Indians can now ‘remote-work’ in the UK while on a tourist visa

[sreed]

This change in UK immigration rules is getting a lot of positive press in India, not so much in the UK. I wonder why.

https://www.livemint.com/news/trends...092016199.html
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/travel/travel-news/uks-new-visa-rule-will-now-permit-people-on-tourist-visa-to-work-in-the-country/amp_articleshow/106475770.cms

Anyone with half a brain cell can see how this rule will be ruthlessly exploited by employers and workers from non-EU countries, particularly in the tech sector where loads of Indian headquartered companies (big, medium and small) have offices in the UK. And anyway, how hard is it for anyone anywhere in the world to register a company in the UK.

I’m pretty sure Rishi & Co. know all this but trust the British public to not understand what’s happening here and their media outlets to keep it quiet.

[vetran]

The locals will find out soon enough when a coach and horses are regularly driven through this.

[Paddy]

All a employer has to do is to have a separate room or office as a co-worker hub. Job done and pay peanuts.

[northernladuk]

The immigration board is gonna blow up with this news.

[dsc]

"While visitors can work from the UK, remote work should not be the primary reason for their stay."

Interesting use of the word "should", so I guess it can be, but shouldn't or is forbidden? what stops anyone from saying I came to the UK to do sightseeing? Seems like a solid rule...

On the other hand, lets assume you bring someone in from a country that pays peanuts, those people still need to live somewhere in the UK and be able to survive. Also, why would you even bother if the can do their work remotely? sure, for some roles you need physical presence, but for those they probably already have local bods no? is it worth sacking them and bringing in someone from outside on a tourist visa to save money?

[vetran]

"While visitors can work from the UK, remote work should not be the primary reason for their stay."

Interesting use of the word "should", so I guess it can be, but shouldn't or is forbidden? what stops anyone from saying I came to the UK to do sightseeing? Seems like a solid rule...

On the other hand, lets assume you bring someone in from a country that pays peanuts, those people still need to live somewhere in the UK and be able to survive. Also, why would you even bother if the can do their work remotely? sure, for some roles you need physical presence, but for those they probably already have local bods no? is it worth sacking them and bringing in someone from outside on a tourist visa to save money?

My experience is that the employer has a company house (totally tax deductible) or they end up in a cheap hotel/air bnb paid for by the employer or sharing with existing UK Employees. Food is expensed and delivered to the site while they work extra time. 2-5 years doing this makes them eligible for rapid promotion.

If you pay a rock star salary (£12k) in the poorer country buying a cheap house in the UK still leaves plenty of change when replacing 4-10 * £50-100k staff. Even a hovel in Southall is better than some parts of many poor countries.

Part of the problem is that cheap resources hollow out the skill set and drop wages. Then stuff gets offshored and no one pays UK tax. Its all very well getting upset with 'rich disguised employees' paying 10% less tax but this is multinationals not paying any UK tax.

[dsc]

If you pay a rock star salary (£12k) in the poorer country[...]

Where is this figure coming from? and which country? There was a user in the State of the Market thread who had some proper info on India and salaries and for £12k no one would lift a finger.

[vetran]

Where is this figure coming from? and which country? There was a user in the State of the Market thread who had some proper info on India and salaries and for £12k no one would lift a finger.

20 years ago when I first directly witnessed offshoring. But 10% average wage increases plus shortages have caused wages to Balloon. Now they look at Thailand, Mexico, Prague etc.

Try this:
https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/pu...cms_638305.pdf

[dsc]

20 years ago when I first directly witnessed offshoring. But 10% average wage increases plus shortages have caused wages to Balloon. Now they look at Thailand, Mexico, Prague etc.

Try this:
https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/pu...cms_638305.pdf

Asia / South America - perhaps that's doable, but I'd still say double that figure
East / Central Europe (Czechia, Poland etc.) - absolutely no way, they would easily charge you 4-5k euros per month as individuals on perm contracts, I'm not even going to mention how much it would be via consultancies or directly via b2b arrangements.

[NotAllThere]

Indians can now ‘remote-work’ in the UK while on a tourist visa

Not just Indians.