dianema

Hello,

I am a British citizen (binational, also French) working for a French company in France. My partner is planning to apply for a spouse visa so that we can move to the UK.
I want to keep working remotely for my French company once we are settled in the UK.

The official financial requirements are not very clear about this situation: it states that I should have a job offer in the UK starting 3 months max after our arrival. But I see on various forums/articles that it's because it implies that the sponsor will quit his/her current job when moving to the UK.
Do you know if remote work for foreign company could meet this requirement, as I would continue to have a monthly salary above the required threshold?

Thank you for your help!

SanDiegogirl

It is expected that moving back to the UK and sponsoring a spouse would entail a job in the UK. More importantly paying tax in the UK as you would be a tax resident.
Does your company have a presence in the UK? Would you be paid in the UK?
While remote working (country to country) is getting more common, many people have to become self employed, billing out their services to their remote company; or self assessment tax returns.
HMRC is going to want their taxes.

Pulaski

So the issue for Dianma is that unless the sponsor can transfer to a UK payroll (which will amount to an offer from a UK employer), they will have to become a self-employed contractor, and qualify based on filed tax returns.

So it's doable, but would require traveling ahead and establishing enough of an income history to meet the financial requirements to qualify as a sponsor. This also assumes that the employer is willing to allow their employee to become a self-employed contractor.

SanDiegogirl

In the application the sponsor has to specify his ongoing income.
Stating that your ongoing income is from a foreign company, being paid in a foreign country and that taxes are going to be paid to the foreign country is not going to pass the criteria of living and working in the UK...

Pulaski

But if already paid above the threshhold outside the UK, and transferring to your employer's UK payroll (at at least the threshhold pay level), the UK income could potentially meet the "job offer starting within 90 days" requirement.

SanDiegogirl

Oh sure, no problem is moving to UK and transferring to employer's UK payroll. I got the impression the OP was not doing this though .....maybe he'll come back and explain more fully.

Pulaski

I got that impression too, but wanted to mention the UK payroll idea in case it is a possibility.

DernierVirage

Irrespective of payroll arrangements, the OP will surely be taxable in the UK on his/her French earnings anyway......

BritInParis

The OP should clarify whether their employer has a UK entity through which they could be payrolled (and thus have the move treated as a transfer) otherwise they would be treated as self employed for UK purposes which is frankly a complete pain for spouse visa applications and best avoided.

SanDiegogirl

Yes he would - if declared in the UK.
Until the OP comes back we don't know how he intends to get paid/pay taxes on this 'remote working'

Reporting foreign income

If you need to pay tax, you usually report your foreign income in a Self Assessment tax return.

Pulaski

The significance of payroll is that whatever software is used by a French company is almost certainly, as near certain as makes no difference, not going to be able to calculate and deduct UK income tax and NI.

So irrespective of what the employee wants, ultimately the only realistic options are either [1] making the employee a self-employed independent contractor, who takes care of their own taxes and NI, or [2] putting the transferee on a UK payroll, which realistically is only going to happen if the employer already has a UK subsidiary (or parent) that is running a payroll for other UK employees. It is extremely unlikely that any employer would want to fund the costs of setting up and running a payroll in a foreign country for a single employee. It just ain't gonna happen!

SanDiegogirl

When we get questions regarding being a remote worker, I always think that the person asking the question is thinking they can just up and live in a new country, set up their computer and network and carry on working as though in their home country; and all without changing how and where they get paid.
i.e their home country employer continues to pay their wages, and deduct taxes/social security payments and pay the net amount into the worker's bank account in their home country, and the remote worker then transfers monies as needed to their new country.
Sometimes I think they don't even consider they might need a work visa to do such work.

Pulaski

I have no doubt that you are correct in most instances. The creation by a few countries of "digital nomad" visas/ status, not to mention an explosion in the number of 100% on-line workers, has greatly increased the volume of such questions.

And the question reflects an ignorance of tax laws that also shows up in questions here on BE fairly frequently, when people assume that as long as they're pay tax somewhere, that's all that matters. A common example being people not realizing that they need to pay tax on their pension where they live, and that paying tax in the UK when they now live somewhere else, is neither necessary (in most cases) , nor does in insulate them from penalties for not paying sufficient income tax in the country where they now live.

SanDiegogirl

An interesting website regarding the countries who offer Digital Nomad visas:
https://www.investopedia.com/countri...nt%20residence.

Some visas are very expensive, and some countries mandate quite a few requirements in order to get one.

dianema

Thanks a lot, all your responses were very helpful! I kind of missed indeed the tax issues
My company does not have a UK entity, and switching to self-employment seems overly complicated like some of you mentioned.
I've decided to quit my job in a few months and look for a job in the UK, that will get me a job offer & simplify the overall process.