Remote working, cross-border, has risen sharply since the pandemic. Three quarters of UK businesses now consider it to be a medium-to-high priority to attract and retain talent. That is the finding from a new report by the City of London Corporation and EY. We’ll get a view on it from one of our immigration specialists.
The report reveals that cross-border remote working is being fuelled by acute skills shortages globally, and a rising demand for increased flexibility for staff. A poll of 151 respondents across the financial and professional services industry found that the biggest challenges and risks facing firms that might allow cross-border remote working relate to higher tax costs and additional filing and reporting requirements (50%), restrictive immigration policies (16%) and cross-border regulatory oversight and barriers (18%).
The report finds coherent global regulation for cross-border remote working is largely non-existent and it recommends that the UK should be exploring how to make progress in this area. A majority (96%) of the businesses polled believe the UK government should take action to support employers in meeting the demand for this type of working arrangement.
So, let’s get a view on that from one of our immigration lawyers. Shara Pledger is based in Manchester. I put it to Shara that it makes for interesting reading:
Shara Pledger: “Yes, I agree. I think it is very interesting and it's certainly a topic that, across the world, a lot of people have got a lot of interest in at the moment. The thing for immigration that’s most interesting is that this is one of those areas where it really demonstrates the difference between different jurisdictions. So you've got some countries that are very open to the idea of this type of visas, and then others, unfortunately, not quite so welcoming.”
Joe Glavina: “It seems from this report that regulation for cross-border remote working is largely non-existent and there’s a hotch-potch of rules globally which don’t really marry up very well, which makes cross border remote working difficult to arrange. Is that a fair summary?”
Shara Pledger: “I think I'd agree with that assessment, yes. We do have certain provisions within some of our particular visitor rules that do allow, and recognise, that people might be conducting some of their business activity from the UK, but they're drafted in a way that's very restrictive. So under the visitor rules, you have this idea of prohibited activities and permitted activities, and they don't go very far into exploring this world of digital nomadism and certainly, when it comes to remote work, there is a particular prohibition within the visitor rules that actually says if you're coming to the UK for your primary purposes to work remotely from here, then we don't accept that you would be a genuine visitor. So we are very much behind the times compared to some of the other jurisdictions, particularly some of those that are quite close to us.”
Joe Glavina: “Given the situation as it is at the moment - which is a bit of mess, as you say, - is there anything employers can do to help themselves?”
Shara Pledger: “Yes, certainly, there are things that employers can look to do, The buzzword at the moment, really, within the recruitment sphere, is actually about retention. You know, it's the idea of getting that talent in and keeping it within the business and being flexible, and having these different opportunities for people are a good way to do that. So if you're looking for people coming into the UK, it might be that that needs to have more structure than had originally been hoped for. So it might be actual plans or comments, planned placements in the UK, that perhaps might even involve sponsorship in the UK to make sure that they are within the rules. But with other jurisdictions, there is quite a lot to explore and, perhaps, more than employers have previously realised. So I think at the moment, the best thing they could do would be to try and just improve their knowledge and get bit more up to date in terms of what countries are offering these options of whether or not this time of year in the UK, a lot of the option to digital and kind of remote working visas are in some quite warm climates. So offering a bit of flexibility in terms of people going to work from some of those locations might be very attractive.”
Joe Glavina: “I know you’re advising clients every day on these things. What are clients asking for? What do they want?”
Shara Pledger: “I think really, at the moment, it's clarity. One of the things that we have experienced with our clients that has been a difficulty, particularly since COVID, was that there was almost an informality to the way that a lot of these kind of cross border working arrangements were made, even to the point that sometimes clients wouldn't necessarily be aware that some of their employees were actually in different location, because as soon as lockdown hits, and you're not coming into the office every day, it's difficult to know where people are. So what we are trying to do as an organisation, and this doesn't just include immigration, it covers things like employment law and tax implications, as well, for example, is trying to give our clients a framework to work within. So we can identify the jurisdictions of most interest to them and get them full information that they would need. So they have a better understanding about what's permitted in those different locations.”
Joe Glavina: “Any advice for clients watching this, Shara?”
Shara Pledger: “I think, to be honest, it's just kind of watch this space. As I say, the UK is a bit behind the curve in the sense that we're not really waking up to this as an idea of, of how the future world of work will look and it's absolutely the case that we expect to see some changes in the immigration rules, and perhaps even some flexibility about these options and we know that there are certain sectors in the UK that are struggling and sectors that the government is well aware that it needs to try to support so things like the digital and technology sectors, for example, and they tend to go hand in hand with this idea of this fluid way of working. So certainly I'd recommend that people try and stay up to date keep up with the sort of updates that we're putting out to see whether there are changes on the horizon that might be a bit more positive.”
That report by the City of London Corporation and EY is a significant piece of work – 74 pages long – which sets out very clearly what needs to be done to make progress in this area and what the road ahead might look like. It’s called: ‘Shaping the future of borderless work: Towards a new model for cross-border remote working’. We have put a link to it in the transcript of this programme.
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