IRL, Skilled Worker - Remote Work (Abroad)

[Shoya]

Hiya,

If anyone can shed any light on this, that'd be appreciated!!!! I'm panicking...

I tried to read every possible guidance about the allowed absence from the UK. The guidance I used so far:
- Immigration Rules Appendix Continuous Residence
- Continuous residence guidance
- Skilled Worker Appendix (section 'Settlement as a Skilled Worker')

I couldn't find anything that wouldn't allow you to work remotely a bit from abroad. I understand you can't have a fully remote job that can be done outside of the UK as UKVI would question the need for you being in the country and getting a visa. However, I was wondering whether working remotely from abroad for less than a month in any 12 months or tax year (whichever is in the favour of UKVI/HRMC and the foreign country) could cause any potential issues of breaking the continuous residency? In the guidelines, this isn't mentioned. This for example would include a maximum of 10 days working remotely from abroad in one round (most of the time less), so it'd add up to 30 days maximum in 12 months in my case. My job isn't a type of work that would require me to work abroad (e.g. research), so this will be counted towards the 180-day time limit in any 12-month period which I did not exceed. Usually, it was 10 days of remote work and 10 days of annual leave, combined with bank holidays when possible. It was authorised by my managers and they're happy to confirm this in writing.

In the sponsor guidance 3 (C1.19., C1.20. and C1.21.), it's a bit blurry but it sounds like (unless I totally misunderstood it) that UKVI would question remote work if it's entirely remote rather than on a short-term basis. I also saw on forums that people's applications for IRL got approved even if they worked a bit remotely, and some suggested it should be less than 60 days per year. I didn't see any guidance about this but presumably, the 60 days is regarding tax complications.
Sponsor guidelines: https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... accessible

Does anyone have any certainty about this? Would this cause refusal of my IRL application or questioning by UKVI? I also heard that if I don't have a USA nationality, this could be an issue but again I didn't see anything that would indicate that it depends on the nationality? Many thanks

[Frontier Mole]

It is not going to be an issue as long as the work you are performing is being directed by your sponsor and the work is required to be performed overseas.

If you are talking about anything else, like you like the idea of working remotely overseas, then you are entering an entirely different area. Generally it is unlikely to be an issue if as an example you are extending annual leave by a couple of days.
As you have pointed out, if your role can be entirely performed from outside the U.K. then you are looking at non-genuine vacancy etc.

[Shoya]

Hiya,
Thank you for your reply.
It's not a remote role as it requires me to be in the office a lot, so I work 5 days in the office and only do remote work when I visit my family to kind of extend my stay there. My managers are happy to confirm this too in the letter with highlighting examples of why I'm required to be in the office. Would this still be an issue?

[Frontier Mole]

It is really not going to be a problem. I would not highlight it by getting into documentation as that brings attention to something that is not relevant.

[Shoya]

Hiya,
Thank you so much for your help, I really appreciate it.
We won't highlight examples then but only add that I'm 5 days in the office besides my remote work abroad when I visit my family.
Sorry for one more question - does the exact dates of annual leave and remote work from abroad need to be added to the letter or should it just say something like 'all are in alignment' and then I can explicitly share the dates in my cover letter? Many, many thanks!

[Frontier Mole]

There is no need to explain such short periods nor the fact there is minimal working remotely as you have set out.
If you mention any overseas remote working it will bring questions where there is no need.

[Frontier Mole]

There is no need to disclose annual leave dates or periods outside the country for whatever reason UNLESS you have exceeded the total number of days that would prevent you from obtaining ILR.
Please don’t overthink this.

[Shoya]

Hiya,

Thank you so much, once again, for your kind help and time! I'm way below it, the maximum I have ever had in any 12-month period is 80 days which is within the 180-day time limit. Thank you, I greatly appreciate it. You're a star!