Immigration Assist

Even if you are not a British citizen, being a citizen or national of an EEA (European Economic Area) member nation grants you unfettered access to employment in the UK . There is no visa or permit requirement whatsoever for such immigrants.

Foreign nationals from non-EEA nationals have to apply for a visa in order to work in the UK . Immigrants working in the UK are expected to meet certain obligations, as well as enjoy the protections offered to foreign workers by the British government. For example, all immigrant workers, including the self-employed, are expected to pay taxes. The Inland Revenue requires that self-employed workers register and pay UK taxes.

In exchange, workers are protected by several regulations. The UK has vigorously enforced laws regarding health and safety for its documented, visa holding, immigrant worker population. There are agencies that handle inquiries confidentially and have staff to communicate with immigrants in their native language, if necessary. If you hold a work visa, you are almost always entitled to receive the National Minimum Wage, although under some visa schemes this protection may not apply. Also, immigrants with work visas are eligible for National Insurance. There are strict laws against employers skimming an immigrant employee’s wages. Employers are not allowed make any deduction to an immigrant’s wages that would not be equivalent in amount or type to that which they would make to a UK resident employee’s wages.

People enter the UK to work for several types of employers in a variety of capacities. Applying for a UK work visa is not a uniform procedure. It may be that you quality for a special category of visa. For those who are students, undertaking an internship, working on a UK contract for a company based in your country of residence, are an athlete or entertainer, or are working in the UK for professional training or experience there is a unique application procedure.

For more information on various types of work visas, please visit:

www.workingintheuk.gov.uk/…/schemes_and_programmes.html

Employees are encouraged to register with the Worker Registration scheme, which provides benefits such as EEA residence. A typical work visa application will take about three weeks to obtain, barring irregularities in the application. The process costs £50.