Tier 5 Visa for Temporary Workers

Call the London Office for a consultation or an appointment.

Tier 5 Visa Overview

The Tier 5 visa allows you entry to work in the UK in a number of different circumstances. If you are from one of the small number of Countries whose nationals can come under the Youth Mobility Scheme you can gain entry without a job offer. For a number of the other Tier 5 visa categories, you must have a job offer from a licensed sponsor and you must pass a points-based assessment. The Tier 5 visa categories are as follows:

Youth mobility scheme: For young people from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Monaco, and Taiwan who want to come and experience life in the UK.
Creative and Sporting: For people coming to work or perform in the UK for up to 12 months as sportspeople, entertainers or creative artists. Sportspeople must be internationally established at the highest level in your sport, and/or their job must make a significant contribution to the development and running of sport at the highest level.
Charity Workers: For people coming to do voluntary (unpaid) work for a charity in the UK.The work must be directly related to the sponsor organisation's work.
Religious Workers:For people coming to the UK for preaching, pastoral or non-pastoral work,or work in a religious order such as a monastery or convent.
Government Authorised Exchange: For people coming to the UK through approved schemes that aim to share knowledge, experience and best practice, and to experience the UK's social and cultural life. This category must not be used to fill job vacancies or to bring unskilled labour to the UK.
International Agreement: For people coming to the UK under contract to do work that is covered under international law. This includes workers under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and similar agreements, employees of overseas governments and international organisations, and private servants in diplomatic households.

Youth Mobility Scheme

This is a good visa for young people eager to experience living and working in the UK. The Tier 5 visa allows young people from certain participating countries entry to live and work in the UK for up to two years. However, there are only a relatively small number of countries whose nationals are eligible to apply for the Tier 5 Youth Mobility visa category; These are Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Monaco, and Taiwan. Your national government will be considered your sponsor during your stay.

The youth mobility scheme is for young people from participating countries and territories who want to come and experience life in the UK. Every year, the UK government allocates a specific number of places for each country and territory.

The countries and territories participating in the scheme in 2012 are:

Australia - 32,500 places
Canada - 5,000 places
Japan - 1,000 places
New Zealand - 10,000 places
Monaco - 1,000 places
Taiwan - 1,000 places

You can also apply under the scheme if you are a:

British overseas citizen
British overseas territories citizen, or
British national (overseas)

In this case, you will not need a sponsor, and there is no limit on the number of places on the scheme.

Creative and Sporting

The creative and sporting worker category is for people coming to the UK to work or perform as sportspeople, entertainers or creative artists for up to 12 months.

If you are a sportsperson, you can only apply to extend your stay for a maximum of 12 months. If you are a creative person you can apply to extend your permission to stay in the UK as a creative worker for up to 12 months at a time, up to a maximum of 24 months.

If you are a sportsperson, you must be internationally established at the highest level in your sport, and/or your employment must make a significant contribution to the development and running of sport at the highest level in the UK. If you are a coach, you must be suitably qualified to do the job.

In order to apply under this category you must have:

a sponsor, and
a valid certificate of sponsorship.

Your sponsor must have an endorsement for you from the governing body for your sport, which confirms you meet the governing body's requirements to give their endorsement. The governing body must be recognised by the UKBA.

Charity Workers

This category is for people coming to the UK to do voluntary unpaid work for a charity. The work must be directly related to the work of your sponsor's organisation.

In order to apply for a Tier 5 visa, you must have:

a sponsor, and
a valid certificate of sponsorship.

You can make an application if:

you are currently outside the UK, or
you are already in the UK under the Tier 5 (Temporary workers - charity workers) sub-category and you want to extend your stay

However, if you are already in the UK in a different immigration category, you cannot apply to switch into the Tier 5 (Temporary workers - charity workers) sub-category.

This visa will allow you to live and volunteer in the UK for a maximum time of 12 months or the time given in your certificate of sponsorship plus 28 days, whichever is shorter.

Religious Workers

This category category is for people coming to the UK to work temporarily as a religious worker.

This includes work such as:

preaching, pastoral work and non-pastoral work,
work in the UK in the same way you are working in an overseas organisation, or
work in a religious order with community which involves a permanent commitment like a monastery or convent.

In order to apply for a Tier 5 visa, you must have:

a sponsor, and
a valid certificate of sponsorship.

Under this visa you can live and work in the UK for a maximum time of 24 months, or the time given in your certificate of sponsorship plus 28 days, whichever is shorter.

Please note, if your main reason for coming to the UK is to do preaching and pastoral work, you should apply under the minister or religion category of Tier 2.

Government Authorised Exchange

This category is for people coming to the UK through approved schemes that aim to share knowledge, experience and best practice, and to experience the social and cultural life of the UK. This category must not be used to fill job vacancies or to bring unskilled labour to the UK. Any work you do must be skilled which means it must be equivalent to NVQ or SVQ level 3 or above.

In order to apply for a Tier 5 visa, you must have:

a sponsor, and
a valid certificate of sponsorship.

You may be allowed to stay in the UK for up to 12 or 24 months under this category, depending on the length of time of your work as shown on your certificate of sponsorship.

International Agreement

The international agreement category is for people coming to the UK under contract to do work that is covered under international law, including:

the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS);
similar agreements between the UK and another country;
employees of overseas governments and international organisations; and
private servants in diplomatic households.