Representative of an Overseas Business

Previously, the Representative of an Overseas Business category provided a route of entry and stay in the UK for:

1. •

   a senior employee of an overseas business (which does not have an active presence in the UK) who is being assigned to the UK in order to establish the company’s first branch or subsidiary, or

2. •

   media employees of overseas newspapers, news agencies or broadcasting organisations who are being posted by their overseas employer on a long-term UK posting

Further to Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules HC 1118, the ‘sole representative’ provisions were closed to new entrants from 11 April 2022. The sole representative provisions under Representative of an Overseas Business now remain only for those wishing to extend their stay or apply for settlement under this route. The sponsored Global Business Mobility route UK Expansion Worker was introduced from the same date to cater for those who would previously have entered the UK as sole representatives—for further details, see Practice Note: Sponsoring a UK Expansion Worker. The media representative provisions remain unchanged and continue to apply to initial applications as well as