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Football visa options: Travelling to the UK to play football

Football visa

Pursuing a footballing career in the United Kingdom (UK) is a dream for many.  And a difficult one. After all, football requires commitment, dedication and ability. There is the competition from peers. And yet, harder still is securing a football visa to travel to the UK to pursue a football career.

Potential professional football players from within the European Union (EU), and are nationals of the European Economic Area (EEA), are free to move between Member States to pursue their footballing career.  See our blog post about the impact of the UK’s departure from the EU for information about the restrictions to freedom of movement.

For those outside of the EU, it is imperative to find a football club willing to sponsor a Tier 5 (Temporary Worker – Creative and sporting) visa or Tier 2 (Sportsperson) visa.

Tier 2 (Sportsperson) visas are issued for the length of the applicant’s contract or up to three years, whichever is the shorter period. There is the possibility of extending the visa up to a total of 5 years. Whereas the Tier 5 visa is issued for the length of the applicant’s contract or up to 12 months, whichever is the shorter.

The sponsoring club will be responsible for securing a Governing Body Endorsement and issuing a Certificate of Sponsorship.

Determining the correct visa option will depend on the applicant’s skills, experience and nature of their sporting career, as the immigration rules dictate that, a person wishing to play football in the UK must be internationally established at the highest level, and their employment must make a significant contribution to the development of their sport at the highest level.

This strict requirement was introduced in response to the Football Association’s concerns about the high percentage of overseas nationals, participating in the Premier League at the expense of homegrown talent. See: Dyke: Work permit changes will benefit English football.

Some feel that the threshold is now too onerous. There have been a high number of Tier 2 (sportsperson) visa refusals, leading some overseas footballers and coaches to look to the Tier 1 (Investor) visa or Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) visa categories. And yet, the Tier 1 visas specifically prevent applicants from working as a professional sportsperson or sports coach. This also applies to the Tier 5 (Youth Mobility Scheme) visa.

Pursuing a footballing career

For those from outside of the EEA, wishing to pursue their footballing career in the UK, the first step is to go to the website of the football club that you wish to play for.

Most football clubs in the UK have a global football scouting system, where they attend matches overseas in order to identify top talent. If an individual is identified as a potential elite or first team player, the club will help the person to arrange a football visa. Therefore, playing for your local football club is a good place to hone in on your craft and be spotted.

A large number of football clubs do not accept football CV s and speculative emails, though a few do. Some clubs post dates of upcoming trials on their website and may expect interested individuals to already have status in the UK or an appropriate visa in place.

The Professional Football Scouts Association (PFSA) represent Football Scouts all over the world and provide details on their site about upcoming trials  as well as information about how to get scouted.

But be careful! The FA issued a warning about individuals, who may be falsely presenting themselves as licenced agents or football club employees, while claiming to be in a position to arrange all manner of football trials.

Please do not part with money, or arrange the transfer of funds to someone promising, by email or letter, that they can arrange a football trial. Please do your research and make background checks.

If you have any doubts about the promises made or doubts about the correspondence received, which claim to come from a club or agent/intermediary, the FA advise that you  should contact The FA Financial Regulation team directly for advice.

Good luck!

First published on 24 February 2017. Updated on 24 April 2020 with guidance relating to pursuing a career in football in the UK.

Written by Carla Thomas – Managing Director at Thomas Chase immigration.

If you have questions or concerns or you would like straightforward immigration advice, or assistance with your application to enter or remain in the UK, feel free to contact us.

Contact us at [email protected], and visit  https://www.thomaschaseimmigration.com/contact-us to arrange a consultation. Or learn more about from our blogs.

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7 Changes to Tier 2 That You Need To Be Aware Of

The UK Government recently announced fundamental changes to the Tier 2 categories.

In 2015, the government had commissioned the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to review the Tier 2 immigration categories. The MAC were specifically requested to advise on how to make the Tier 2 criteria more robust yet flexible enough to allow key skills shortages to be met within the UK.

Having considered MAC’s recommendations and in March 2016 announced key changes to Tier 2.

Here are 7 changes that HR professionals need to be aware of:

  1. Tier 2 (General) threshold to increase

From the autumn 2016, the Tier 2 (General) salary thresholds for experienced workers will be increased to £25,000 per annum. A further increase of £5,000 to £30,000 will apply from April 2017 onwards. The Government announced that some health and education professionals will be exempt from the higher threshold until July 2019. The minimum threshold of £20,800 for new entrants will be maintained.

Nurses, medical radiographers, paramedics and secondary school teachers in mathematics, physics, chemistry, computer science and Mandarin will be exempt from the new salary threshold.nurses, medical radiographers, paramedics and secondary school teachers in mathematics, physics, chemistry, computer science and Mandarin from the new salary threshold.

  1. Tier 2 ICT salary threshold

From autumn 2016, the minimum salary threshold for the Tier 2 ICT Short Term category will be £30,000 per annum. Tier 2 ICT Graduates will see the salary threshold decrease from £24,800 to £23,000 per annum.

For those Tier 2 ICT transferees looking to reside and work in the UK for between 5 and 9 and who are classed as higher earners, will see the annual salary threshold requirement fall from £155,300 to £120,000.

  1. Changes to Tier 2 ICT categories

The current intra-company transfer (ICT) provisions will be simplified by requiring all intra-company transferees to qualify under a single visa category. From autumn 2016, the Tier 2 ICT Skills Transfer category will no longer be available to new applicants. From April 2017, the Tier 2 ICT Short Term visa route will also be closed to new applicants. This will no doubt present problems for larger companies that currently transfer overseas employees to the UK to gain or impart knowledge for the benefit of the wider organization.

  1. Immigration Health Surcharge

Currently, the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) applies to the Tier 2 (General) category and not Tier 2 ICTs. This will change from autumn 2016, when all Tier 2 ICTs will be required to pay the IHS.

  1. Tier 2 ICT pre-qualifying period

At present, all Tier 2 ICTs must have been employed within the company for 12 months prior to the UK assignment. From April 2017, this requirement will be removed for all Tier 2 ICT applicants in receipt of over £73,900 per annum.

  1. Immigration Skills Charge

The Government recognizes that there is immediate skills gap in the UK particularly in some sectors on one hand. On the other hand, the Government wants The The to ‘incentivize’ businesses to reduce their reliance on overseas workers and instead invest in training and up-skilling UK workers. To help achieve this, an Immigration Skills Charge will be levied on Tier 2 sponsors at the sum of £1,000 per Certificate of Sponsorship issued per year.

Such a sum will prove eye watering to many employers especially small A reduced rate of £364 will apply to small and charitable sponsors, as defined by Immigration and Nationality (Fees) Regulations. PhD level occupations, the Intra Company Transfer Graduate Trainee category, and those switching from a Tier 4 student visa to a Tier 2 visa will be exempt.businesses. Therefore, a reduced rate of £364 will apply to small and charitable sponsors.

Exemptions will apply to PhD level occupations, Tier 2 ICT Graduate Trainees, and applicants switching from Tier 4 student visas to a Tier 2 visa.A reduced rate of £364 will apply to small and charitable sponsors, as defined by Immigration and Nationality (Fees) Regulations. PhD level occupations, the Intra Company Transfer Graduate Trainee category, and those switching from a Tier 4 student visa to a Tier 2 visa will be exempt.

  1. Nurses

Fortunately, nurses will remain on the Shortage Occupation List, but employers will need to carry out a resident labour market test before recruiting a non-EEA nurse.

Fortunately, nurses will remain on the Shortage Occupation List.  That said, HR professionals and employers will need to carry out a resident labour market test before recruiting a nurse from outside of the UK and EU.

What hasn’t changed?

With so many changes to the Tier 2 provisions, HR professionals and businesses may be pleased to hear that they may continue to recruit non-EEA graduates from UK universities without having to first conduct a resident labour market and without being subject to the annual limit on Tier 2 (General) places.

Further, Tier 2 (General) places will remain at 20,700 places per year.

Contact Thomas Chase Immigration for more information of the changes to the Tier 2 category and how they may impact upon you and your business.