The Scale-up Worker visa is designed for skilled professionals who have received a job offer from a fast-growing UK business holding an appropriate Scale-up Sponsor Licence.<\/p>\n
The Scale-up route leads to Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR). Partners and children can apply as dependants. Partners can normally work in the UK, while children can attend state schools.<\/p>\n
For an initial application, the applicant must receive a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) from a UK employer holding a Scale-up Sponsor Licence. The proposed job must meet the relevant skill level and salary requirements.<\/p>\n
Under the standard Scale-up pathway, a company must normally demonstrate average annual growth of at least 20% over the previous 3 years based on either turnover or staff numbers and have had at least 10 employees at the beginning of that 3-year period.<\/p>\n
An alternative endorsing body pathway is available for certain fast-growing businesses that do not meet the requirements of the standard pathway.<\/p>\n
Westland Mark Immigration Specialists assist employers with Scale-up Sponsor Licence applications.<\/p>\n
The initial Scale-up Worker visa is granted for 2 years. During the first 6 months, the applicant must work in the sponsored job stated on their Certificate of Sponsorship.<\/p>\n
After the first 6 months, the worker has significantly more flexibility and can change their employer or job without obtaining a new Certificate of Sponsorship.<\/p>\n
The visa can subsequently be extended for 3 years, provided the relevant requirements are met.<\/p>\n
For an initial sponsored application, the salary must normally be at least:<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u00a339,100 per year; or<\/p>\n
\u2022 the applicable going rate for the occupation,<\/p>\n
whichever is higher.<\/p>\n
Applicants must normally demonstrate English language ability at a minimum level of B1 CEFR in reading, writing, speaking and listening, unless an applicable exemption applies.<\/p>\n
Applicants must normally have at least \u00a31,270 available in their bank account for at least 28 consecutive days.<\/p>\n
This requirement may not apply if the applicant has already been legally living in the UK for at least 12 months or if the sponsoring employer certifies maintenance on the Certificate of Sponsorship.<\/p>\n
The Home Office application fee is \u00a3937 per applicant.<\/p>\n
The Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) is also payable and is normally \u00a31,035 per year for each adult applicant. For example, the IHS for a 2-year visa would normally be \u00a32,070.<\/p>\n
The Scale-up Worker route can lead to Indefinite Leave to Remain after 5 years, provided all relevant requirements are met.<\/p>\n
Additional earnings requirements apply when applying for ILR. For applicants whose most recent Scale-up permission was based on a CoS issued on or after 22 July 2025, their current salary must normally be at least \u00a339,100 per year. Applicants must also meet the relevant PAYE earnings requirement for at least 2 years during the 3 years immediately before applying for settlement.<\/p>\n
Applicants must normally not have spent more than 180 days outside the UK during any consecutive 12-month period of the relevant qualifying period.<\/p>\n
After obtaining ILR, applicants may subsequently qualify for British citizenship, subject to meeting the relevant naturalisation requirements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Scale-up Worker Visa The Scale-up Worker visa is designed for skilled professionals who have received a job offer from a fast-growing UK business holding an appropriate Scale-up Sponsor Licence. The Scale-up route leads to Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR). Partners […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":601,"parent":1216,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1219","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/PbavPq-jF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westlandmark.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westlandmark.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westlandmark.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westlandmark.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westlandmark.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1219"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/westlandmark.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2181,"href":"https:\/\/westlandmark.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1219\/revisions\/2181"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westlandmark.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1216"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westlandmark.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westlandmark.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}