UK-India CETA Service Supplier Visa: The 1,800-Place Cap and New 12-Month Assignments

In Brief

The Home Office has published new operational guidance for Service Supplier applications under the UK-India Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement. The arrangements create a defined route for qualifying Indian nationals who are coming to the UK temporarily to provide services under an eligible international contract. They do not create a general new work visa for Indian chefs, musicians or yoga instructors. OTS Solicitors' Global Business Mobility visa solicitors advise UK sponsors and overseas businesses on the correct immigration structure before a commercial assignment begins.

The most prominent feature is a combined annual limit of 1,800 granted applications for Indian traditional chefs or chefs de cuisine, classical musicians and yoga instructors. The limit applies across all three occupations together, not separately to each occupation. It covers grants of both entry clearance and permission to stay during the calendar year.

Qualifying Indian Service Suppliers can also receive permission for a maximum single assignment of up to 12 months. However, the actual period granted may be shorter because permission is limited by the Certificate of Sponsorship dates and the wider Global Business Mobility rule that normally restricts a worker to five years across relevant routes in any six-year period.

For businesses, the commercial opportunity is real but technically narrow. Before promising an assignment or assigning a Certificate of Sponsorship, the UK company should check the service classification, CETA coverage, sponsor authorisation, registered contract, worker eligibility and annual-cap position.

What Changed for UK-India Service Suppliers on 15 July 2026?

On 15 July 2026, the Home Office published version 14.0 of its Global Business Mobility caseworker guidance. The update gives caseworkers operational instructions for Service Supplier applications made under the UK-India CETA and explains how the three capped roles should be identified and counted.

The updated Home Office Global Business Mobility caseworker guidance confirms that the cap applies to granted applications made by Indian nationals in the three specified roles. It also provides the Central Product Classification codes used to identify the services covered by the cap.

This development matters because the operational rules are now much clearer for UK businesses negotiating service contracts with Indian providers. The key question is no longer simply whether the proposed worker is skilled. The sponsor must also show that the underlying service and commercial arrangement fall within the trade agreement and the Service Supplier route.

Key UK-India CETA Service Supplier Points

Issue	What businesses need to know
Annual cap	A maximum of 1,800 applications may be granted in total across the three capped roles during each calendar year.
Traditional chef / chef de cuisine	CPC 87909. The description does not cover every ordinary chef vacancy in the UK.
Classical musician	CPC 96191 or CPC 96192.
Yoga instructor	CPC 929.
Maximum assignment	Up to 12 months for a qualifying Indian national covered by a relevant CETA commitment, subject to the CoS and cumulative permission limits.
Sponsor requirement	The UK organisation must be authorised to sponsor Service Suppliers and must register the eligible contract with the Home Office.
Settlement	The Service Supplier route does not lead directly to indefinite leave to remain.

What Is the Global Business Mobility Service Supplier Visa?

The Service Supplier route is one of the five Global Business Mobility routes. It is designed for temporary assignments in which an overseas business or self-employed professional has a qualifying contract to provide services to a UK sponsor under an international trade agreement.

A worker can potentially use the route as either:

• A contractual service supplier employed by an overseas service provider; or
• A self-employed independent professional based overseas.

Our existing Service Supplier visa guide explains the wider route. The UK-India CETA provisions sit within that existing framework rather than creating a separate immigration category.

This distinction is commercially important. A UK restaurant cannot use the CETA provisions simply because it wants to recruit an Indian chef. A wellness business cannot use the route merely to fill a permanent yoga-instructor vacancy. The worker must be coming to deliver services under a qualifying international contract, and the sponsored activity must remain connected to that contract.

The Service Supplier route should therefore be distinguished from the Skilled Worker route. Skilled Worker sponsorship is used to recruit a worker into an eligible UK job. Service Supplier sponsorship is used for a temporary cross-border service assignment under a covered trade commitment.

Who Can Use the UK-India CETA Provisions?

The CETA provisions can only be relied on where the applicant is an Indian national and the service they will provide is covered by a relevant commitment in the agreement. Nationality alone is not sufficient.

The proposed arrangement must normally satisfy several linked requirements:

• The overseas business or independent professional must be a genuine service provider based outside the UK.
• There must be a genuine commercial contract with the UK sponsor for the supply of services.
• The contract must fall within a service sector covered by the UK-India CETA.
• The applicant must be sponsored to work on that registered contract.
• The proposed duties must be genuine and consistent with the service being supplied.
• The applicant must meet the relevant skill, qualification, professional experience, overseas work, financial and suitability requirements.

Qualifications, Experience and the Overseas Work Requirement

A Service Supplier may qualify through an eligible occupation route or through the alternative qualification and professional-experience provisions. Under the alternative route, applicants will normally need a university degree or an equivalent technical qualification, any professional registration required for the service, and sufficient relevant experience. The normal professional-experience period is three years for an overseas employee and six years for a self-employed independent professional, although service-specific rules and exemptions can apply.

The applicant must also normally have completed 12 months of relevant overseas work. An employed contractual service supplier must have worked for the overseas service provider outside the UK for the required period. A self-employed independent professional must normally show continuous work in the same sector as the proposed service during the 12 months before applying.

The exact qualification and experience analysis should be completed against the live CETA commitment and the applicant’s role. A commercial job title is not enough. For the three capped occupations in particular, businesses should check that the service fits the specified classification rather than assuming that every chef, musician or yoga role qualifies.

What Must the UK Sponsor Do?

The UK recipient of the service must hold the correct Home Office sponsor authorisation. If the organisation already holds a sponsor licence but is not authorised for the Service Supplier route, it may need to apply to add the route before it can assign a Certificate of Sponsorship.

The sponsor must also register the underlying contract with the Home Office before assigning the Certificate of Sponsorship. The Certificate must identify the registered contract on which the applicant will work. This requirement links the immigration permission to the commercial arrangement and is one of the main reasons businesses should consider immigration structure during contract negotiations rather than after the assignment has already been promised.

The sponsor should be ready to demonstrate:

• Why the service is covered by the UK-India CETA;
• How the overseas provider and UK recipient are connected by the contract;
• What the worker will actually do in the UK;
• Why the applicant has the skills, qualifications and experience required;
• That the arrangement is not ordinary labour supply or a disguised permanent vacancy; and
• That sponsor reporting, record-keeping and monitoring duties will be met throughout the assignment.

CPC Codes and UK Occupation Codes Are Not the Same

The Home Office guidance identifies the three capped services using CPC codes. CPC codes classify the type of service covered by an international trade agreement. The sponsor will also need to consider the appropriate UK occupation code for the job recorded on the Certificate of Sponsorship.

Those two systems serve different purposes and should not be treated as interchangeable. A role may appear commercially similar to a named occupation but still fall outside the relevant CETA commitment, or the proposed duties may not support the occupation code selected for sponsorship. Incorrect coding can delay an application, prompt further enquiries or create sponsor-compliance risk.

How Does the 1,800-Place Annual Cap Work?

The cap is a combined annual allocation across traditional chefs or chefs de cuisine, classical musicians and yoga instructors. It is not 1,800 places for each role. The annual period runs from 1 January to 31 December.

The Rules refer to granted applications, not merely applications submitted. Both entry clearance grants and grants of permission to stay count towards the same total. This creates an important planning issue for businesses because the final cap position may depend on decisions made on other pending applications.

No public live counter for the remaining allocation has been identified. Home Office sponsor guidance indicates that the Sponsorship Management System should be updated when the limit is close to being reached or has been reached. A sponsor should not assign a Certificate of Sponsorship once the limit has been reached, as the application may then be rejected or refused.

For the three capped roles, timing should therefore form part of the commercial and immigration plan. A business should not sign an inflexible commencement commitment, arrange travel or make client promises without considering the annual allocation and the possibility of application processing continuing while the cap position changes.

How Long Can an Indian Service Supplier Stay?

The current Immigration Rules for the Global Business Mobility routes provide a maximum single assignment period of 12 months for an Indian national covered by a relevant UK-India CETA commitment.

That does not mean every qualifying applicant will automatically receive a full year. Permission is granted for the shortest applicable period, which will normally be determined by:

• Fourteen days after the work end date stated on the Certificate of Sponsorship;
• The maximum 12-month CETA assignment period; or
• The point at which the worker reaches the cumulative Global Business Mobility limit, normally five years in any six-year period.

For an extension application, the Home Office will also take account of the time the person has already spent in the UK since their last grant as a Service Supplier. The remaining permission may therefore be shorter than 12 months.

A dependent partner and dependent children can apply, subject to the relevant relationship, suitability and financial requirements. The route does not lead directly to indefinite leave to remain, so businesses and individuals should consider longer-term immigration objectives before choosing it.

When the Service Supplier Route May Be Unsuitable

The CETA provisions are useful where the commercial arrangement is genuinely a temporary supply of services under an eligible contract. They are less suitable where the UK business is actually recruiting into its own workforce, wants a permanent employee or cannot show that the service is covered by the agreement.

Depending on the facts, alternatives may include:

• The Skilled Worker route where the UK business is filling an eligible UK vacancy and can meet the salary and sponsorship requirements;
• Another Global Business Mobility route where the assignment concerns an overseas group company, expansion, training or a qualifying secondment;
• Permitted business visitor activities where the proposed activities are short-term and fall within the Visitor Rules; or
• A different commercial structure that does not require the individual to undertake work in the UK.

The UK-India CETA Service Supplier provisions should also not be confused with the India Young Professionals Scheme. The two routes have different purposes, eligibility criteria and sponsorship arrangements.

Practical Checklist for UK Businesses

Before assigning a Certificate of Sponsorship, the business should confirm the following:

• The UK entity holds the correct sponsor permission for the Service Supplier route.
• There is a genuine contract with an Indian overseas service provider or qualifying independent professional.
• The contract has been registered with the Home Office.
• The service falls within a UK-India CETA commitment.
• The applicant is an Indian national.
• The applicant meets the relevant occupation or qualification-and-experience route.
• The applicant satisfies the overseas work requirement.
• Any professional registration or authorisation required in the UK is in place.
• The arrangement is not ordinary labour supply or routine recruitment into a UK vacancy.
• The correct CPC service classification and UK occupation code have been identified.
• The proposed assignment fits within the 12-month maximum and the Certificate of Sponsorship dates.
• The worker’s previous Global Business Mobility and Intra-Company permission has been checked.
• The business has considered the annual-cap position for a capped occupation.
• The commercial contract and client timetable allow for immigration uncertainty and processing time.

OTS Solicitors' View

The UK-India CETA creates a useful but technically narrow mobility option. Its value lies in facilitating genuine service contracts between UK and Indian businesses. It is not a substitute for the Skilled Worker route and it should not be treated as a general recruitment channel for chefs, musicians or yoga instructors.

In our experience, the strongest approach is to review the immigration structure while the commercial contract is being negotiated. An otherwise viable assignment may fail if the service is not covered, the contract is not registered, the wrong classification is used or the proposed duties amount to filling an ordinary UK role.

Businesses should also avoid focusing only on the worker’s visa application. The sponsor-licence position, contract registration, Certificate of Sponsorship wording, annual cap and ongoing compliance duties are part of the same project. Early legal review can help align the commercial agreement with the immigration route before commitments are made to the overseas provider, the worker or the UK client.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the UK-India CETA create 1,800 visas for each occupation?

No. The 1,800 annual allocation is one combined cap across traditional chefs or chefs de cuisine, classical musicians and yoga instructors.

Can any Indian chef apply under the CETA provisions?

No. The applicant must be coming to provide services under an eligible UK-India CETA commitment and must satisfy the Service Supplier requirements. The route is not a general option for recruiting a chef into an ordinary restaurant job.

Does the UK company need a sponsor licence?

Yes. The UK organisation must be authorised to sponsor workers on the Service Supplier route. An existing sponsor may need to add the route to its licence.

Must the commercial contract be registered with the Home Office?

Yes. The sponsor must register the relevant contract and identify that contract when assigning the Certificate of Sponsorship.

Can a qualifying Indian Service Supplier stay for 12 months?

The maximum single CETA assignment is 12 months, but the actual grant may be shorter because of the Certificate of Sponsorship end date, time already spent on the assignment and the cumulative Global Business Mobility limit.

Can family members accompany the Service Supplier?

A dependent partner and dependent children can apply, subject to the relevant dependant requirements.

Does the Service Supplier route lead to indefinite leave to remain?

No. Global Business Mobility routes do not lead directly to settlement.

Can an applicant switch into the route from inside the UK?

Potentially, provided the applicant is in an eligible immigration category and meets the permission-to-stay requirements. Switching is not permitted from certain categories, including Visitor, Short-term Student, Parent of a Child Student, Seasonal Worker and Domestic Worker in a Private Household.

How will a sponsor know if the annual cap is close to being reached?

There is no identified public live counter. Home Office sponsor guidance indicates that the Sponsorship Management System should be updated when the allocation is close to being reached or has been reached. Sponsors should check the live system before assigning a Certificate of Sponsorship.

Contact OTS Solicitors

For advice on UK-India CETA assignments, Service Supplier visas, Global Business Mobility sponsor licences, contract registration or Certificates of Sponsorship, call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us.