Anil Kumar, is a self-employed IT consultant of Ingeni IT services based in London and provides IT services to companies based both in the UK and in countries across the European Union. For this reason alone, Anil has to travel to Germany on a weekly basis where he has been dispensing his consultancy for five years now. Anil who holds a British passport does not require any visa to travel across countries in the EU.
But what does the possibility of a hard Brexit mean for young professionals like Anil Kumar and Asian companies based in the UK who also conduct business in the EU countries?
For Kumar, a hard Brexit is a sword hanging above his neck. He said, “The European market for us is much bigger than that in the UK. There is a big uncertainty at the moment and it will be very difficult for us if we have to go through immigration services. In effect it could mean that we lose all of our European business. So, it all depends on what they come back with!”
The crux of a Hard Brexit effectively means that the UK will give up full access to the single market and full access of the customs union along with the EU.
According to a government report presented by the Prime Minister and her command of Majesty in July 2018, the UK government is thriving towards the establishment of a Free Trade Area. This, it states, would protect the integrated supply chains that have developed across the UK and the EU over the last 40 years, ensuring that businesses continue operating through their current value and supply chains. Roughly translated, this means that it would avoid the need for customs and regulatory checks at the border, and the businesses would not have to incur higher tariff and Value Added Taxation costs.
According to Tamanna Aziz, an immigration lawyer at Duncan Lewis, these costs can shoot up to as high as 20% which not many small business and specially self-employed could afford. But a hard Brexit also triggers a fear among British citizens who can no longer freely travel across the EU countries without a valid work/business visa even for simple business conferences and meetings.
“It is important to understand the legal implications in terms of travel and visa. Every country in the EU has different requirements pertaining to their immigration rules. And for each country you need to meet them individually.”
“Passporting” is a fundamental concern for many global financial services companies. The EU currently licenses companies in member countries to work across European borders. Thus, businesses could eventually be forced to seek passports into European countries from elsewhere in order to maintain their EEA client base.
The best alternate suggestions for these companies under a hard Brexit is as Tamana puts it, "either to relocate their businesses in the eastern countries of India, Japan and China which are much more accommodating or to enter into some sort of a negotiation with the host country that would allow for these organisations to have their base". The latter however, is not possible currently as Brexit hasn't gone through which means that these companies are still fundamentally bound by the EU trade laws. Thus, at the moment they cannot approach a governmental organisation for any discussion.
While a hard Brexit continues to be a concern among most businesses across the EU, some employees appear to be least concerned about the after-effects. Chetan Doshi, of Cat and Gemini is a resident of London who travels to Germany once a week for business purposes.
For Chetan, “It is the company's headache with regards to documentations and travel visa purposes if it comes to that! The company has hired me and it will have future provisions of either my relocation to other department or some alternative. I am not at all concerned by a hard or a soft Brexit because to be honest it makes little difference to me!”
Immigration and Trade at the moment seems to be the only bump that Prime Minister May seems to have difficulty stumbling past. But if her valiant efforts and report is anything to go by then as it states: “It would ensure that we leave the EU, without leaving Europe”
