Can You Still Hire A Chef From Abroad? The Trade Deal Visa Few Operators Have Heard Of

By Parvez Khan, Solicitor and Senior Immigration Associate, AY&J Solicitors (www.ayjsolicitors.com)

For years, the answer to an empty station in a busy kitchen was often found overseas. According to Home Office data, 6,203 chefs were granted Skilled Worker visas in the year to March 2024, more than any other occupation on the route.

That pipeline has now all but closed. Since 22 July 2025, employers have not been able to sponsor new chefs as Skilled Workers, because the role now sits below the skill level the route demands. Chefs who were sponsored before that date can usually stay on under transitional rules. New recruits from abroad cannot come in this way.

So when the India-UK trade deal came into force on 15 July 2026, many operators thought help had arrived. In part, it has. But it comes through a visa that works nothing like the old system, and one that few in the sector have heard of: the Service Supplier visa.

In my work at AY&J Solicitors, advising restaurants, hotels and other employers on sponsorship, it is now one of the questions I hear most. Can we bring a chef over from India again? The honest answer is yes, but not in the way you might expect.

What is the Service Supplier visa?

In short, it lets an Indian company send its own chef to cook in a UK kitchen under a service contract, for up to 12 months. A self-employed chef based in India can also qualify, as an independent professional holding the contract personally.

The key word is contract. The restaurant does not hire the chef. It buys a service from a business in India, and that business sends one of its own chefs to deliver it. The Service Supplier visa is one of the UK’s Global Business Mobility routes, and it has been around for some time. What the trade deal changed is that traditional chefs from India can now use it.

The rules are tight. Under Home Office guidance, a chef sent by an Indian company must already have worked for it for at least 12 months. The chef will usually also need a relevant qualification and around three years of experience, or six years if self-employed. The work must be for a genuine, registered service contract. The stay is capped at 12 months, and it does not lead to settlement. The UK business must also hold a sponsor licence that covers the route. Even a business that already sponsors workers may need to add it to its licence, and the contract has to be registered with the Home Office before the chef can be assigned a certificate of sponsorship.

There is one surprise in the operator’s favour. Unlike the Skilled Worker route, there is no minimum salary.

The bigger catch is supply. According to the Home Office, only 1,800 places are available each calendar year, and they are shared between three professions: traditional chefs, yoga instructors and classical musicians. There is no public counter showing how many are left. The cap counts extensions as well as new arrivals. When the places are gone, they are gone until the next year. And not every chef fits: the places are for traditional chefs and chefs de cuisine, not for every role in a kitchen.

Where do operators go wrong?

Most of the mistakes I see come from treating this like the old system.

The first is offering the chef a UK job. That does not fit the route. The chef stays on the Indian company’s payroll, and the UK business pays for a service.

The second is leaving the sponsor licence until last. Without one, nothing else can move. The Home Office says most licence applications are decided within eight weeks, but gathering the evidence often takes longer than the wait.

The third is assuming the places will still be there in the autumn. With 1,800 places shared across three professions and no public count, a late application may simply miss out.

And the fourth is planning for the long term. This is a route for a contract of up to a year, not a way to build a permanent brigade.

What happens if the licence is not kept in order?

Getting a sponsor licence is only the start. The Home Office can visit, check pay and hours against what was promised, and suspend or revoke the licence if something is wrong. According to Home Office figures, around 3,100 sponsor licences were revoked in 2025, the highest number since records began in 2012.

One recent AY&J Solicitors case shows how fast it can move. A care home with more than 30 sponsored workers had its licence suspended after two compliance visits. Among the concerns were workers on fewer hours and lower pay than their certificates stated, issues that can just as easily arise in a busy kitchen. Eight staff needed visa extensions within weeks, and none could be sponsored while the licence was suspended. The care home called us the day the letter arrived. Representations went in before the 20-working-day deadline, and the licence was reinstated 35 days after the suspension letter.

The lesson for hospitality is that the rules that matter most are the everyday ones: hours, pay and records.

What should operators do now?

Before counting on a chef from India, an operator should be able to answer yes to six questions:

• Is there a genuine reason to contract an Indian company for a traditional chef service?
• Has that company employed the chef for at least 12 months?
• Is there a written service contract, ready to be registered?
• Does the business hold, or can it apply for, a sponsor licence that covers the Service Supplier visa?
• Does the plan still work if the chef can only stay for 12 months?
• Is the application going in early in the year, before the places run out?

Yash Dubal, CEO of AY&J Solicitors, puts it plainly: “Many operators heard about the trade deal and assumed they could hire a chef from India the way they used to. That is not how it works. The places are real, but they come through a contract with an Indian company, they are limited, and the paperwork has to be right first time. Operators who plan early have the best chance of using them.”
The trade deal has not brought back the old way of recruiting chefs from abroad. What it has done is open a narrow, workable door for the businesses that prepare. For the right restaurant or hotel, with the right partner in India and a licence in place, it can bring an experienced chef into the kitchen for up to a year.

AY&J Solicitors helps hospitality businesses check whether the Service Supplier visa fits, apply for a sponsor licence and keep it in good order once their chef arrives.