Starting from January 2024, the United Kingdom’s visitor visas will allow additional business activities, in spite of the fact that digital nomads are still not included.

The UK’s government has published an update to its immigration rules, thus permitting more activities on Visitor Visas, while confirming that the new changes will become effective from January 31, 2024, VisaGuide.World reports.

Among the expanded activities under the Visitor Visa are the following ones:

• People with Visitor Visas will be eligible to work with clients, however there are some conditions they should meet. They can do so if they work in a company with branches in Britain and abroad, the client work consists of a small part of their job abroad and it is needed for a project or service by their employer’s UK branch. However, the project is not delivered directly to a UK client by the visitor’s employer overseas.
• Visitors will be eligible to work from the UK; however, their main reason for heading to this territory should not be remote work.
• Scientists, researchers and academics will be able to do research in the UK, except they are academics applying for a 12-month visit visa or extending permission from within Britain.
• Lawyers are eligible to engage in extra activities in Britain, such as giving advice, acting as an expert witness, participating in arbitrations legal proceedings as well as teaching.
• Speakers in the UK on a visitor visa are now able to get paid for their talks.
• The Permitted Paid Engagement (PPE) Visitor route will be merged into the Standard Visitor route, meaning that those doing paid engagements will not need a separate visa, but they still have to plan the activity within 30 days of arriving.

Some of these changes, especially permitting remote work are expected to attract more business and tourism to the United Kingdom.

Last month the Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt vowed that the UK government will expand the business visitor rules to permit businesspeople “to engage in a wider range of permitted activities and paid engagements, to take effect from January 2024. The government will also explore further reforms to the business visitor rules, during 2024.”

Traveling to the UK as a Standard Visitor can be made for different purposes such as tourism, business, short-term study, among others for up to 6 months, and in special cases, like medical treatment they are eligible to extend their stay.