Scale-up Worker visa

Scale-up is a work route with an unusual shape: it starts like Skilled Worker, with a sponsor and a Certificate of Sponsorship, and then lets go. After six months with the sponsoring employer you are free to change jobs, take several roles, or work for yourself without telling the Home Office. The route is designed for workers recruited by qualifying fast-growing businesses and gives much more flexibility after the first six months; it suits people who want the security of sponsorship at the start and the freedom of Global Talent afterwards without the endorsement process.

Which employers can sponsor

A sponsor must hold a Scale-up licence, which means meeting the growth test — at least 20% annual growth in employment or turnover over the previous three years, starting from at least ten employees — or being endorsed as a scale-up through the endorsing-body pathway. Far fewer employers hold this licence than a Skilled Worker licence, which in practice is the main constraint on the route. If your employer is not a licensed scale-up, the available route is usually Skilled Worker.

The job and the salary

The job must be at graduate level, RQF 6 as standard, and pay at least the route’s general threshold or the going rate for the occupation, whichever is higher. The threshold is set separately from the Skilled Worker figure and has moved with the Immigration Rules; check the current amount on GOV.UK before relying on it. English is required at B2; people who already hold Scale-up permission granted under the earlier B1 requirement have transitional arrangements. See the English requirements guide.

Six months sponsored, then free

The first grant is two years. For the first six months you must work for the sponsor in the sponsored job. After that the sponsorship falls away: the sponsor has no further reporting duties, and you can move employer, add roles or become self-employed. The one continuing condition is money — to extend, you must show PAYE earnings at or above the threshold for at least half of the period since the visa was granted, which is why the route is unsuitable for people planning to start a business with no salary.

Extensions are for three years and do not need a sponsor. Dependants can join you on the same basis as Skilled Worker.

Settlement

Five years on the route leads to ILR under current rules. At settlement you must be in qualifying PAYE employment and have met the earnings threshold for at least 24 months of the three years before you apply. Time on Skilled Worker and certain other routes can count towards the five years, so someone who moves from Skilled Worker to Scale-up does not restart the clock.

Common problems

Employer not licensed. The route only works if the employer already holds, or will obtain, a Scale-up licence.

Earnings gaps. Unpaid periods, dividends instead of salary, or income below the threshold can leave you unable to meet the earnings tests at extension or settlement. Self-employment is permitted after the first six months but does not count towards them.

Leaving the sponsor in the first six months. The sponsorship condition applies for those six months; leaving earlier normally means a new application on another route.