Among the business-friendly measures dissected on 9 March is a major tweak to the Global Business Mobility Secondment Worker route: employees now need just six months’ prior service with an overseas employer (down from 12) before they can be seconded to a UK entity under qualifying contracts worth at least £50 million. The change, effective 8 April, is expected to benefit consulting, IT-services and infrastructure firms that rotate specialist staff onto UK projects for under a year.
![Secondment Worker visa hurdle halved, boosting UK project-based assignments]()
For organisations navigating these immigration shifts, VisaHQ can streamline visa and document procurement, offering real-time guidance on the Global Business Mobility routes alongside a full suite of UK entry options. Its dedicated portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-kingdom/) provides employers and assignees with a single dashboard for application tracking, consular requirements and expert support, helping HR teams redeploy talent swiftly and compliantly.
Human-capital planners previously struggled with the 12-month rule, which often excluded newer hires with niche skills from client engagements. Indian nationals stand to gain disproportionately; from 26 March the Service Supplier route opens to them under the UK–India Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, capped at 1,800 entrants annually. Combined with the shorter service threshold, multinationals with Indian delivery centres can now mobilise talent faster while remaining compliant. Companies should revise global-mobility policies, double-check eligibility under the £50 million contract criterion and prepare host-country support—especially payroll alignment and housing—for a potential uptick in short-term assignees.
For organisations navigating these immigration shifts, VisaHQ can streamline visa and document procurement, offering real-time guidance on the Global Business Mobility routes alongside a full suite of UK entry options. Its dedicated portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-kingdom/) provides employers and assignees with a single dashboard for application tracking, consular requirements and expert support, helping HR teams redeploy talent swiftly and compliantly.
Human-capital planners previously struggled with the 12-month rule, which often excluded newer hires with niche skills from client engagements. Indian nationals stand to gain disproportionately; from 26 March the Service Supplier route opens to them under the UK–India Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, capped at 1,800 entrants annually. Combined with the shorter service threshold, multinationals with Indian delivery centres can now mobilise talent faster while remaining compliant. Companies should revise global-mobility policies, double-check eligibility under the £50 million contract criterion and prepare host-country support—especially payroll alignment and housing—for a potential uptick in short-term assignees.
