Working Holiday Visa for the UK now Tier 5

Known as the “Temporary Workers and Youth Mobility” scheme, replacing the existing working holiday visa, Tier 5 is for those who wish to work and travel in the UK and whose purpose is to “satisfy primarily non-economic objectives.

Migrants will be required to earn points by holing a valid certificate of sponsorship issued by a licensed sponsor. The new scheme will only be open to low risk countries with which the UK has good returns arrangements and which offer similar opportunities for UK citizens to spend time there. Numbers will be controlled by setting maximum numbers permitted to enter under the YMS in line with the number of young UK nationals benefiting from such opportunities overseas.

Tier 5 Temporary Workers will comprise of the following categories of people: Creative and Sporting, Charity Workers, Religious, Government Authorised Exchange and International Agreement, with the aim of consolidating many existing visa routes into these simplified groups.

As with other Tiers, Tier 5 will operate with a points based system. To qualify for a Tier 5, applicants need 50 points, 30 are available for sponsorship, 10 for age and 10 for maintenance. Find out more about the new visa points system by reading our quick guide.

All migrants will need to be a national of a participating country and they will need to be sponsored by their national government. This will be demonstrated by having a valid national passport and in some cases having a valid certificate of sponsorship. Migrants will need to be aged between 18 and 30 at the age of their entry clearance. In order to support themselves, migrants will need to demonstrate sufficient funds for the UK, £1600.