Locating in the UK - Immigration

If you are a national of a country in the European Economic Area (EEA) or a Swiss national, you can work in the UK without a work permit.

Visas
You may need a visa to enter the UK. This depends on your country of origin as well as your personal circumstances.

There are some exceptions to this - if you can claim British Citizenship or prove another such link to the UK. You can find out whether you need a visa at the UK Visas website.

You can also contact your nearest UK embassy for information on British Citizenship at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) website.

Work permits
If you are coming to the UK as an investor you may not need a visa if you have received entry clearance. This means that you must be coming to the UK to launch a new business, take over an existing one, join an existing business as a partner, director or a sole trader, or set up a UK branch or subsidiary of an overseas business.

Anyone who you would like to employ from overseas will have to meet certain skills criteria. These include formal qualifications such as a UK equivalent degree. There are no permits available for unskilled jobs. Certain exemptions to the work permit system exist. These include when you are a national of a EEA country. You can read about work permits on the Working in the UK website.

All employees of UK-based businesses must be paid at least the National Minimum Wage. This applies whether the employees are paid overseas or in the UK. See the page in this guide on employment.

Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP)
You can apply to migrate to the UK through the HSMP. In order to qualify for the programme, you need to show evidence of being highly skilled.

You can find out about the HSMP programme on the Working in the UK website.

Business person category
You can also apply to enter the UK as a business person if you are not an EEA national. In order to qualify, you need to run a business in the UK full time. You must provide a detailed business plan including certain criteria in which you must:

- outline the purpose of the business

- prove that you have at least £200,000 of your own investment money to put into the business

- prove that you will create at least two full time jobs for people already living in the UK

- provide a forecast of the business' opening balance sheet

If you are going to participate in or take over an established business, you need to provide audited accounts for the previous two years, as a minimum.