What is overseas working?
Overseas working is when an employee carries out their University role from outside the UK for any period of time. This includes business driven activities such as secondments, fieldwork, sabbaticals, conferences, research, and, only in exceptional cases, overseas working for personal reasons.
It also includes employees who work internationally as part of funded research or University‑led projects, as well as situations where staff are recruited to be based overseas. In all cases, approval must be obtained before work begins.
Why the University needs to manage overseas working
The University must manage overseas working as it can create significant legal, financial, operational, and compliance risks. These risks can arise even from short periods spent working overseas and vary widely by country. Key considerations, and risks, include:
- breaching individual sponsored workers visa conditions
- breaching the University’s visa sponsorship licence
- local immigration and right to work rules
- adversely impacting the student experience, teaching delivery, colleagues and team responsibilities
- data security and data protection
- employer social security and pension contributions overseas
- employee social security, pension and income tax contributions overseas
- unintentionally creating a taxable corporate presence in another country
To ensure we manage the needs of the University, departments, managers, individuals and host countries effectively, we use a two-tier approach for overseas working:
Less than 60 days overseas in any 12‑month rolling period
Requests for overseas working of less than 60 days from a single country must follow the Short-Term Overseas Working Procedure (University login required) and submit a request under this procedure.
Line managers and departments are responsible for assessing, approving, managing, and recording requests under these arrangements.
60 days or more overseas working
Requests for overseas working of 60 days or more from a single country must follow the University’s Overseas Working Procedure and submit a request under this procedure.
This ensures that the potential benefits, costs, and risks of longer‑term overseas working are properly assessed and funded.
Please note: Employees based at, or working through, a University Transnational Education (TNE) Joint Institute overseas are not covered by the overseas working procedures for either short-term (under 60 days) or longer-term (over 60 days) overseas working. Separate arrangements and approval processes apply to these staff members.