Frequently Asked Questions

Overseas working is when you are undertaking your normal day-to-day staff member duties in a country that is not your usual place of work, whether over a number of days or months. Your usual place of work will be named in your contract and for most staff at Imperial will be the UK.

Business travel is when you are visiting a country for a specific purpose as a representative staff member of Imperial, such as to attend meetings, conferences, one-off short series of talks (if not organised as a commercial profit-making event), or promotional trade fairs, that may be related to, but are not, your day-to-day duties.

You do not need to submit an overseas working request for business travel. These activities remain outside of the overseas working process.

Further guidance is available on our webpages.

We advise that you do. The International Mobility Team is not responsible for managing your related financial or health and safety administration.

See further details on staff travel including expenses, travel insurance and risk assessments.

Imperial has a duty of care to all staff. This includes being able to offer support and specialist guidance should an incident occur. In order to help Imperial support you and maintain its responsibility for the health and safety of our staff, we need you to provide up-to-date information on your overseas working.

In addition, working overseas could have unanticipated consequences. The process of requesting to work overseas will include an individual assessment, taking into consideration all relevant variables (immigration status/es, proposed work duties, duration, tax and social security implications) so that you are aware of any risks that may arise before you travel.

Risks for individual staff members may include: 

• Personal tax liability – each territory has its own rules regarding when and how personal tax liability comes into effect.  If you are deemed to have unpaid tax liability, it could result in being stopped at the border on entry or exit, assets being frozen and hefty fines on top of the tax to be paid.  
• Social security – to access free healthcare in another territory, you may require a certificate of coverage or be required to pay social security in that territory. 
• Immigration and visas – to maintain your right to work in the destination and in the UK, rules may apply.  
• Pension – your pension may be impacted and potentially considered as a taxable benefit in some territories. 
• Loss of research funding – some funders set requirements on where a researcher should be based, and breach of these can result in funding withdrawal.
• Support with repatriation – should an emergency occur whilst you are abroad, if you have submitted an overseas working request the university will know you are in the affected area and be able to offer support.

Risks for Imperial may include:  

• Immigration and employment regulations – the university is legally responsible for ensuring that all immigration and employment regulations are followed in the UK and any territory where our staff are working. 
• Permanent establishment – an overseas employee may (in some cases) inadvertently create a 'permanent establishment' in that territory, creating a liability for corporation tax and interest charges. 
• Payroll – it may be necessary for payroll to be operated in the other territory in order to comply with local regulations. 
• Reputational damage – the impact of which upon the Imperial brand could be far-reaching for academics, students, and the international community. 
• Penalty charges – it has been known for Higher Education (HE) institutions to be hit with seven-figure penalties for legislative non-compliance.

As soon as you know that you will be working overseas please seek approval from your Line Manager and submit an overseas working request through the system.

Initial support for your request should be obtained from your Line Manager before you submit an overseas working request via MyRemoteWork. Your request will require sign-off by your department's Final Approver as the final step.

You will get email updates to inform you of the progress or your request and confirm if it is approved.

You can view a full list of Final Approvers for Overseas Working.

The assessment scorecard is generated when requests are submitted via MyRemoteWork. The ‘risk score’ is aligned with the International Mobility Framework (i.e., Low/Green, Mid/Amber, High/Red).

The International Mobility Framework details how overseas working requests are triaged by the International Mobility Team into Green, Amber and Red categories to illustrate the typical level of resources required to facilitate the request. 

For further information take a look at the International Mobility Framework, or in MyRemoteWork click the ‘view details’ tab per category on the assessment scorecard .

Overseas working requests by staff in the School of Public Health and Business School will now be submitted via an online form at MyRemoteWork. This replaces the offline process that is still being used by the rest of the university in the meantime. The new online form will streamline the previous process and better support staff who are working abroad.

All other staff at Imperial should keep using the existing process until further notice, a wider roll out across the university is anticipated for early 2025.

Yes. If you haven’t already discussed your planned overseas working with the International Mobility Team please submit your request via MyRemoteWork.

We don’t expect you to cancel or change your existing pre-approved plans at short notice, provided that you have the legal right to enter and work in your destination territory.

Contact the International Mobility Team with any queries.

Yes. As a Line Manager you will need to submit an overseas working request on their behalf via MyRemoteWork.

See full details in our guidance document International Mobility Guidance on Overseas Working.

The work location categories defined in the university's Work Location Framework (onsite, hybrid, remote) apply to UK-based staff only and do not encompass overseas working. If you are planning to work overseas, you will still need to submit a request in advance, regardless of your UK working pattern or contract type. 

Yes. Please do notify the International Mobility Team of any planned work overseas if you are a member of Imperial staff.

You will need to submit a Risk Review Questionnaire not an Overseas Working Request.

Visit the webpages for full details and to submit a Risk Review Questionnaire if you are already overseas or have been overseas previously for two weeks or more. 

We are not able to consider requests if you are:

• A consultant or self-employed contractor
• Agency staff or a casual worker
• Not able to perform your role remotely or from an overseas institution

Yes. The Non-Assessed Travel function in MyRemoteWork enables staff to record any travel that does not qualify as overseas working, and that has not been requested through the system for overseas working.

You can access this function through your dashboard on MyRemoteWork. Recording other travel here will ensure that the system accurately displays the correct number of days spent in any countries visited, and the amount of time spent outside of the UK. This may be particularly helpful if a staff member is travelling extensively within any 12 month period and would like access to a cumulative day count.