The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement: Temporary business travel
This briefing explains what has changed for UK and EU businesses and individuals who travel to provide services in each other’s markets.
The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) contains commitments affecting business-related travel, which offer UK and EU service providers access to each other’s markets under certain conditions.
The agreement includes commitments related to the following categories of business travellers:
- short-term business visitors
- business visitors for establishment purposes
- intra-corporate transferees
- contractual service suppliers and independent professionals.
The UK and EU have agreed not to impose market access restrictions on these categories of business traveller. Such restrictions include economic needs tests, which typically assess a host country's demand for foreign workers, and, in some cases, work permits.
Business visitors falling into the categories covered by the TCA must be treated similarly to domestic suppliers during their stay. However, a range of reservations and exemptions apply, meaning they do not have the same rights as EU nationals or businesses operating within the single market.
What has changed?From 1 January 2021, UK service providers and investors no longer benefit from the freedoms that came with EU single market membership, including the freedom to provide services, the freedom of movement of persons, and the freedom of establishment. Instead, under the TCA, UK service providers must comply with the regulatory regimes of the EU Member State in whose territory they plan to provide services. This includes observing national immigration rules, work permit requirements, and employment regulations.
At the same time, the UK maintains control over its own immigration rules and access to work for EU nationals.
The TCA affects different groups of service providers to varying degrees. For example, touring artists no longer have guaranteed visa and work permit-free travel across Europe to give paid performances. Our briefing, Touring artists and the UK-EU economic partnership, provides further detail.
The UK Government has committed to improving provisions for service providers trading with the EU. At the May 2025 summit, the UK and EU agreed to establish a dedicated dialogue on business-related travel.