption date.

There are two types of certificates of sponsorship

• Defined CoS: For sponsoring migrant workers through the Skilled Worker visa route from outside the UK. You must apply for a CoS for each worker through the sponsorship management system.
• Undefined CoS: For sponsoring skilled workers who are already in the UK and applicants on all other work visa types. The Home Office will ask you to estimate how many undefined CoS you will need in your first year when you apply for a sponsor licence.

If you’re sponsoring an expansion worker, your licence will be given a provisional rating, and you can only issue one certificate of sponsorship. Once the expansion worker arrives in the UK, they’ll function as the authorising officer for your sponsorship management system. The licence will then be upgraded to an A rating, allowing you to sponsor up to 9 more workers.

A certificate of sponsorship costs £525 for Workers and £55 for Temporary Workers.

Process of Securing a UK Work Visa

The steps for applying for most UK visas are generally the same for those applying outside the UK. The steps are as follows:

• Step 1: Determine your eligibility for the visa route you want to apply for. You must have an eligible job offer that meets the minimum skill level and salary requirements. You should also ensure you meet financial requirements.
• Step 2: Gather supporting evidence, including a certificate of sponsorship from your UK employer, proof of English language proficiency, bank statements, and other required documents.
• Step 3: Start your online visa application on the Home Office’s website. Complete the online application form accurately and upload your supporting documents. You may be required to book a biometric appointment.
• Step 4: Pay the visa fee and submit your application.
• Step 5: If required, attend a biometric appointment at the nearest visa application centre to submit your photo and fingerprints.
• Step 6: Wait for a decision. If the Home Office approves your application, you will receive a visa package allowing you to travel to the UK.

It’s possible to switch to most work visa routes from a different visa in the UK, depending on the visa you currently hold in the UK. You cannot switch to a work visa if you’re in the UK as a:

• Visitor 
• Seasonal Worker 
• Short-term Student 
• Parent of a Child Student 
• Domestic Worker in a Private Household
• On Immigration Bail
• On Permission to stay outside the immigration rules

You will have to leave the UK and apply for your work visa from your home country.

Costs and Processing Times of UK work visas

Processing times for UK work visas depend on where you’re applying from and other local factors, such as the volume of applications in your visa application centre. 

However, UKVI typically processes work visa applications made from outside the UK within 3 weeks, while applications submitted inside the UK are usually processed within 8 weeks. If you want a faster decision, you can use the priority or super-priority processing services. For an extra fee of £1000, you’ll get a decision within 2 working days using the super priority service.

There are different application fees for the various types of work visas. The application fees for the popular work visas include:

• Skilled Worker visa – £819 or £1,618, depending on the visa duration
• UK Expansion Worker visa – £340
• Senior or Specialist Worker visa – £819 for three years or less and £1,618 for over three years
• Graduate Trainee visa – £340
• Secondment Worker visa –£340
• Service Supplier visa – £340
• Innovator Founder visa – £1,357 if applying abroad and £1,693 if applying in the UK.
• Representative of an Overseas Business – £819 if you’re applying abroad and £943 if you’re applying from inside the UK.
• Scale-Up Worker visa – £937

If you’re moving to the UK with family members, each family member must complete individual applications and pay the visa fee.

UK Work Visa to Settlement

Skilled Worker, Senior or Specialist Worker, Innovator Founder, and Representative of an Overseas Business visas are routes to settlement in the UK. After five years of residing in the UK on any of these visas, you can apply for an indefinite leave to remain (ILR) in the UK. An ILR is the UK’s permanent residency.

Once your Chinese worker obtains an ILR, they can stay in the UK without needing to renew certificates of sponsorship and visas. They and their dependants will be able to live, work, and study in the UK permanently.

While other Global Mobility Visas are not direct routes to UK settlement, staff members can switch from these visas to a Skilled Worker visa while in the UK, provided they meet all the requirements.

How IAS Assists Chinese Businesses

Expanding your business from China into the UK market is an opportunity to scale and profit from a new market. However, the process of establishing a branch or subsidiary of your Chinese company in the UK and bringing your overseas staff to work in the UK can be very complex, requiring several legal, trade, and immigration registrations and compliance.

IAS assists Chinese businesses with navigating these complexities to ensure they get the best possible outcomes. We will help you compile and submit your sponsor licence application to the Home Office and can serve as your key contact with UKVI. 

After you obtain your sponsor licence, we will also assist with maintaining the sponsor management system, provide compliance training to key personnel, and help complete staff visa applications to UKVI standards.

Our UK offices are located in London, Manchester, and Birmingham, but we also provide remote services to our clients in China via phone calls and video conferencing. You can contact us today at +44 (0)333 414 9244 to book a consultation.