Could you become a contractor in the UK?
When you become a contractor you are very different from being employed. There are more risks, but there are also a great many advantages. You become a contractor if you do work for company over a fixed period of time. Usually to help the company complete a certain project.
 You are selling your skills and talents for an agreed price, either hourly or a for a total price when the job is done. (stage payments can be agreed). Companies rely on contractors when they need you to work more flexible hours than their normal employed staff. Contractors are also easier to hire and fire without any trade union or other employment law repercussions.
UK contractors may have skills that the permanent staff do not have and training time and expenses are saved. You will earn more as a contractor than if you were employed because the company does not have to pay you sick pay nor holiday pay. The company can save money this way since having to pay out sick pay and holiday pay are more than you are being paid, and there is less chance that you will go off sick, so the job gets done faster. Being your own boss when under contract can be very enjoyable, you feel more free to live your life, without the 9 to 5 routine. You can usually decide when to have your holiday, you could even have 6 weeks off at a time, providing it is between contracts. You get the opportunity to work in different places, making your CV look good. You also pay less income tax since you can claim more on expenses.
Contractors have less security and are not protected in the same way as employees and ther is more uncertainty as there are no guarantees of another contract when your current contract ends.
You will also have to spend more time on the paper work, since you are running your own business. Receipts and expenses, book keeping and income tax forms to complete all have to be carried out in your own time.
The next step
Check out this UK contract website
If contracting is still attractive to you, and you believe you can cope with the disadvantages, the next step is to do some research. Don't give up your job (or spend money setting up a company or talking to an accountant!) until you are sure that there is a market for your skills as a Contractor. At the very least you will need to talk to the specialist contract agencies in your industry to see what kind of contracts might be available, whether you are suitable for them, and how much you could earn.
| Contracting in the UK reports
Over 30,000 UK IT work permits have been granted to foreign computer experts within the last year-and-a-half.
More than 80 per cent of the 30,090 permits approved in a year went to Indian computer experts, flocking to British shores as software engineers, system analysts and 'other IT related' occupants.
The grand total of 24,764 Indian nationals arriving in the UK towers over the second highest number of entrants, who originated from the United States.
Just over 1,700 American IT managers, engineers and techies snapped up work permits within the same year-and-a-half period.
IT entrants from other non-EU countries obtained comparatively few work permits in the Home Office league table, with Australian, South African, Canadian and Japanese specialists assuming third, fourth, fifth and sixth places respectively.
Work permit employment (full immigration rules)
The citizens from the following countries do not need a work permit to work in the UK.
Nationals of EEA (European Economic Area) countries
The EEA comprises the 25 EU member states - Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic*, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia*, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary*, Ireland, Italy, Latvia*, Lithuania*, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland*, Portugal, Slovakia*, Slovenia*, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and also Norway, Liechtenstein, and Iceland.
NB Nationals of those countries with a (*) above must apply for a registration certificate under the Worker Registration Scheme within one month of commencing a new job in the UK.
Entering the UK
Upon arrival at a UK port-of-entry you will need to show your passport or identity card and go through the EU/EEA queue if arriving at a British port or airport. You may travel to the UK with your immediate family (spouse, children, dependent relatives if you are not on student status, and non-EU unmarried partners if they meet immigration regulations).
 If any of your family is not an EU/EEA national, then they must apply for an EEA family permit at the British Embassy in their home country before travelling to the UK.
Free UK Job Database
| Obtaining a work permit
Work Permit applications are dealt with by the Home Office Border and Immigration Agency. They can in many cases deal with work permits in one or two weeks. It will take longer to obtain a work permit if you need to advertise the vacancy and have not yet met the advertising requirements for the work permit application. If the job is in a shortage occupation, for example in the healthcare sector or in teaching, then you can apply for the work permit without advertising the vacancy.
If your company is not yet established in the UK, you may be unable to apply for work permits for your employees and should consider the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme. However, if you have started to trade in the UK, you can probably obtain a work permit if:
The position is suitably senior.
You have been unable to find anyone locally, or have no realistic prospect of finding someone.
The candidate is suitably experienced.
You are deemed to be the 'Ultimate Employer.'
The question of who is the 'Ultimate Employer' becomes relevant only for service companies, such as Software Houses, who are carrying out work on client projects. If you fall into this category, please contact us for a detailed discussion of your situation.
If the candidate has not been working for one of your related overseas entities, you will usually have to advertise the position in the EEA before making an application to fill it with an Overseas national. For particularly senior positions, and those with shortage skills, the advertising requirement may be waived. The advice below is therefore broken into two sections:
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