Changes to the Intra-Company Transfer rules / 23 October 2020

Changes to the Intra-Company Transfer rules

The Intra-Company Transfer route is for established employees who are being transferred by their employer company to do a skilled role in the UK. The Intra-Company Graduate Trainee route is for employees who are being transferred by their employer company to a role in the UK as part in a structured graduate training programme. The route has been revised and has a points-based format, making it much easier for users to navigate the requirements and to unify several crosscutting requirements with other routes. The main changes are:

• A change is being made to the cooling-off requirement. Instead of migrants being barred from re-entering the UK as an ICT for 12 months after departing, they will be permitted to hold Intra-Company Transfer leave for up to 5 years in any 6-year rolling period or up to 9 years in any 10-year period for high earners.
• Provisions for high earners will be unified to a single salary threshold of £73,900. Workers with salaries at or above that threshold will be permitted to hold Intra-Company Transfer leave for up to 9 years in any 10-year rolling period and are exempt from the requirement to have worked for the overseas business for 12 months prior to entering the UK.
• In-country switching into the Intra-Company Transfer route will now be easier. However, applicants will still need to be an existing employee with a period of overseas experience prior to applying unless they are a high earner.