tmcmatchUK business visitor visa: what visitors may do, what it costs, and who can pay
There is no separate “business visa” for short trips to the UK. A person coming for meetings, negotiations, site visits or a conference comes as a Standard Visitor, and what they may do is set line by line in the Immigration Rules. Depending on nationality they need a visa (£135), an electronic travel authorisation (£20) or neither. This page puts 16 common business activities against the paragraph that decides each, and quotes the rule on who may pay for the trip.
Key points
- Business visitors come as Standard Visitors, usually for up to 6 months per visit.
- Meetings, contracts, site visits, conferences: allowed (PA 4). Doing the work of a UK role: not allowed (V 4.5).
- The UK host may pay travel and subsistence — the first exception in V 4.6. It may not pay the visitor for the work.
- Visa £135, ETA £20. Which one depends on nationality; some visitors need neither.
- Of the 16 activities below, 13 are allowed, most of them with a condition that is easy to miss.
What a business visitor may do: 16 activities, rule by rule
| Activity | Rule | Allowed? | What the rule says |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attend meetings, conferences, seminars or interviews | PA 4(a) | Yes | “attend meetings, conferences, seminars, interviews” |
| Give a talk or a short series of talks | PA 4(b) | Yes, with a condition | “give a one-off or short series of talks and speeches provided these are not organised as commercial events and will not make a profit for the organiser” |
| Negotiate and sign a contract | PA 4(c) | Yes | “negotiate and sign deals and contracts” |
| Staff a stand at a trade fair | PA 4(d) | Yes, with a condition | “attend trade fairs, for promotional work only, provided the Visitor is not directly selling” |
| Visit a site or carry out an inspection | PA 4(e) | Yes | “carry out site visits and inspections” |
| Be briefed by a UK customer | PA 4(g) | Yes, with a condition | “be briefed on the requirements of a UK based customer, provided any work for the customer is done outside of the UK” |
| Keep doing the overseas job remotely while here | PA 4(h) | Yes, with a condition | “undertake activities relating to their employment overseas remotely from within the UK, providing this is not the primary purpose of their visit” |
| Advise, troubleshoot or train colleagues in the same group | PA 5.1 | Yes, with a condition | “on a specific internal project with UK employees of the same corporate group” |
| Audit a UK branch of the same group | PA 6 | Yes | “An internal auditor may carry out regulatory or financial audits at a UK branch of the same group of companies as the Visitor’s employer overseas” |
| Install or repair equipment your company supplied | PA 7 | Yes, with a condition | “where there is a contract of purchase, supply or lease with a UK company or organisation” |
| Receive training in the UK | PA 10.2 | Yes, with a condition | “in work practices and techniques which are required for the Visitor’s employment overseas and not available in their home country” |
| Be paid a fee for speaking or an event | PA 19 | Yes, with a condition | “permitted paid engagements … completed within 30 days of the Visitor’s entry to the UK” |
| Have the UK host pay flights, hotel and meals | V 4.6(a) | Yes | “reasonable expenses to cover the cost of their travel and subsistence, including fees for directors attending board-level meetings” |
| Be paid a salary or fee by the UK company | V 4.6 | No, except the listed cases | “The Visitor must not receive payment from a UK source for any activities undertaken in the UK” |
| Fill a vacancy or cover for someone on leave | V 4.5 | No | “doing work which amounts to them filling a role or providing short-term cover for a role within a UK based organisation” |
| Sell directly to the public or provide services to UK clients | V 4.4(a) | No | “direct selling to the public” … “providing goods and services, unless expressly allowed by the permitted activities in Appendix Visitor: Permitted Activities” |
The pattern across the table is consistent. A visitor may do things for their overseas employer while in the UK — meet, negotiate, inspect, learn, be briefed. They may not do work in the UK that a UK organisation would otherwise have someone do.
The general business activities, in full
PA 4 is the paragraph most business trips rely on. It reads, in full:
A Visitor may: (a) attend meetings, conferences, seminars, interviews; and (b) give a one-off or short series of talks and speeches provided these are not organised as commercial events and will not make a profit for the organiser; and (c) negotiate and sign deals and contracts; and (d) attend trade fairs, for promotional work only, provided the Visitor is not directly selling; and (e) carry out site visits and inspections; and (f) gather information for their employment overseas; and (g) be briefed on the requirements of a UK based customer, provided any work for the customer is done outside of the UK; and (h) undertake activities relating to their employment overseas remotely from within the UK, providing this is not the primary purpose of their visit.Read it on legislation.gov.uk
Three of those carry conditions that trip people up:
- Talks (b) must not be organised as commercial events and must not make a profit for the organiser. A paid keynote is a different route — the permitted paid engagement.
- Trade fairs (d) are for promotional work only. Taking orders from the public at the stand is direct selling.
- Briefings (g) are allowed provided the work for the customer is done outside the UK. Doing the work here is a different matter.
What a business visitor may not do
The prohibitions are in Appendix V. The core one:
The Visitor must not intend to: (a) work in the UK, which includes: (i) taking employment in the UK; and (ii) doing work for an organisation or business in the UK; and (iii) establishing or running a business as a self-employed person; and (iv) doing a work placement or internship; and (v) direct selling to the public; and (vi) providing goods and services, unless expressly allowed by the permitted activities in Appendix Visitor: Permitted Activities or Appendix Visitor: Permit Free Festival List; …Read it on legislation.gov.uk
And the one that decides most borderline cases inside a group of companies:
Permitted activities must not amount to the Visitor undertaking employment, or doing work which amounts to them filling a role or providing short-term cover for a role within a UK based organisation and where the Visitor is already paid and employed outside of the UK they must remain so.Read it on legislation.gov.uk
In other words, a visitor from an overseas subsidiary can come to train UK colleagues on an internal project (PA 5.1), but cannot come to run the UK finance team for a month while the UK manager is on leave. The first is a permitted intra-corporate activity; the second is filling a role.
Who can pay for the trip
This is the part that matters to whoever books the flights and the hotel. The rule starts with a prohibition and then lists exceptions:
The Visitor must not receive payment from a UK source for any activities undertaken in the UK, except for the following: (a) reasonable expenses to cover the cost of their travel and subsistence, including fees for directors attending board-level meetings; or (b) international drivers or Seafarers undertaking activities permitted under PA 9.2 to PA 9.4; or (c) prize money; or (d) billing a UK client for their time in the UK, where the Visitor’s overseas employer is contracted to provide services to a UK company, and the majority of the contract work is carried out overseas (payment must be lower than the amount of the Visitor’s salary); or (e) multi-national companies who, for administrative reasons, handle payment of their employees’ salaries from the UK; or (f) paid performances at a permit free festival as listed in Appendix Visitor: Permit Free Festival List, where the Visitor is an artist, entertainer or musician; or (g) the permitted paid engagements listed in V 13.3, providing the requirements in V 13.1 and V 13.2 are met.Read it on legislation.gov.uk
So a UK company inviting a supplier, a customer or a colleague from abroad may book and pay for their travel and hotel, and cover subsistence, within “reasonable expenses”. What it may not do is pay them for the work they do while here, outside the listed exceptions.
A separate paragraph deals with a third party supporting the visit financially — for example a UK host covering accommodation when the application relies on it:
In assessing whether an applicant has sufficient funds under V 4.2.(e), the applicant’s travel, maintenance and accommodation may be provided by a third party only if that third party: (a) has a genuine professional or personal relationship with the applicant; and (b) is not, or will not be, in breach of immigration laws at the time of the decision or the applicant’s entry to the UK as a Visitor; and (c) can and will provide support to the applicant for the intended duration of the applicant’s stay as a Visitor.Read it on legislation.gov.uk
Visa, ETA or neither — and what each costs
What document a business visitor needs depends on nationality, not on the purpose of the trip. GOV.UK sets out three outcomes: apply for a Standard Visitor visa before travelling; apply for an electronic travel authorisation; or travel with neither. The GOV.UK checker gives the answer for a given nationality.
| Visa | Fee | Maximum stay |
|---|---|---|
| Standard Visitor visa | £135 | 6 months |
| Standard Visitor visa for medical reasons | £234 | 11 months |
| Standard Visitor visa for academics | £234 | 12 months |
| 2 year long-term Standard Visitor visa | £506 | 6 months per visit |
| 5 year long-term Standard Visitor visa | £903 | 6 months per visit |
| 10 year long-term Standard Visitor visa | £1,128 | 6 months per visit |
For a person who visits several times a year, the long-term visa is a cost decision as much as a convenience: the 2-year visa costs £506 against £135 for a single one, and each visit is still limited to 6 months.
The ETA
- Cost: £20, stated on both GOV.UK’s overview and application pages.
- Timing: “You’ll usually get a decision by email within a day, but it can take up to 3 working days.”
- Validity: “An ETA lasts for 2 years or until your passport expires, whichever is sooner.”
- It is not a guarantee: “An ETA does not guarantee entry to the UK, Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man.”
- Business trips are covered: GOV.UK lists coming to the UK “on a business trip” among the things an ETA allows, for up to 6 months.
GOV.UK also warns that other websites may charge more to apply and to avoid websites that imitate government services. A travel supplier that handles ETAs for inbound visitors should be applying through the official service and charging its own fee separately and visibly.
Six months, and the frequent-visitor test
GOV.UK: “You can usually stay in the UK for up to 6 months.” The limit is per visit, but the rules also look at the pattern. Among the genuine-visitor requirements in V 4.2, the visitor:
will not live in the UK for extended periods through frequent or successive visits, or make the UK their main homeRead it on legislation.gov.uk
A colleague who spends a week a month at the UK office for a year is doing what the rules contemplate. One who spends five months, leaves for a fortnight and returns is likely to be asked questions. There is no published day-count threshold in the rules, and we do not suggest one.
We are paid a fixed fee per enquiry, agreed in advance, identical whichever supplier receives it. Inbound business visitors are here because a UK company that invites them usually books and pays for their travel, and the rule on who may pay is specific.
Bringing people to the UK regularly?
Describe the requirement once. It goes to no more than three suppliers, once each.
What the host company can put in place
- Write the purpose down before booking. Match it to the PA paragraph. If it does not match one, it is not a visitor trip.
- Pay expenses, not fees. Travel, hotel and subsistence are within V 4.6(a). A day rate for the visitor’s time is not, outside the listed exceptions.
- Watch the intra-group line. Training and troubleshooting on an internal project is PA 5.1. Covering a vacancy is V 4.5.
- Track repeat visitors. The frequent-visits test is about a pattern, so someone has to see all the trips together.
- Treat third-party ETA sites with caution, as GOV.UK does.
Outbound trips have their own limit: UK travellers to Europe are counted under the Schengen 90/180 rule. The tax side of paying a visitor’s expenses, and the employer’s wider obligations to people it sends travelling, are on travel expenses and tax and duty of care.
This page explains how the Immigration Rules and GOV.UK guidance are written, as read on 2026-09-23. The rules change often and it is not immigration advice. Entry decisions are made by Border Force and UK Visas and Immigration.
Common questions
Do I need a visa for a business trip to the UK?
It depends on nationality. GOV.UK says a visitor will either need a Standard Visitor visa, need an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), or need neither. An ETA costs £20. Whatever the document, the trip must be for permitted activities, and the visitor may be asked about them at the border.
What can you do on a UK business visitor visa?
The permitted business activities are in Appendix Visitor: Permitted Activities. The general ones in PA 4 are attending meetings, conferences, seminars and interviews; giving non-commercial talks; negotiating and signing deals and contracts; promotional work at trade fairs without direct selling; site visits and inspections; gathering information for the overseas job; being briefed by a UK customer; and doing the overseas job remotely, as long as that is not the main purpose.
How much is a UK business visitor visa?
A Standard Visitor visa costs £135 for up to 6 months. Long-term visas cost £506 for 2 years, £903 for 5 years and £1,128 for 10 years, with a maximum of 6 months per visit. Nationals who need an ETA instead pay £20.
Can a UK company pay for a business visitor’s flights and hotel?
Yes. Appendix V bars payment from a UK source for activities in the UK, but the first exception is “reasonable expenses to cover the cost of their travel and subsistence, including fees for directors attending board-level meetings”.
Can a business visitor be paid by the UK company?
Not for the activities they do in the UK, except in the listed cases: reasonable travel and subsistence expenses, prize money, a multinational paying salaries from the UK for administrative reasons, billing a UK client where most contract work is overseas, and permitted paid engagements.
How long can a business visitor stay in the UK?
Usually up to 6 months per visit. The rules also require a genuine visitor who will not live in the UK for extended periods through frequent or successive visits.
What is a permitted paid engagement?
A paid activity a visitor may do in the UK — such as a lecture or a performance in their field — under PA 19, provided it is completed within 30 days of entry and the extra requirements in Appendix V are met.
How long does an ETA take?
GOV.UK: “You’ll usually get a decision by email within a day, but it can take up to 3 working days.” It lasts 2 years or until the passport expires, whichever is sooner.
Sources cited on this page
- Immigration Rules — Appendix Visitor: Permitted Activities
- Immigration Rules — Appendix V: Visitor
- GOV.UK — Standard Visitor: visit on business
- GOV.UK — Standard Visitor visa: overview
- GOV.UK — Apply for a Standard Visitor visa (fees)
- GOV.UK — Electronic travel authorisation (ETA)
Every figure above was read from the source it is attributed to on 20 September 2026. How we check this.
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