Is this permitted on a UK tourist visa?

tomp2494

A Filipino friend of mine is coming to the UK in early February and intends to spend 31 days here. 
Can they work remotely on a tourist visa.?  They will be doing tourism stuff too, visiting attractions, exploring different towns etc. They work for a Filipino company and can prove this with aa letter of employment and payslips. This will save them from using up all their A/L credits. They will be staying in hostels/air b and bs, etc. 
They have already visited for a ten day holiday in December, this was all booked as A/L, so no working. 

sheramber

https://www.gov.uk/standard-visitor/visit-on-business

tomp2494

Thanks for this, but she's not here on business.  

Alter_ego

tomp2494 said:

Thanks for this, but she's not here on business.  

How would you describe working for a foreign company while in UK?

daveyjp

tomp2494 said:

Thanks for this, but she's not here on business.  

If she's working she is here on business.

tomp2494

Her main point of coming here is tourism, but she will have to do some work on her laptop for a Filipino company. It has nothing to do with the UK.
I wouldn't call that a business trip. 

tomp2494

Alter_ego said:

tomp2494 said:

Thanks for this, but she's not here on business.  

How would you describe working for a foreign company while in UK?

Of the majority of time is spent doing tourism related activities, it's not business 

sheramber

Will she be doing mainly tourist things?

 Her work is related to the tourist industry but viewing sites for her employer is not being s tourist.

MalMonroe

Hi, your friend will need to apply for a Standard Visa before she comes to the UK.

https://www.gov.uk/standard-visitor

Apparently rules have recently changed and these visas are necessary for many people coming for a holiday, including those from the Philippines.

In the link above, scroll down to 'check if you need a visa', etc, and then it takes you to some questions and if you complete them as if you were your friend, the result is that you (she) will need a Standard Visa. 

It seems that your friend will be allowed to work remotely for her employer while she's here but if she wants to visit, she will have to apply for the Standard Visa.

Hope that's helpful. 

tightauldgit

tomp2494 said:

Her main point of coming here is tourism, but she will have to do some work on her laptop for a Filipino company. It has nothing to do with the UK.
I wouldn't call that a business trip. 

Provided she is simply doing work on her laptop for her employer at home and this has nothing to do with her trip to the UK then I don't see how it would be classed as business/working in the UK. There's also the obvious point of how the hell anyone would know what she is doing if she is answering emails or writing reports on her personal laptop in her AirBNB.

If she was coming here to say visit tourist sites and then write reports on them for her employer that would be a business trip though.   

tomp2494

tightauldgit said:

tomp2494 said:

Her main point of coming here is tourism, but she will have to do some work on her laptop for a Filipino company. It has nothing to do with the UK.
I wouldn't call that a business trip. 

Provided she is simply doing work on her laptop for her employer at home and this has nothing to do with her trip to the UK then I don't see how it would be classed as business/working in the UK. There's also the obvious point of how the hell anyone would know what she is doing if she is answering emails or writing reports on her personal laptop in her AirBNB.

If she was coming here to say visit tourist sites and then write reports on them for her employer that would be a business trip though.   

Thank you. 

I have found the official guidance which says 

"‘Where the applicant indicates that they intend to spend a large proportion of their time in the UK and will be doing some remote working, you should ensure that they are genuinely employed overseas and are not seeking to work in the UK’."

Her work is in procurement for a pharmaceutical company, nothing to do with the UK