Short Travel Tourist & Business Visas

Most short-term travelers will need to hold a Visitor Visa upon entry into the UK. Applicants may not work whilst they are in the UK and it is generally accepted that they are only in the UK for (non-work) personal or holiday-related activities. However, Business Visitors to the UK are excepted from this restriction in certain circumstances only. Conditions of the visa include the fact that the worker must be a professional and not someone in an unskilled or only semi-skilled industry. The visa is only for six months duration and work undertaken during the person’s time in Britain must be directly related to work in your home country or country of residence from which you come. You should receive your salary from abroad, but you can receive reasonable travel and living expenses from sources in the United Kingdom.

As a visitor wishing to do business you can:

• go to meetings with United Kingdom businesses or negotiate and enter into contracts with them;
• go to trade fairs, conferences or undertake training in techniques and work practices employed in the United Kingdom, providing the training is confined only to observation, familiarisation and classroom instruction; and
• undertake fact-finding, check details or examine goods.

You may also enter the United Kingdom as a business visitor if you are:

• delivering goods from abroad, for example if you are an international lorry driver;
• representing a foreign IT company that is here to install, service or modify its product;
• representing a foreign machine manufacturer and coming to install, service or repair machinery (as part of a contract of purchase and supply, you may install machinery that is too large to be delivered in one piece);
• an adviser or consultant to a United Kingdom firm who is employed abroad, either directly or under contract by the same company or group of companies that the client firm belongs to. Advisers must not get involved in project management;
• providing training that is not available anywhere else in the United Kingdom and is for a specific purpose and does not go beyond classroom instruction;
• visiting as a guest speaker at a conference or seminar. It must be a single or occasional event and not a commercial venture that you are part of; or
• a sports person or entertainer coming for trials or auditions, or for personal appearances which do not involve public performances.

Visitors must be able to demonstrate that they will leave the country within six months of entry and have sufficient funds to support and accommodate themselves without working or help from public funds.