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EU, EEA or Swiss nationals travelling to the UK for a short business trip can continue to visit the UK without applying for a visa. UK’s new points-based immigration system state that you may:

  • stay for up to 6 months.
  • participate in a wide range of business-related activities such as meetings, events and conferences.
  • enter the UK multiple times during that period*.

Entering the UK as a business visitor, does not permit you to:

  • do paid or unpaid work for a UK company or as a self-employed person;
  • do a work placement or internship;
  • sell directly to the public or provide goods and services.

*The rules clearly state that you may not live in the UK by means of frequent or successive visits.

You will be required to present your valid travel documents (national ID card or passport) at border control as well as your :

  • proof of a negative coronavirus (COVID-19) test
  • passenger locator form which must be in hard copy or downloaded to your phone

It is a criminal offence to provide false or deliberately misleading information on your passenger locator form. If you do not provide accurate and true details about the countries you have visited in the 10 full days (11 nights) before you arrived in the UK, you can face a fine of up to £10,000, imprisonment for up to 10 years or both.

To check if you require a visa to enter the UK to carry out your intended activities, you can use the online visa checking service or contact us for guidance.

A visa will be required for EU, EEA or Swiss nationals:

  • intending to work in the UK for more than 6 months
  • who commutes to the UK on a regular basis i.e. a frontier worker.

From 1st October 2021, EU, EEA and Swiss nationals will not be able to enter the UK using national identity cards. Our earlier newsletter provides guidance and information on this.

Finally, the UK government regularly updates the travel corridors which lists countries on the red, amber and green list for COVID-19 and the entry rules to the UK.  Businesses and travellers are required to check this list before leaving their home country. In some cases, travellers may not have to self-isolate or complete the passenger locator form even if you’ve recently travelled through or from a country or territory not on the travel corridors list.

Contact us for advice and a consultation.

Bee

Bee has more than 18 years’ experience in UK immigration and nationality law and has been advising businesses that have been expanding into the UK or growing their UK presence or workforce.