How to Move Your Expat Business to the UK
If you’ve got a successful business, but feel like you will experience better growth by moving it to the UK, you shouldn’t hesitate to make the decision to move it there. The UK is a hub for many major industries, such as financial services, technology, creative industries and life sciences. This makes moving your business to the UK if it falls under any of these a very profitable opportunity for you.
Making the move requires a specific approach that involves building up your knowledge about specific immigration routes and company registration laws. You’ll go from a local business to an expat business, as you explore ways to blend into your new community and generate a new audience base. You will need to create a new UK legal entity or a subsidiary tied to your existing foreign company.
We will explore all of the specific details of moving your expat business to the UK within this article, so continue reading to learn more about your potential business growth.
Read: How Family-Owned Local Businesses Are Quietly Outperforming Corporate Chains Online
Moving Your Expat Business to the UK
Choose Your Business Structure
You actually don’t need to live in the UK to move your company there (although it does help). Instead, you can register a physical branch or set up a new UK Private Limited Company. Going down one of the two common routes will give you the most success on your business move. These two routes are:
- UK Establishment: This route is the best if you’re looking to expand your existing overseas business. You need to register as an overseas company with Companies House within one month of opening for business.
- New Limited Company: If you want a fresh start, this is the route for you. You’ll need a registered UK office address with one director and founding documents.
Apply for a Visa
If you plan to relocate and operate the business on-site in the UK, you will need the appropriate visa. You can get an innovator founder visa if you’re starting an entirely new small business that is considered to be innovative and scalable. This needs to be endorsed from an authoritsed UK body to make you a legitimate business.
You can get a UK Expansion Worker Visa as part of the Global Business Mobility route. This allows established overseas companies to send senior managers or specialist employees to the UK to establish a branch. Your business will need to apply for a sponsor licence first to achieve this.
Open a UK Business Bank Account
When you’re moving your business from overseas, setting up a bank account for your new country is essential. You can set up a UK business account should be done, but this can be challenging due to strict ‘Know Your Customer’ compliance laws. T
To make this easier for you, consider using digital business banks and financial platforms that are designed to handle international transfers. With this, you can streamline your finances and improve how you transfer money.
Register for UK Taxes
Every business operating in the UK must be registered with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to be a legal company. You must register your company with HMRC for Corporation Tax within 3 months of starting to do business. For VAT, if your UK taxable turnover exceeds the mandated threshold, you must register for it. When companies don’t do this, they aren’t legally able to run in the UK.
If you plan to hire employees or pay yourself a UK salary, you must register for Pay As You Earn (PAYE). Even if you are the only employee or a sole company director, you must register if you plan to pay yourself a salary that exceeds the earnings threshold.
Compliance and Insurance
Staying compliant with all the legal requirements is essential if you’re going to run a successful business that avoids getting into any trouble. If you hire staff, Employer’s Liability Insurance is legally mandatory in the UK. This covers compensation and legal fees if a current or former employee becomes ill or is injured as a result of their work. Failure to hold it can result in a few thousand pounds worth of daily fines.
You should also implement workplace pension to enroll eligible employees into a workplace pension scheme. You must legally notify your employees in writing within 6 weeks of their enrolment date to explain how the scheme works.
Final Thoughts
Relocating your expat business to the UK can only be successful if you integrate well into British culture, helping you to improve your local networking. Even though being regulatory compliant is essential and can help you to apply for indefinite leave to remain in the future. If you want to become an actual success, you need to understand British consumer behaviour and build strong relationships. After you’ve made the move and have all the legalities sorted, it’s then time to create a strategy that helps you to resonate with your new market so you can adjust your company to match it.
