UK Visas and Work Permits
Our tax guide for freelance contractors working in United Kingdom
Citizens of the old EU member States (before the enlargement on 1 May 2004) as well as citizens from the new EU member States Cyprus and Malta and Switzerland, are free to work in the United Kingdom.
For citizens of the following eight new EU member States (Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia), there is similarly no restriction but a registration scheme has been introduced to monitor the impact of EU enlargement on the UK labour market. Job seekers from these countries are required to register, at a cost of £70, with the UK Home Office within one month of taking up work in the United Kingdom.
After a continuous period of 12 months employment workers from these eight countries are no longer required to be registered. If the period of employment is interrupted, the worker must start a new job within 30 days and re-register, for it to be treated as continuous employment. The registration fee is only charged when the worker first joins the Worker Registration Scheme (WRS). There are no further charges if a worker has to re-register. Guidance on the Worker Registration Scheme is available from the website: www.workingintheuk.gov.uk.
The UK has decided to put in place transitional rules, whilst it is reviewing its immigration reforms, for citizens of Bulgaria and Romania. Bulgarians and Romanians will be allowed to come into the UK for a period of 3 months either as students, as self-employed or so long as they are self-sufficient, but they do not have an automatic right to work. Highly skilled workers will still be allowed working entry under the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme, but low-skilled workers will be limited in terms of numbers and their rights to work will be restricted to 6 months giving no rights to benefits or public housing.
Citizens from all other countries need to go through a full work permit and residence permit application. There are many different types of permit, as well as the Highly Skilled Migrant Program (HSMP) which works on a points system according to various criteria.