Warner Pride International

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Business

• Academic
• Doctors - PLAB Test
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• Visiting Professors
• Religious Workers

For the purpose of the Immigration Rules a business visitor is someone who works abroad but who intends to visit the UK for short periods of time in order to transact business on their own or their employers behalf. As well as meeting all the normal requirements for leave to enter as a visitor the immigration officer must be satisfied that the applicant:

• is based abroad and have no intention of transferring his base to the United Kingdom even temporarily

• will not receive his salary from a UK source, although we would allow a business visitor to receive reasonable expenses to cover the cost of his travel and subsistence

• is not be involved in selling goods or services direct to members of the public

What types of people can be treated as business visitors?

• film crews on locations shoots only, provided they are employed or paid by an overseas company or programme

• representatives of overseas news media provided they are employed or paid by an overseas company and are gathering information for an overseas publication

• academic visitors (see above link)

• visiting professors accompanying students on study abroad programmes (see above link)

• secondees from overseas companies who have a contract with a UK company, provided they are being paid by the overseas company

• religious workers  undertaking preaching or pastoral work during a business visit (e.g. to attend a conference), provided their base is abroad and they are not taking up office, post or appointment (see above link)

• advisers, consultants, trainers or trouble shooters employed abroad by the same company to which the client firm in the UK belongs, provided this does not amount to employment paid or unpaid for the UK branch

• persons undertaking specific, one-off training provided by their own company, or a branch of it in the UK, in techniques and work practices used in the UK, provided this is not on-the job training.

In addition, those intending to carry out any of the following permissible activities are considered business visitors:

• attending meetings or conferences

• arranging deals, negotiating or signing trade agreements, contracts, etc

• undertaking fact-finding missions, e.g journalists on a short assignment to cover a story

• conducting site visits

• purchasing, checking details of or examining goods

• delivering goods from abroad, such as lorry drivers and coach drivers provided they are genuinely working an international route

• attending interviews, where prior arrangements for interview have been made

• tour group couriers contracted to a firm outside the UK seeking entry to accompany a tour group and who intend to leave with that group

• speaking at a conference where this is not run as a commercial concern and it is a 'one-off' event

• interpreters or translators who are existing employees of an overseas company and who are accompanying and solely providing a service for business visitors from that company

• representatives of computer software companies coming to install, debug or enhance their products. Representatives coming to be briefed on a UK customer’s requirements is also acceptable. But representatives who intend to provide a detailed assessment of a potential customer’s needs should enter under the Points Based System (PBS) (Tier 2) because this is regarded as consultancy

• representatives of foreign manufacturers coming to service or repair their company’s products within their initial period of guarantee

• representatives of foreign machine manufacturers coming to erect and install machinery too heavy to be delivered in one piece, as part of the contract of purchase and supply

• monteurs – representatives of foreign companies coming to erect, dismantle, install, service, repair or advise on the development of foreign-made machinery

• board level directors attending board meetings in the UK, provided that they are not employed by a UK company, although there may be a fee for attending the meetings.

How long can I stay as a business visitor?

In line with general visitors, the maximum permitted stay as a business visitor is six months. If you often visit the UK, you can apply for a visa that is valid for one, two, five or ten years. You can then visit the UK as often as you like while your visa is still valid, but you can only stay for up to six months on each visit.

As you will see from the links above there are another five categories of visa under the heading of business. This is a great improvement on previous routes into the UK for business purposes.