There is growing evidence of significant new barriers to business travel from the UK to the European Union the conclusion of Brexit on December 31st. A travel management firm told BTN that a customer’s UK employee was denied boarding a flight from Amsterdam to Budapest for lack of a work permit – a document that was not required when the UK was part of the EU.
The Trade and Cooperation Agreement allows the following activities for short term business travelers from the UK to the EU and vice versa without a work permit, but will likely need further clarification.
Note: The phrase “any entity of the party whose short-term business visitor is an individual” may loosely be referred to as “an enterprise for which the short-term business visitor works”.
Meetings and consultations: natural persons who take part in meetings or conferences or hold consultations with business partners
Research and design: technical, scientific and statistical researchers who carry out independent research or research for a legal entity of the party whose natural person is the short-term business visitor
Market research: market researchers and analysts who carry out research or analysis for a legal person of the party, whose natural person is the short-term business visitor
Training seminars: personnel of a company who enters the area visited by the short-term business visitor in order to receive training in techniques and work practices used by companies or organizations in the area visited by the short-term business visitor, provided that the training is limited solely to observation, induction and lessons
Trade fairs and exhibitions: Personnel who attend a trade fair to promote their company or their products or services
Sales: Representatives of a provider of services or goods who take orders or negotiate the sale of services or goods or enter into agreements to sell services or goods for that supplier, but do not supply goods or provide services themselves; Short term business visitors are prohibited from making direct sales to the general public
Purchase: Buyers who purchase goods or services for a company or for management and supervisory personnel and who conduct a business transaction that is carried out in the territory of the party whose natural person is the short-term business visitor
After-sales or after-lease service: installers, repair and maintenance personnel, and supervisors who have expertise essential to a seller’s contractual obligation, provide services or train employees to provide services under a warranty or under any other service contract related to the sale or leasing of commercial or industrial equipment or machinery, including computer software, that has been purchased or leased from a legal entity of the party whose short-term business visitor is a natural person for the entire duration of the guarantee or service contract
Commercial Transactions: Management, supervisory and financial services personnel (including insurers, bankers and investment brokers) who conduct commercial transactions for a legal entity of the party whose natural person is the short-term business visitor
Tourism staff: travel and travel agencies, tour guides or tour operators who attend or participate in congresses or accompany a tour that has started in the territory of the party whose natural person is the short-term business visitor
Translation and interpreting: translators or interpreters who provide services as employees of a legal entity of the party whose short-term business visitor is a natural person
Source: Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, on the one hand, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, on the other
In the meantime, a London-based travel manager for a global consultancy firm told BTN that his in-house lawyers have given him all advisory assignments for the company’s UK passport holders to the EU and, conversely, that a work visa will be required in the future. And an immigration specialist has warned that corporations should take on any work activity that is not specifically listed on the list of permitted activities for short-term business visitors on pages 770-771 of the EU’s December 24th Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) and the US was published UK requires additional documentation [see list in sidebar].
The agreement contains additional unilateral restrictions (pages 768-769) for UK business visitors that have been imposed by individual EU countries. However, the immigration expert and a lawyer confirmed to BTN that there will likely also be complex interpretations of the main list on a country basis, with little clarification as to what is permissible in practice and what is not.
“The challenge we have seen is the inconsistency in rules and regulations as well as the paperwork required,” said Donna Joines, regional operations manager for TMC Corporate Traveler UK. “This is becoming increasingly frustrating for our customers in the energy, food and beverage industries where business travel is essential right now. Our consultants look at four different sources of information to keep customers updated on the latest regulations. However, an airline company may only use one source. The rules may vary depending on the source used. “
Joines said last week a customer sent travelers from the UK via Amsterdam to Budapest on consecutive days. “One traveler had no problems immigration on Monday and made the connecting flight,” she said. “Then the other traveler was stopped in Amsterdam on Tuesday and said he was not allowed to board the flight to Budapest because he needed a work permit to enter Hungary.”
The TCA notes that for entry into Hungary, Cyprus and Denmark a “work permit, including economic needs tests, [is] required if the short term business visitor is providing a service. ”
Joines said, “The problem has been exacerbated because in normal times, if there was an issue where a traveler missed a connecting flight, there would be an alternate flight later that day. But right now the flight schedules are greatly reduced, which is the single means. ” The alternative is for the traveler to return to Great Britain. “
In the meantime, the London-based travel advisor informed BTN, on condition of anonymity, that he was urgently reviewing his travel program in the light of the new rules after Brexit. “The lawyers tell me we need to get a visa,” he said. “London is a net exporter of consultants to the rest of the world, especially the EU. All of a sudden, these consultants need a visa to work in France or Germany and a different visa for each of them. We are not clear about the process is to get a visa. “
Most overseas consultations are interrupted anyway due to travel restrictions caused by the coronavirus. Once travel is allowed again, the travel manager said his company will, on many occasions, try to assign UK passport holders to projects within the UK. Projects in the EU are likely to be assigned to these advisors in the London office with EU passports.
“This will add friction to our operations,” said the travel manager. “Any service company now has to think twice before posting workers from the UK to the EU or the other direction.” The travel manager added that the challenge will be formidable, especially for smaller consulting firms and other service companies that lack significant internal resources.
The same travel manager said the new restrictions on travel between the EU and the UK are likely to affect agreements with corporate airlines. “I don’t know where my boys are going to go next, and I have no idea what my route networks are going to be like. I’d rather do network-wide business than drop-off business so that no matter where I go I can go. Almost every airline has asked me how Brexit will affect our travel patterns. Covid is a short term uncertainty, but Brexit is a long term uncertainty, ”the travel manager said.
Raquel Gómez Salas, a global immigration advisor for London-based visa and immigration services company Newland Chase, warned that business travel from the UK to the EU in many cases will involve considerable paperwork and confusion. “Any short-term activity not included in the TCA requires a work permit, unless it is exempt from the work permit under national immigration laws in the EU country where the activities take place,” she said.
“However, there is still uncertainty as to how each EU country will interpret the list of permitted short-term business visitor activities contained in the TCA. We still need to understand the views of each individual EU country, and there is still little or no guidance in this regard. “
Very similar challenges will make planning business trips from the European Economic Area – the EU plus Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein – to the UK difficult, according to Robert Houchill, an associate at Kingsley Napley law firm, also based in London.
“Often times, a visitor’s planned activities do not exactly fall within the ‘allowed activities’ and it can be difficult to determine what is and is not allowed,” said Houchill.
“Perhaps the most commonly permitted activities are attending meetings or conferences, negotiating and signing contracts and contracts, conducting site visits and inspections, and gathering information for employment overseas. The rules for in-house visitors (foreign employees of a UK based company)) are a bit more generous and allow for some training, advice and advice, as well as skills and knowledge sharing for an internal project, as long as the visitor is not dealing directly with clients.
“Now, when businesses work with EEA nationals in the UK, they must use the same thinking as they do with US, Chinese or Indian nationals. What kind of activities will the individual do and is a work visa required?” Said Houchill.
