Specialist law firm WestBridge Business Immigration today published a detailed client note answering one of the most common post-pandemic questions facing multinational companies: can an overseas employee continue doing their day-to-day job while physically present in the UK on a Standard Visitor visa? The article, dated 25 September, stresses that the Visitor route was never intended to be a substitute for a sponsored work visa. Nevertheless, paragraph PA 4(h) of Appendix Visitor expressly permits activities “relating to” overseas employment to be undertaken remotely from within the UK – provided this is not the primary purpose of the trip. Acceptable examples include responding to emails, attending virtual meetings and limited project-management tasks. Crucially, WestBridge warns that the Home Office looks at substance over form. Warning signs that a visit is morphing into de-facto employment include extended stays with no clear end-date, daily integration into the UK operation, direct delivery of services to UK clients or successive visits that cumulatively make the UK the individual’s main work location. Any of these factors can transform a harmless bit of inbox-clearing into an immigration breach with serious compliance consequences for both employer and visitor. The guidance also sets out practical steps for mobility managers: document the primary business purpose; prepare a high-level itinerary; retain evidence that salary, supervision and contractual obligations remain overseas; and limit customer-facing activity to what Appendix Visitor expressly allows. For assignments that genuinely require more than incidental productive work in the UK, companies should budget time and cost for the appropriate sponsored or short-term work route instead. With hybrid working now standard across many international teams, the clarification is a timely reminder that even a laptop on a London hotel desk can create immigration exposure. Businesses should update travel policies and train line managers to spot when a visitor is at risk of crossing the Home Office’s invisible compliance line.
