There is no separate “business visa” for short trips. If you are travelling from Pakistan for meetings, a conference, contract talks or a site visit, you apply for a Standard Visitor visa and choose business as your reason. You can stay up to 6 months per visit, but you cannot work for a UK company or be paid by a UK source, apart from a few set exceptions.
What you can do on a business visit
The allowed activities are set out in Appendix Visitor: Permitted Activities. The general business activities (paragraph PA 4) include:
- attending meetings, conferences, seminars and interviews;
- giving a one-off or short series of talks, as long as they are not a commercial event or run for profit;
- negotiating and signing deals and contracts;
- attending trade fairs to promote your business, but not selling directly;
- carrying out site visits and inspections;
- doing some of your normal overseas job remotely while you are in the UK, as long as that is not the main purpose of the trip.
Intra-corporate activities (PA 5) are for employees of a company outside the UK visiting another part of the same group. You can advise, consult, troubleshoot, train and share knowledge on a specific internal project with UK colleagues. You can work with clients only where this is incidental to your job abroad, not by serving UK clients directly.
Other listed activities include internal audits of a UK branch of your employer’s group, installing, repairing or servicing equipment your overseas company has supplied under contract, and overseeing goods or services a UK company is supplying to your company. The GOV.UK page on visiting the UK on business gives the plain-English version, and the sister site’s permitted activities guide goes through each category.
What you cannot do
Paragraph V 4.4 of Appendix V says a visitor must not work in the UK. That includes taking a job, doing work for a UK organisation, running a business as a self-employed person, doing a work placement or internship, selling directly to the public, and providing goods and services, unless the activity is expressly allowed. Paragraph V 4.5 adds that permitted activities must not amount to filling a role, or giving short-term cover for a role, in a UK organisation.
Payment is the other trap. Under V 4.6 you must not be paid by a UK source, except for a short list that includes:
- reasonable travel and subsistence expenses, such as flights, hotel and meals;
- fees for attending company board meetings as a director;
- billing arrangements where your overseas employer contracts with a UK company;
- your normal salary paid by your overseas employer, even where a multinational runs payroll from the UK;
- prize money, and permitted paid engagements.
So a UK company can pay your hotel and air ticket, but it cannot pay you a fee for consulting work while you are there.
Permitted paid engagements
The old Permitted Paid Engagement visa is now part of the Standard Visitor route. GOV.UK’s paid engagements page says you can be paid for a pre-arranged engagement if you are 18 or over, have a written invitation from a UK-based organisation or client, and the engagement is relevant to your expertise and main job at home. The engagement must happen in the first month of your stay. It covers, for example, lecturers and conference speakers, academic examiners, qualified lawyers, and professional artists, entertainers and sportspeople.
Documents checklist for Pakistani business visitors
GOV.UK’s supporting documents guide suggests a letter from your employer on headed paper giving your role, salary and length of employment, and for conferences, an invitation from the organiser. From Pakistan, a strong business file usually looks like this:
| Document | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Employer or company letter on letterhead | Your role, salary, length of service, the purpose and dates of the trip, who pays, and confirmation you will return to your job |
| Invitation from the UK company or event organiser | Who you are meeting, what will be discussed and for how long, and who covers costs |
| SECP certificate of incorporation, partnership deed or sole proprietor registration | That your company exists and is registered |
| Chamber of commerce membership | That the business is established and trading |
| FBR tax returns and NTN | Declared income for you and, if you own it, the business |
| Company and personal bank statements | Trading activity, and funds to cover the trip |
| Evidence of the business link | Emails, purchase orders, contracts or invoices with the UK company |
| Previous passports | Earlier business trips where you returned on time |
Anything in Urdu needs a full English translation with the translator’s details. Our visit visa document checklist and bank statement guide cover the personal side in more detail.
Long-term business visit visas
If you travel to the UK for business several times a year, you can apply for a 2, 5 or 10-year Standard Visitor visa. At the time of review the fees are £506, £903 and £1,128, against £135 for a single visa of up to 6 months (Home Office fees, 8 April 2026). Each stay is still capped at 6 months, and you may be given a shorter visa than you asked for, with no refund of the difference.
The Visit caseworker guidance tells officers to check that the time you plan to spend in the UK is credible for the activities you describe, and that you are not making the UK your main place of work. A two-day conference does not need a three-month stay. The sister site’s business visitor visa guide covers the route in more depth.
When a visit visa is the wrong route
If your employer wants you to do productive work for a UK client or branch for weeks or months, you probably need a work route instead, such as the Senior or Specialist Worker visa, the UK Expansion Worker visa or a Skilled Worker visa. Be wary of anyone who offers a “business visa” that lets you work in the UK. Our guide to UK work visa scams in Pakistan explains the warning signs.
Common mistakes we see from Pakistan applications
- A UK invitation that describes hands-on work, such as “joining our team for three months”, which reads as employment.
- A newly registered company with no trading history, bank activity or tax returns.
- A company letter from a business the applicant owns, with nothing independent to back it up.
- No evidence of any real link with the UK company before the trip.
- A stay far longer than the stated meetings need.
- Being paid a fee by the UK side that is not a permitted paid engagement.
FAQ
Can the UK company pay for my flights and hotel?
Yes. Reasonable travel and subsistence expenses are one of the allowed payments from a UK source. The invitation should say what they are covering.
Can I sign a contract on a visit visa?
Yes. Negotiating and signing deals and contracts is a permitted business activity. Delivering the work under that contract while in the UK is a different matter, so check whether it falls within the permitted activities.
Can I answer work emails from the UK?
Yes. You can do work for your employer abroad remotely during your visit, provided that is not the main purpose of the trip.
How long will the decision take?
GOV.UK says you will usually get a decision within 3 weeks. See our guide to UK visa processing times and apply early if a conference date is fixed.
Applying from Pakistan? Send us a few lines about your case and we will tell you which route fits and what to prepare.
Last reviewed: September 2026. Rules and fees change; check GOV.UK before you apply.