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member states have their own sovereignty when it comes to those kinds of decisions , and quite rightly , and so that is a piece of work that will be ongoing for more time to come ,” he says . |
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However , a visa will be required if a person transfers from the UK branch of a company to a branch in a different country , even for a short period of time , and is also required if carrying out contracts to provide a service to a client in another country in which the employer has no presence .
But confusion reigns . The Government website says : “ As a business visitor you cannot do paid or unpaid work for a UK company or as a self-employed person . You cannot do a work placement or internship or sell directly to the public or provide goods and services .”
Collett says that each individual member state has a different perspective over whether the activity one is doing necessitates a working visa . “ What that means in real terms is we ’ ve had to seek a huge amount of legal advice from advisors ,” he says . “ What we must do for each country is go through everything on a role-by-role basis , explaining what each role is and
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Tim Collett
what kind of activities they ’ ll be doing . We then analyse whether that activity carried out by that person necessitates a working visa .
“ You can imagine the number of roles that we will take on-site , multiplied by the number of countries in the EU , equates to thousands of roles and permutations .”
Collett suggests there ’ s no clear answer across the EU . “ The EU
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“ Over the past two years , we ’ ve seen a lot of change and turbulence within the agency landscape . Agencies like ourselves have been transformed into virtual event companies .” – Tim Collett |
Events : export success story According to the UK Events Report 2020 , which is accepted by the Department for Digital , Culture , Media and Sport , the UK exports £ 2bn of business event services annually , and Collett firmly believes that the UK is world-leading in its creative services , which includes events and experiences as part of its offering .
“ We ’ re renowned around the world for being not just creatively led , but also excel operationally in delivery , and being real experts around the world ,” he says . “ So often you ’ ll see UK agencies operating in far flung places . As an agency we always used to say 80 % of our work is international .
“ If we ’ re talking about where the UK fares in the global creative , experience and events industry , then it ’ s important to remember it is a huge exporter . We need to be sure that we can still be that driving force for UK PLC exports .”
Despite the administrative challenges , Collett says the UK ’ s reputation as an events powerhouse has mitigated the Brexit impact to a point . “ We are highly regarded around the world , and I think we continue to be so ,” he says . “ For me , it is one of the mitigating factors when it comes to Brexit . If we weren ’ t quite so highly regarded around the world , I think we ’ d be suffering a lot more as an industry .”
With that in mind , Collett suggests the Government would be wise not to ignore the value of its own events industry , and to ensure it continues to be a world-leader and calls on more guidance and targeted support . The industry , he says , must be cherished .
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