Establishing a family office in the UK for an overseas family

Running a UK family office has unique issues, says Irwin Mitchell Private Wealth’s Alex Ruffel

Immigration for staff: If staff need to come from outside the UK to work in the UK family office, there are clear ways to achieve this:

Citizens of the EEA and Switzerland have the right to live and work in the UK without restriction. Some non-EEA citizens may be able to live and work in the UK immediately if they have a general UK visa already, such as a partner/spouse visa. If not, they will need a new work visa. Citizens of certain countries need a prior UK visa even to visit the UK.
Arranging appropriate visas for non-European or non- Swiss family members or other hires that will work in the UK for the family office, or for their accompanying dependants, is a key gateway issue and needs early planning. The UK has various immigration routes, depending on the proposed UK activities to be performed and the length of stay required. Many UK visas are based on a points system, which means there is little or no discretion given to the UK immigration authorities. For staff we would recommend sponsored Tier 2 work visas once the family office has been issued with a sponsor licence.