Immigration Compliance for Globally Mobile Families: A Practical Guide

The globally mobile family presents a complex immigration compliance picture that is frequently underestimated. Consider a family where the primary earner is based in Dubai on a UAE employer visa, a spouse divides time between the UK and the UAE, two children attend school in Switzerland, and investment activity takes place across multiple jurisdictions. Each leg of that arrangement carries its own immigration compliance requirements — and the interactions between them are not straightforward.

This guide is aimed at internationally mobile HNW families and the executives and business owners who operate across multiple countries. It is not a comprehensive immigration law reference but a practical framework for understanding the key compliance obligations, the common pitfalls, and the areas where professional advice is essential.

The Multi-Jurisdiction Family: Starting Point

Before addressing specific routes, the first step for a mobile family is to map the immigration status of each family member across all jurisdictions where they have a legal presence:

• In which countries does each family member hold formal immigration status (visa, residency permit, right of abode, citizenship)?
• In which countries does each family member spend time without formal immigration status, and on what travel document?
• In which countries does any family member work — formally or informally — and is there a work authorisation in place?
• Where are children enrolled in school, and does their presence require a separate student visa or is it covered by a parent's permit?

This mapping exercise often surfaces unexpected gaps. A spouse travelling to the UK on a tourist visa who occasionally attends business meetings alongside the main earner may be operating as a de facto business visitor without the right authorisation. A child enrolled in school in Switzerland on the strength of a parent's residence permit may need their own formalised documentation as they approach adulthood.

Business Visitor vs Employee: The Critical Distinction

One of the most common compliance failures for internationally mobile business people is the blurring of the line between business visitor activity and employment activity.

Business visitors to most countries — including the UK — can: attend meetings, conferences, and training; conduct negotiations; sign contracts. They generally cannot: undertake employment; deliver services to local clients as part of a contract; receive remuneration from a source in the country being visited.

A UAE-based executive who travels to London for client meetings twice a quarter is typically a legitimate business visitor and does not require UK immigration permission beyond a valid passport and — for UAE nationals, since 22 February 2024 — a UK Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA). A UAE-based executive who is seconded to a UK role, delivers ongoing work for a UK client from a UK desk, and whose UK-based activities form a regular component of their employment — that individual needs a work authorisation in the UK.

The distinction is not always obvious, and business visitors who inadvertently cross the line can face serious consequences: refusal of leave at the border, a record of working without authorisation, and potential bars on future UK visa applications.

UK Corporate Secondee Framework

The UK's Short-Term Business Visitor (STBV) provisions allow overseas employers to send overseas employees to the UK for activities that would otherwise require a work permit, under specific conditions:

• The employee is employed by an overseas employer and is not paid by a UK employer
• The UK stay is for permitted activities under the business visitor route (training, internal meetings, internal conferences)
• The employee does not spend more than 183 days in the UK in any 12-month period

A modified STBV arrangement is available for intra-company transfers under the Appendix ICST rules, which allow assignment to the UK for up to three years (extendable to five years for senior employees or high-earners). This requires the employer to hold a sponsor licence.

The key point for multinational family offices and international businesses sending employees to the UK: the employee's immigration compliance is ultimately the employer's responsibility to manage. Employees should not assume their employer has made all the arrangements and should verify their immigration status before travelling to the UK for any work-related activity.

UK Sponsored Skilled Worker Visa

For those genuinely employed in the UK — either as executives joining a UK business or as individuals relocating to a UK-based role — the Skilled Worker Visa (formerly Tier 2 General) is the principal work permit route.

Requirements include:

• A qualifying job offer from a UK employer that holds a Home Office sponsor licence
• The job must be at an eligible occupation code (SOC 2020 system) at the required skill level (raised to RQF Level 6 — graduate level — from 22 July 2025)
• The salary must meet the minimum threshold for the occupation code (from 22 July 2025: generally £41,700 for most occupations, or the going rate for the occupation if higher; there are new entrant and specific occupation exceptions)
• The applicant must have a certificate of sponsorship issued by the employer

The visa is typically granted for up to five years. After five years of continuous UK residence on a qualifying visa, individuals can apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) — permanent settlement.

An important nuance for international families: the Skilled Worker Visa permits the main applicant's partner and children under 18 to join as dependants. Dependants may work in the UK without restriction.

EU Settled Status: The Ongoing Obligation

For EU and EEA nationals who were resident in the UK before 31 December 2020, the EU Settlement Scheme was the mechanism for securing continued UK immigration status after Brexit. The deadline for applications was 30 June 2021 for most people, though late applications are accepted in many circumstances.

Those who received Settled Status (five or more years of continuous UK residence at the time of application) have permanent immigration status in the UK — equivalent to ILR. They can live and work in the UK indefinitely. However, Settled Status can be lost if the individual spends more than five years continuously outside the UK.

Those who received Pre-Settled Status (less than five years of continuous UK residence at the time of application) hold a temporary permission that leads to settled status. Following litigation, the Home Office no longer allows pre-settled status to simply lapse: from 2025 it automatically extends expiring pre-settled status (by five years) and automatically converts eligible holders to Settled Status once it can confirm the qualifying continuous residence, using data held by other government departments such as HMRC. Holders should nonetheless keep their details current and check their digital status, as automatic conversion only happens where eligibility can be verified — those whose continuous residence cannot be confirmed may still need to act to secure settled status.

For internationally mobile EU nationals who moved to the UK before Brexit and have spent periods abroad since — for example, working in a third country for part of the year — the question of whether their UK continuous residence has been broken is critical to upgrade eligibility. Legal advice is essential in ambiguous cases.

UK Family Visa: Financial Requirements

For non-British sponsors bringing a non-British partner or spouse to the UK under the Appendix FM family route, the financial requirements increased substantially from April 2024:

The minimum income threshold was raised from £18,600 per year to £29,000 per year from April 2024. The previously trailed further increases (towards around £38,700) were paused pending a Migration Advisory Committee review, and the threshold remains £29,000 as of 2026. This is the gross annual income of the UK-based sponsor.

In addition to the income requirement, the sponsor must demonstrate:

• Accommodation: adequate housing in the UK, not overcrowded, meeting health and safety standards
• English language: the applicant partner must demonstrate English language ability at A2 level initially (for entry clearance) and B1 level for further leave to remain

For HNW families, the financial threshold is rarely the issue. However, the accommodation requirement can be — the specified property must be of a standard that passes the relevant assessment, and "property anywhere" does not satisfy the requirement if the couple will not genuinely live there.

Swiss Residency for Children at School

Switzerland operates a federal and cantonal immigration system. EU/EEA nationals have free movement rights; non-EU nationals require a permit. A British family whose children attend Swiss boarding school needs to consider whether the children require their own residence permits if the parental principal permit does not cover them, and what happens as children approach adulthood (18 in Swiss law) and transition from dependant to independent status.

Switzerland's Permit B (temporary) and Permit C (permanent) are the key adult permits. Children in school typically hold permits under the parental application. The transition at 18 requires specific planning — particularly for families who wish the child to remain in Switzerland for university.

The Annual Immigration Audit

For families operating across multiple jurisdictions, an annual immigration compliance review is best practice. The review should cover:

• Every family member's current immigration status in every jurisdiction where they are physically present for more than a short holiday
• The expiry dates of all visas and permits across all family members
• Whether any family member's work, study, or living arrangements have changed in ways that require a new or updated visa category
• Whether any visa conditions are being inadvertently breached by travel patterns or business activities
• Whether any children are approaching ages that trigger changes in immigration status

The cost of this review — typically modest — is trivially small compared to the cost of an immigration enforcement action, a refusal of leave at a border, or the loss of a visa due to an unrealised breach.

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This guide provides a general overview of immigration compliance issues for internationally mobile families. Immigration law is highly jurisdiction-specific, changes frequently, and depends on individual circumstances. Nothing here constitutes immigration advice. All specific decisions should be made in conjunction with licensed immigration lawyers in each relevant jurisdiction.

How Global Investments Can Help

Global Investments supports internationally mobile families in mapping their immigration footprint and identifying compliance risks before they become enforcement issues. We coordinate with specialist immigration lawyers across the UK, Switzerland, UAE, and other key jurisdictions to ensure that work permits, family visas, and residency arrangements are properly maintained across the family group. Contact our team for a confidential review.