UK allows visitors on tourist visas to work in the country

The United Kingdom (UK) has announced that it would introduce significant changes to its visa regulations, allowing tourist visa holders to engage in work-related activities.

The UK government published an update to its immigration rules, permitting more activities on Visitor Visas, while confirming that the new changes will become effective from January 31, 2024.

According to the new rules, tourist visa holders will now be allowed to engage in work-related activities with clients and undertake remote work while visiting the country.

This move aims to provide a considerable boost to both business and tourism within the country.

Here are some of the key points of the revised rules:

• Visitors holding these visas can engage in client work under certain conditions. This includes working in a company with branches both in the UK and abroad, where client work forms a small part of their job overseas and is essential for a project or service by their employer’s UK branch. The project should not be delivered directly to a UK client by the visitor’s employer overseas.
• While visitors can work from the UK, remote work should not be the primary reason for their stay.
• Scientists, researchers, and academics are allowed to conduct research in the UK, except for academics applying for a 12-month visit visa or extending permission within the country.
• Lawyers can engage in additional activities such as providing advice, acting as an expert witness, participating in legal proceedings, and teaching.
• Speakers visiting the UK on a visitor visa will now be eligible to receive payment for their talks.
• “The Permitted Paid Engagement (PPE) Visitor route will be merged into the Standard Visitor route, meaning that those doing paid engagements will not need a separate visa, but they still have to plan the activity within 30 days of arriving.”