Home Office reverses immigration rules on ‘foreign suppliers’

A leading immigration lawyer has welcomed the changes to UK Immigration Rules enforced this week making it easier for foreign businesses to fulfil their contractual obligations to their UK customers.

Ben Xu from national law firm Irwin Mitchell says that an unexpected and surprising change to Immigration Rules late last year in preparation for Brexit had since made it difficult and expensive for EU suppliers to visit the UK to complete necessary work for their UK customers.

Since the UK joined the European Economic Community in 1973, businesses in EU countries have been able to send their employees to the UK to fulfil their contractual obligations or carry out after-sale services to their UK customers without the need of applying for a visa.

Although free movement rights ended on 31 December 2020, it was expected that EU workers would still be able to carry out this work. This was because UK Immigration Rules permitted ‘foreign manufacturers and suppliers’ to perform certain after-sale services in the UK for their UK customers with a standard visitor visa (also known as business visitor visa). Being ‘non-visa nationals’, EU citizens were expected to be able to take advantage of these provisions without needing to apply for a visa before arrival – even after Brexit.

But last December, the Immigration Rules relating to business visitor visas were changed in preparation for Brexit and surprisingly they became stricter. Instead of widening the scope, the wording ‘foreign suppliers’ was removed from the rules altogether, leaving only ‘foreign manufacturers’. This left many foreign suppliers extremely concerned about their ability to continue providing after-sale services to their UK customers post-Brexit.

On 4 March 2021, however, the Home Office published a new Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules which reinstates the original wording to include ‘foreign suppliers’. This change has taken effect from 6 April 2021.

Ben Xu said: “The changes last year effectively excluded a whole class of sellers from benefiting from such provisions and forced them to explore alternative options which are far more costly and time consuming.

“Some of our clients were greatly affected by these stringent rules and, as a result, we voiced the policy inconsistency to the Home Office given the intention of the UK Government was to continue the trade relationship with our EU partners post-Brexit.

“We are pleased that the policy has changed as the benefit will be seen by businesses in the EU as well as UK consumers and businesses.”