21st January 2022

Skilled Worker visa vs Sole Rep visa: a quick guide

Immigration Lawyers

Before embarking on a life-changing decision to relocate to the UK, we flag some of the important commercial and immigration factors to consider between these two popular UK work visa categories and present a summary comparison table.

Skilled Worker Visa

Succeeding the former Tier 2 (General) category on 1 December 2020, the Skilled Worker visa category is one of the most common routes used to recruit a foreign migrant to work in the UK.

To sponsor a foreign migrant to work here, the UK organisation needs to apply for a sponsor licence, if it does not already hold one.

The rules are quite clear who from the UK organisation can apply:

a British citizen
a settled person (e.g. someone with permanent settlement status/ indefinite leave to remain)
certain foreign migrants such as those with a Sole Rep visa

Not all foreign migrants will be eligible to apply for a sponsor licence.

For example, a HNWI on a Tier 1 (Investor) visa would not be eligible. So if there isn’t a suitable organisation nor an eligible person, then this route would be a non-starter.

Once the sponsor licence has been obtained, there are on-going duties and responsibilities to ensure compliance with the numerous and sometimes quite complex rules. For example:

is the role amenable to sponsorship (on a list of approved jobs)?
what is the applicable minimum salary?
what records need to be kept and for how long?

While the list goes on, there are also many benefits of a UK organisation having a sponsor licence, primarily greater access to the labour market and therefore attracting greater diversity and talent to the sponsoring organisation.

There is of course also the need for the individual to go through the visa application process, so this route can potentially take quite some time, in particular where the UK organisation does not already hold a sponsor licence.

Sole Rep Visa

Formally known as the Representative of an Overseas Business route, the Sole Rep visa category has become increasingly popular again for several reasons, especially with the demise of the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visa category on 29 March 2019, and the cessation of the “Ankara Agreement” applying to the UK as a result of Brexit.

The Sole Rep route allows a senior employee of an overseas entity to be sent to the UK to establish and run a branch or wholly owned subsidiary. It is a relatively quick process as it does not require sponsorship, and there is no minimum employment period to be eligible for this visa.

For overseas businesses looking to expand into the UK, this visa category allows it to get its foot in the door, arguably with little expense and is a good first step for inward investment to the UK.

Another reason to consider this visa category is the ability for the Sole Rep migrant to apply for a Skilled Worker sponsor licence – something which is not usually possible for a foreign migrant (see previous blog article).

Summary comparison table

Skilled Worker route	Sole Rep route
A sponsor licence application can take around 8 weeks to be processed	No sponsor licence required
Initial visa application will usually take up to 3 weeks to be processed (if applying from outside the UK)
Initial visa valid for up to 5 years	Initial visa valid for 3 years
Visa can be extended and there is the possibility of applying for permanent settlement
Multiple individuals can be recruited	Only one Sole Rep allowed (but they can apply for a sponsor licence to recruit foreign migrants)
General minimum salary is £25,600	No minimum salary requirement but the salary needs to be appropriate for the senior employee
Higher costs if needing to apply for a sponsor licence (e.g. sponsor licence application fee, assigning fee, skills levy, visa application and health surcharge fee) but can be a worthy “asset”	Lower costs (e.g. initial set-up costs of the UK entity, visa application and health surcharge fee)

Which option is most suitable will ultimately depend on your commercial needs and eligibility under the specific immigration rules.

We are happy to discuss your immigration needs and offer a bespoke solution to help you make the first step towards moving to the UK, please click here to get in touch.

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