Is it possible to work in the UK while living in France?

[garymon]

This is a problem I am running into. I would like to know if someone else may know the answer.

Ok, here is my situation.

I live in Paris, and my wife is French, of course. I have my "titre de sejour" and am allowed to work and live here. Now, as I understand it, since I am married to an EU national I have the right to work in any other EU country with a "family permit" if she is with me in that country. So far so good.

Now, here is my problem. I could be offered a job in the UK, but this position is home based, wherever I choose home to be, Paris of course. I would be required to travel to the UK 50% of the time. Would I need a special kind of workpermit in the UK to do this? even though I am actually living in Paris?

Are there any loopholes or ways around this? Not already having rights to work in the UK is lowering my chances drastically.

Thanks, and I hope someone can help.

[vin123]

Hi Garymon

You missed an important point to mention in your post- your current nationality !
If you are a non-EU citizen I don't think this "family visa" that you are holding entitles you to work outside France. Basically, your immigration status is tied-up to the country that issued the family visa. Thats my understanding. Other experts here will correct me if I got it wrong.

If you want to work in the UK, you need to get a workpermit from the employer or the HSMP visa which gives you permission to take employment.

This is a problem I am running into. I would like to know if someone else may know the answer.

Ok, here is my situation.

I live in Paris, and my wife is French, of course. I have my "titre de sejour" and am allowed to work and live here. Now, as I understand it, since I am married to an EU national I have the right to work in any other EU country with a "family permit" if she is with me in that country. So far so good.

Now, here is my problem. I could be offered a job in the UK, but this position is home based, wherever I choose home to be, Paris of course. I would be required to travel to the UK 50% of the time. Would I need a special kind of workpermit in the UK to do this? even though I am actually living in Paris?

Are there any loopholes or ways around this? Not already having rights to work in the UK is lowering my chances drastically.

Thanks, and I hope someone can help.

[JAJ]

This is a problem I am running into. I would like to know if someone else may know the answer.

Ok, here is my situation.

I live in Paris, and my wife is French, of course. I have my "titre de sejour" and am allowed to work and live here. Now, as I understand it, since I am married to an EU national I have the right to work in any other EU country with a "family permit" if she is with me in that country. So far so good.

Now, here is my problem. I could be offered a job in the UK, but this position is home based, wherever I choose home to be, Paris of course. I would be required to travel to the UK 50% of the time. Would I need a special kind of workpermit in the UK to do this? even though I am actually living in Paris?

Are there any loopholes or ways around this? Not already having rights to work in the UK is lowering my chances drastically.

Thanks, and I hope someone can help.

Have you looked into whether you can become a French citizen based on your marriage? Once you have a French passport you can live/work freely in the UK.

Does your home country allow dual citizenship (what is it?)

[garymon]

Sorry everyone, I forgot to mention my nationality. I am american.

I thought about getting french citizenship but, from my knowledge, I would have to forfit my US citizenship, which I do not want to do.

So it dosen't seem there is any other way around this except going for the HSMP or having the company sponsor me with a permit.

Thanks,

[ppron747]

.....I thought about getting french citizenship but, from my knowledge, I would have to forfit my US citizenship, which I do not want to do....

No you wouldn't - the US attitude to dual nationality chenged some years ago. This site is worth a read...

[John]

Garymon, as a US Citizen you are of course not a visa national. Accordingly you do not need a visa to make a business visit to the UK, in accordance with this webpage.

So it might come down to whether you are a business visitor or not. Can you better describe what you are going to do when in the UK?

What I mean is this. If your place of employment is genuinely France, and there is a requirement for you to visit and have meetings with UK colleagues from time to time, then no visa would be required.

Or put it another way, if you were not married to your wife and you were still living in the US, and you got a "work from home" job from a UK company, but were required to visit UK colleagues from time to time, you would not need a visa, would you.

You would get to UK immigration and simply say that you are here on a business visa for a couple of days, or whatever. I don't envisage you would have a problem.

[Dawie]

Here is the official US government's view on dual citizenship:

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_t ... _1753.html

Seems officially they frown on dual citizenship but do not explicitly prohibit it. You can only lose your US citizenship if you acquire the citizenship of another country with the INTENTION to give up US citizenship. This is obviously open to interpretation, but presumably the government would have to prove intent.

[JAJ]

Here is the official US government's view on dual citizenship:

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_t ... _1753.html

Seems officially they frown on dual citizenship but do not explicitly prohibit it. You can only lose your US citizenship if you acquire the citizenship of another country with the INTENTION to give up US citizenship. This is obviously open to interpretation, but presumably the government would have to prove intent.

State Department policy is not to presume intent unless the person with a foreign citizenship explicitly demonstrates this. http://www.richw.org/dualcit/ is probably the best unofficial resource out there.

Lots of Americans take citizenship in other countries without problems, as long as the other country is ok with dual citizenship.

What the U.S. does expect is that a dual American/other citizen deals with U.S authorities solely as an American citizen, eg always use a U.S. passport to enter and leave the U.S., file for U.S. taxes etc.