Temporary Work Visa Roadblock

Hello,

I'm having a little bit of an issue with getting a visa for a 10 week temporary job position in the UK and was hoping someone might be able to offer some advice.

A little bit of background: I am working for a sales & marketing company here in the US. One of our clients is based in the UK and would like to hire me short term to go over there in January to help with understanding the US market AND so I can learn more about the company to better support them when I come back to the US.

While in the UK, I will be working full-time for that company and part-time for my sales & marketing firm in the US.

Today I got an email from the owner of the UK company saying he has hit some roadblocks. He had contacted immigration and apparently received negative communication. They directed him to have me contact a) the international help desk or b) the British embassy to see whether they can help. I haven't done this yet as I'm not quite sure what I should say that would help.

I asked about applying to be a sponsor, but he believes it's too expensive and may not help my situation anyway.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

The problem is that I don't think there is a visa you can get that will allow you to do what you want to do.

- A business visitor visa would be the first thought as it's temporary, valid for up to 6 months, but it does not allow you to perform any actual work except for doing things like attending a conference or meeting, performing as a musician, taking part in a sporting event, doing academic research etc. You can't work full-time for a UK company on this visa.

- So I think an actual Tier 2 work visa would be the only option, but that would require that the UK company becomes a Tier 2 visa sponsor (and it can take several months for them to register as a sponsor and will likely cost over £1,000, if it's a decent size company)
AND then to hire you, they have to prove that either:
1) the job you will be doing is listed on the Tier 2 Skills Shortage List and pays a certain salary (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/423800/shortage_occupation_list_april_2015.pdf)
OR
2) the UK company has advertised the job across the entire UK and all other EU countries for a certain number of weeks and they have not found a single suitable candidate for the position (out of 27 countries and 500 million people)... so they have no choice but to hire you from the US instead of a UK/EU citizen.

They directed him to have me contact a) the international help desk or b) the British embassy to see whether they can help. I haven't done this yet as I'm not quite sure what I should say that would help.

Honestly, I wouldn't bother contacting either - the immigration help desk is notorious for not knowing what they are talking about and therefore give bad or incorrect advice, and I don't know if you can even contact the British Embassy - they would probably just direct you to the helpline.

All the official information about the visas and how to qualify for them is on the UKVI website:

Visitor visas: https://www.gov.uk/standard-visitor-visa/overview

Tier 2 work visas: https://www.gov.uk/tier-2-general/overview

Unfortunately, there's no visa for this situation. Work visas are quite restrictive and difficult to get these days--a deliberate move by the UK to limit immigration. You could potentially get a Business Visitor visa to go there for a shorter time, a week or two perhaps, as a representative of your US company, but ten weeks is too long and if you'd be officially working for the UK company you wouldn't qualify for it.

I'm really sorry but I don't think there's any way to do what you propose.

There isn't really a visa that does what you want to do...

The closest would be Tier 2 ICT, and your company would need to sponsor you and then deploy your services to the other company. This assumes your company has any presence in the UK and are a licensed sponsor. Tier 2 ICT has earnings requirements, though if you got a short term visa, the earning requirement is reasonable (about 25K or the SoC code, whichever is higher, if I remember rightly).

Otherwise, the UK company would need to sponsor you for a Tier 2 General, as you have not been employed by them for 12 months. This would require being a licensed sponsor and proving no one else in the EU could perform the duties you would be doing. Normally, they would need to advertise for 28 days in several locations, and again they would have to pay you certain earnings requirements (SoC Codes). The job must also be NQF 6 or above.

Okay so that route won't work. What about this?

Since this company is actually a client of the company I currently work for, could the UK company simply pay my current company a higher fee for a short period of time while I'm over there helping them out? That way, I'm not actually working for the company, but instead doing some short-term consulting in person. Would something like this be possible?

Then I could just get a business visit visa for the time that I'm there for.

No, that isn't a possibility, because you still need to enter on a visa that allows work. You cannot perform work, even remote work, while on a visitor visa.

Okay so that route won't work. What about this?

Since this company is actually a client of the company I currently work for, could the UK company simply pay my current company a higher fee for a short period of time while I'm over there helping them out? That way, I'm not actually working for the company, but instead doing some short-term consulting in person. Would something like this be possible?

Then I could just get a business visit visa for the time that I'm there for.

Hmmmm.  Not totally sure.  I had a business visitors visa a few times in the past for the UK prior to moving here permanently.  But my longest stay was for 2 weeks and I was working with UK stay to develop, implement, and then train on a new internal financial system.  I had no issue with obtaining my business visitor visas.

I think you need to speak with an immigration solicitor.  I bet there are some creative ways to make this work.  We usually recommend Victoria Sharkey with Medivisas based out of London.

Okay so that route won't work. What about this?

Since this company is actually a client of the company I currently work for, could the UK company simply pay my current company a higher fee for a short period of time while I'm over there helping them out? That way, I'm not actually working for the company, but instead doing some short-term consulting in person. Would something like this be possible?

Then I could just get a business visit visa for the time that I'm there for.

Someone else recently asked about this idea, and several people, including myself, explained why this doesn't work. It's not so much that you need a visa to work for a British company. It's that you need the appropriate visa to do any work in the UK.

Tier 2 ICT sounds like it is your best (only?) option to work in the UK for 10 weeks.

As others have said, you may be able to get away with a business visitors visa if you come over for a week or two of meetings and training about what the company does.

One of our clients is based in the UK and would like to hire me short term to go over there in January to help with understanding the US market AND so I can learn more about the company to better support them when I come back to the US.

The easiest way is for your US company to send a member of staff who has a British citizen passport or a passport from another EEA county. They all have the right to work in the UK/EU.

Thanks everyone for your input! We are working to come up with a different strategy and it looks like I'll just be going over there mostly for tourist reasons for a little while and won't need a visa for the amount of time I'll be there. Thank you for all of your input.

Thanks everyone for your input! We are working to come up with a different strategy and it looks like I'll just be going over there mostly for tourist reasons for a little while and won't need a visa for the amount of time I'll be there. Thank you for all of your input.

Just make sure is 100% for tourist reasons and not "mostly" tourist reasons.   

Just make sure is 100% for tourist reasons and not "mostly" tourist reasons.   

I'm sure Ash isn't as touchy as I am, but I would take offence at that.

I'm sure Ash isn't as touchy as I am, but I would take offence at that.

Really?  Why?  I just don't want to see anyone "bounced" at the border because they haven't been given good advice.  Certainly not trying to cause offence...   

Really?  Why?  I just don't want to see anyone "bounced" at the border because they haven't been given good advice.  Certainly not trying to cause offence...   

No, I have no doubt that your intentions were helpful, but as it was stated plainly in the thread that no work of any kind is allowed as a visitor, one might get the idea that intentional impropriety was being suggested.

I have always felt that on forums such as these, care must be taken to assume that a poster is telling the truth and is not out to break the law. It may not always be the case, but if we begin to doubt honesty it weakens the ability to advise; the question of whether everything is a lie or not takes over.

No, I have no doubt that your intentions were helpful, but as it was stated plainly in the thread that no work of any kind is allowed as a visitor, one might get the idea that intentional impropriety was being suggested.

I have always felt that on forums such as these, care must be taken to assume that a poster is telling the truth and is not out to break the law. It may not always be the case, but if we begin to doubt honesty it weakens the ability to advise; the question of whether everything is a lie or not takes over.

The OP's post says "it looks like I'll just be going over there mostly for tourist reasons."

KFdancer was giving honesty advice based on what the OP said. If the OP says to the border agent that he is mostly there for tourist reasons, there is a chance he could be bounced if the agent asked follow up questions about the "remaining" reasons.