Working in Germany, to be hired by PEO/EOR. Frequent travel to the UK

I had to google PEO/EOR and found it means a service provider that employs you and sells your work time to another (in your case foreign) company.

Once you are hired by such a service provider in Germany and have the associated work visa, you are of course allowed to work for any of their customers, also remotely. This is a common construct in Germany, called "Zeitarbeit" or contract staffing, which is often used by German companies to fill temporary positions or to avoid taking the responsibilities of being an employer. It has a somewhat bad reputation and is not well paid.

I am curious about how it applies to foreign companies needing personell here (and whether it can avoid you the hazzle and cost of being self-employed) - so if you find out more, please come back and report your findings here!

@beppi thanks for the quick response.

The construct of using a PEO/EOR (professional employment organisation/Employer of record) is indeed common in Germany.  This allows say, the UK firm to hire me without having to set up a German subsidiary.

Being self employed is another option.  However as a consultant I believe I need to be clear that I am not only working for this firm, which I would be.  Therefore I would be considered as an employee in disguise.

The question I had more pertains to this:

If I am hired as a remote worker in Germany but such a PEO/EOR, what are the German restrictions on whether I can actually spend time working at the office in the UK from time to time (or often, as long as it fits within standard UK business traveller rules)?

As I stated before, you would NOT be employed by the UK company, but by the PEO/EOR service provider.

This is an important difference:

The UK company is the service provider's customer and this customer will receive ithe results of your work n the end. There are no restrictions on companies asking their employees to work only for one customer's projects.

Thus, by using this route, you avoid not only the buerocratic requirements of self-employment, but also the "employee in disguise" issue.

(Of course this comes at a cost, for the UK company. And you would earn less than as a freelancer.)

@beppi Thanks for your insight.  So it sounds to me like there are no issues around the definitions of a "remote" employee, when that person might travel to the head office often?

Finally (as you have been so helpful I thought I'd try), it states on the UK business travel .gov.uk website that one cannot do paid work for a UK firm while I am in the UK.  Would I circumnavigate this by working for the PEO that is based in Germany?

@Kelvin1 I do not know UK law, so you better ask authoritative sources there.

But it seems you still don't understand: The "headquarter" is not your headquarter - you are working for the PEO/EOR company! - it is merely a visit to a customer. When there, you remotely work for your company, which as far as I know is o.k. while on business trips (after all, the customer does not pay you for it!). With a certain intensity of visits, however, it becomes a secondment, for which other rules apply - check those!

@Kelvin1

If you are employed by a German company and you have work authorization for Germany, then you are covered where German laws are concerned.

If that work contract includes business trips to countries that are not Germany, you will have to check that country´s laws regarding whatever it is you are assked to do in that country.

Being stamped in as a general visitor to the UK, you can do the following:

" Visit on business

You can visit the UK for up to 6 months to do the following business activities:

    attend interviews, meetings, conferences and seminars

    negotiate and sign deals and contracts

    attend trade fairs to promote your business (you cannot sell things)

    get work-related training if you're employed overseas and the training is not available in your home country

    give a one-off or short series of talks as long as they're not for profit or a commercial event (you must not be paid)

    carry out site visits and inspections

    oversee the delivery of goods and services provided by a UK company to your overseas company or organisation

    deliver training or share knowledge on internal projects with UK employees of the company you work for overseas

    install, dismantle, repair, service or advise on equipment, computer software and hardware, if your overseas company has a contract with a UK company or organisation"

If your professional activities go beyond what is listed above, you should talk to your employer about the situation, as the last thing you (and they!) want to happen is to be found working illegally in the UK.

How frequent will those trips to the UK client be?

Frequent visits can flag up and invite in-depth questioning (my husband was once held up for four hours at the airport and he didn´t even want to do anything work-related in the UK). In general, you can´t spend more time in the UK than outside of it in any rolling 12 month period (so, roughly 6 months in any 12, but that is already pushing it!) when entering as a visitor.

@ALKB

Thanks for your insight.  Yes, this is what I plan to do, noting the same rules you stated.

I do not know how frequent I would go to the UK but it would be a lot, yet less than 6 months over a 12 month period, and would be attending meetings and not being paid by a UK employer or looking to migrate.   Each time I visit I will be able to show my exit flights and prove that I live in Germany (e.g.: rentals, schools, etc). 

In your the case for your husband being held up, do you know what he could have done to prevent that from happening?