Scale-up

Scale-up

The Scale-up route permits UK businesses which have experienced recent high growth to obtain a Home Office sponsor licence to recruit highly skilled non-British or Irish citizens who ‘have the skills needed to enable the Scale-up business to continue growing’. It is an (initially) sponsored and nominally points-based route, and was introduced in the Immigration Rules, Appendix Scale-up on 22 August 2022.

The key eligibility criteria for an organisation applying for a Scale-up sponsor licence are that it must:

•
have an annualised growth of at least 20% for the previous three-year period based on either employment (staff count) or turnover, and
•
have had a minimum of ten employees at the start of the relevant three-year period

After a low take-up, on 13 April 2023, the Home Office launched an ‘Endorsing Body Pathway’ for organisations who do not meet the above eligibility criteria, because they have been established in the UK for less than three years and therefore do not have a sufficient HMRC footprint. Under this alternative, prospective sponsor applicants may apply for an endorsement from a Home Office-approved endorsing body and submit this with

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Latest Immigration News

Home Office clarifies guidance on ETA rules for dual citizens

On 29 May 2025 the Home Office published guidance covering how the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme will apply for persons who are dual citizens of the UK/Ireland and countries whose nationals require an ETA to visit the UK (if they do not otherwise hold a UK visa). The guidance notes that such persons are not eligible for an ETA. Instead, these individuals must prove their right to travel to the UK by presenting a valid British or Irish passport, or another valid passport that contains a certificate of entitlement to the right of abode. However, it goes on to state that ‘currently’, British dual citizens who do not have a valid British passport but hold a valid passport from ETA-required countries will continue to be allowed to enter the UK on their non-British passport without an ETA. In an email to stakeholders dated 30 June 2025, the Home Office has confirmed that this is a ‘temporary measure’ during the current ‘transition period’. This means that ‘prior to full enforcement’ of the ETA scheme, it does not expect carriers to deny boarding to dual British or Irish citizens who are travelling only on their non-British/Irish document or without a certificate of entitlement. However, such persons will need to ensure that they make the necessary arrangements prior to the end of this transition period. Presumably this refers to the point that the Home Office brings into force section 76 of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, which extends carriers liability penalties where a person does not have an ETA but requires one.

UKICE highlights post-Brexit rights challenges for Britons in the EU

UK in a Changing Europe (UKICE) has published a blog by Professor Michaela Benson examining the long-term effects of Brexit on the estimated 1.2 million British citizens residing in the EU, EEA and EFTA states. As many transition from temporary to permanent residence under the Withdrawal Agreement, disparities in national implementation and administrative procedures have created uncertainty and risk of exclusion, particularly for vulnerable individuals. The blog identifies inconsistent registration systems, gaps in support, and difficulties in proving status as key issues, noting that the absence of a unified oversight mechanism, such as the UK's Independent Monitoring Authority for EU nationals, exacerbates the problem. Benson calls for renewed systematic research to better understand the evolving experiences of this population, and draws attention to her own survey, which has a deadline of 11 July 2025.

Immigration weekly highlights—26 June 2025

Welcome to the 26 June 2025 highlights from the Immigration team, which provides links to key news stories from the last week, as well as a round-up of new and updated content in Immigration.

Right to work guidance updated on Digital Verification Service checks

The Home Office has issued an updated version of its ‘Employer’s guide to right to work checks’ document, with the changes primarily related to simplifying the information on digital checks for employers of British and Irish citizens who have a valid passport (or Irish passport card). The new version has removed various technical details which were previously intended for providers of these digital verification services, and revised the relevant terminology, so that ‘Digital Verification Service (DVS)’ now includes both the terms Identity Service Providers (IDSPs) and Identity Document Validation Technology (IDVT). This is stated to align the guidance with the terminology used in the UK digital identity and attributes framework and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. Guidance and requirements specifically for DVS are now set out in a separate, supplementary code for digital right to work checks. The relevant guidance for employers has been revised. Although it is not currently mandatory for employers to use a DVS certified against the ‘trust framework’ and the supplementary code, this position will change ‘in the near future’, and it will become mandatory to use a DVS listed on the register of certified DVS (maintained by the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA)). In other changes, the new version reiterates that an original expired BRP is not proof of a right to work, and instead an online check must be taken. It also confirms that short-term entry clearance vignettes are being phased out, and that increasingly persons recently issued entry clearance will only have their eVisa to rely on for these purposes, so will need to create a UKVI account as soon as possible and can do this from overseas. In relation to asylum seekers with a pending claim, the guidance now states that they can also volunteer whilst their claim is considered without being granted permission to work, but they can only carry out 'paid' work if they have been granted permission to work under the Immigration Rules, Part 11, paras 360 or 360C. Previously the reference in our quotation marks to ‘paid’ work stated ‘voluntary’ work