2026 UK GBM Costs: £52,500 Threshold & £1,320 ISC

Key Take aways for UK GBM Costs

• The GBM Senior or Specialist Worker route now requires a minimum £52,500 salary (or the higher going rate).

• Large sponsors pay £1,320 Immigration Skills. Charge for the first sponsored year (£660 per additional 6 months).

• Three-year compliance costs per employee exceed £7,800 on top of the raised salary floor.

• Multinationals must re-model every intra-company transfer or risk budget overruns and visa refusals.

• Early scenario planning and assignment-length optimisation are the clearest levers to contain exposure.

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In 2026 the UK Government lifted the general salary threshold for the Global Business Mobility (GBM) Senior or Specialist Worker route to £52,500 per year while maintaining the Immigration Skills Charge at £1,320 for the first 12 months for medium and large sponsors. Every multinational with active or planned intra-company transfers is affected; the change directly increases both the minimum payroll commitment and the fixed sponsorship outlay. A typical 3-year assignment now carries an estimated total employer cost exposure of £165,334 per employee (salary floor + £7,834 in visa, ISC and IHS charges). HR and global mobility teams should immediately re-run transfer budgets, stress-test short- versus long-term scenarios and brief finance on the new numbers before any Certificate of Sponsorship is assigned.

2026 UK GBM Sponsorship Cost Breakdown

All figures sourced exclusively from official UK Government pages (February 2026).

Cost Component	Amount (per employee)	3-Year Total (per employee)	Source
Salary Threshold	£52,500 p.a. (or higher going rate)	£157,500	gov.uk/senior-specialist-worker-visa/eligibility
Immigration Skills Charge (large sponsor)	£1,320 (first 12 months); £660 per additional 6 months	£3,960	gov.uk/uk-visa-sponsorship-employers/immigration-skills-charge
Visa Application Fee (outside UK, up to 3 years)	£769 (one-time)	£769	gov.uk/senior-specialist-worker-visa/how-much-it-costs
Immigration Health Surcharge	£1,035 per year	£3,105	gov.uk/senior-specialist-worker-visa/how-much-it-costs
Sub-total Sponsorship Costs	—	£7,834	—
Total Estimated 3-Year Cost per Employee	—	£165,334	—
Estimated Total for a 5-Person Transfer	—	£826,670	—

Notes

• Salary must meet or exceed the £52,500 general threshold and the occupation-specific going rate (whichever is higher).

• ISC exceptions exist only for certain post-1 January 2023 EU intra-company transfers; most multinationals pay the full rate.

• Costs assume standard 3-year assignment from outside the UK; extensions beyond 36 months increase ISC pro-rata and may trigger the higher visa fee band.

Strategic Insight: Budgeting, Assignment Length & Risk for Multinational Groups

The £52,500 floor raises the bar for every intra-company move and forces finance teams to treat GBM transfers as capital-allocation decisions rather than routine HR transactions. A single senior specialist now carries the same minimum payroll commitment as two mid-level hires under the previous regime.

Short-term vs long-term assignments‍

Fixed costs (£7,834 over three years) are spread more efficiently on longer visas, yet the cumulative salary floor quickly dominates. Assignments of 12–18 months may appear cheaper on paper but still require the full £52,500 annualised salary and trigger the same ISC and IHS for the sponsored period. Multinationals should therefore model the break-even point where extending an assignment becomes cheaper than rotating two shorter ones.

Risk exposure from misaligned salary planning

‍Under-paying the threshold or failing to document the going-rate calculation triggers automatic refusal, wasted CoS allocation and potential sponsor-rating downgrade. With MAC and Home Office scrutiny focused on salary compliance, audit trails must now sit inside every mobility business case.

Alternative visa considerations‍

While the GBM Senior or Specialist route remains the primary channel for established multinationals, groups in early UK-expansion phase should also quantify the UK Expansion Worker route (same salary threshold applies) and compare against pure secondment structures where ISC exemptions may still be available for qualifying EU-linked transfers. The goal is never route-shopping but disciplined cost-to-value analysis before any sponsor decision.

Conclusion

With the 2026 £52,500 salary floor and £1,320 Immigration Skills Charge now locked in, every multinational intra-company transfer carries significantly higher fixed costs and compliance exposure. Jobbatical removes the guesswork by delivering board-ready cost models, going-rate validation, ISC optimisation scenarios, and fully compliant GBM sponsorship packages all managed end-to-end by our UK immigration desk. Whether you are planning a 5-person senior specialist cohort or stress-testing assignment lengths for the next financial year, our team ensures your UK mobility budget stays accurate, your sponsor licence stays protected, and your talent arrives on time.

Turn the new cost reality into a competitive advantage rather than a constraint. Speak to Jobbatical today

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FAQs for UK GBM Costs

Does the £52,500 salary threshold apply to every GBM route?

Yes, for the Senior or Specialist Worker route, which is the most commonly used Global Business Mobility pathway for intra-company transfers. The same general salary threshold appears in the Immigration Rules Appendix for GBM routes. However, other routes such as the UK Expansion Worker and Graduate Trainee follow parallel requirements, and employers must always check the specific occupation’s official going rate to ensure compliance.

How is the Immigration Skills Charge calculated for a 3-year GBM assignment?

For large sponsors, the Immigration Skills Charge is £1,320 for the first 12 months and £660 for each additional six-month period. For a full 36-month (three-year) Global Business Mobility sponsorship, this results in a total ISC cost of £3,960 per employee.

Who typically pays the visa application fee and Immigration Health Surcharge?

Legally, the visa applicant is responsible for paying both the visa application fee and the Immigration Health Surcharge. In practice, however, multinational employers frequently reimburse or directly cover these costs for Global Business Mobility transferees to secure and retain key talent. For budgeting purposes, most global mobility teams treat these as employer costs.

Are there any 2026 changes to the maximum length or higher-salary provisions on GBM visas?

No major structural changes apply in 2026. The Global Business Mobility route continues to allow stays of up to five years. Employees paid at or above the “higher earner” threshold of £73,900 continue to benefit from longer permitted stays and enhanced flexibility, in line with pre-2026 rules.

What should global mobility teams do before assigning the next GBM CoS?

Global mobility teams should re-model each proposed transfer using the updated 2026 cost structure, verify the exact occupation-specific going rate from official tables, secure internal finance approval for the full three-year cost exposure (which can exceed £165,000 when salary and charges are included), and document salary justification clearly. Early modelling helps avoid compliance breaches and unexpected budget overruns later in the financial year.

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