Contracting from France in UK

[Clement]

Hi,
I am French and I plan to maybe immigrate in UK in the next few months/years and I currently work as contractor in France ("Limited Company" type).
I want to have a first experience in UK before actually moving in completely. Is there any issues against contracting a UK Client with my own company France based ?
Thanks in advance.

[sal]

Probably won't be an issue if you find a client and go direct, on the other hand if you want go trough the agency as 95% of the contracts on the market you will have to use England and Wales registered ltd. or go through Umbrella for your "trial" contract

[Clement]

Probably won't be an issue if you find a client and go direct, on the other hand if you want go trough the agency as 95% of the contracts on the market you will have to use England and Wales registered ltd. or go through Umbrella for your "trial" contract

Thanks for your reply. So Agencies are not considered as clients ? They can only subcontract within England and Wales and not outside (UE) ?

[Boo]

Probably won't be an issue if you find a client and go direct, on the other hand if you want go trough the agency as 95% of the contracts on the market you will have to use England and Wales registered ltd. or go through Umbrella for your "trial" contract

This seems to be the received wisdom in this forum but I once contracted via the Belgium branch of an agency that is also UK based and they were happy for me to work in Belgium through my UK Ltd Co.

This is the exact contra for what the OP is proposing so I would suggest that if they can find a role through the UK branch of a French based agency then it may be possible to do what I did but the other way around ?

Boo

[MrMarkyMark]

This seems to be the received wisdom in this forum but I once contracted via the Belgium branch of an agency that is also UK based and they were happy for me to work in Belgium through my UK Ltd Co.

This is the exact contra for what the OP is proposing so I would suggest that if they can find a role through the UK branch of a French based agency then it may be possible to do what I did but the other way around ?

Boo

I had a similar experience when I was working with the Bank of New York.
Engaged through a US based agency, but the UK arm dealt with my UK based LTD.

There were a number of reasons why it was done this way, one of which was the US confidentiality agreements that had to be signed for the engagement to take place.

[Clement]

I had a similar experience when I was working with the Bank of New York.
Engaged through a US based agency, but the UK arm dealt with my UK based LTD.

There were a number of reasons why it was done this way, one of which was the US confidentiality agreements that had to be signed for the engagement to take place.

Thanks all for your replies.

@MrMarkyMark

How did you manage to get the visa to work in US (and what type of visa was it ) ? The agency made it or you applied by yourself ?
Thanks.

[MrMarkyMark]

Thanks all for your replies.

@MrMarkyMark

How did you manage to get the visa to work in US (and what type of visa was it ) ? The agency made it or you applied by yourself ?
Thanks.

No, you misunderstood me.

I was paid for by the US, the FED, as it goes, but I did the work here.
The project team were spread all over the globe.

[sal]

Thanks for your reply. So Agencies are not considered as clients ? They can only subcontract within England and Wales and not outside (UE) ?

Not as much as "can only", as "will only". There is nothing legally stopping them from working with overseas companies and on rare occasions they do. It's just too much of a hassle when they get piles of CVs from contractors using E&W ltd. Unless you have a very niche skill set, and/or willing to go for absolute bottom of the barrel rates it's close to impossible to get a contract in UK without experience in UK. Asking to use non E&W ltd. will even further limit your chances.

Most agents will not even call you on a non-UK number, when they hear you don't have an address in UK, your CV goes straight into the round "filing cabinet" under their desk

[BlasterBates]

If you are intending to work for UK clients in the UK, i.e. not working remotely in France then you need to register your company with the UK tax authorities, whether UK Ltd or French.

Setting up a Ltd is not difficult and as others have said agencies mostly won't be bothered with foreign companies.

EU rules allow to do business with your company where ever you want but you still have to adhere to the local tax rules.

[Andy Hallett]

We'd have probably looked at it on a case by case basis a couple of years back. The Offshore Intermediaries rules and the stringent reporting agencies have to now do means it would be a 'non' from us now.