Footsie chief seeks help for the ‘right to remain’ in UK

THE boss of one of Britain’s biggest companies – who is a European Union national – sought advice about officially obtaining permanent residence in the UK in the run-up to last month’s referendum vote. Permanent residence status is a prerequisite to applying for British citizenship.

Business advisory firm KPMG said it had helped the unnamed chief executive of a FTSE100 bluechip business in a case which is the most high-profile example of anxiety among EU workers about their rights to stay and work in the UK following the referendum.

During the Tory leadership campaign Theresa May said EU workers here would only be given a permanent right to remain in the UK if the same rights were extended to British citizens living elsewhere in the EU.

Punam Birly, head of immigration legal services at KPMG, said: ‘We have seen an immediate tripling in demand for our immigration law advice services as companies have sought to understand the current immigration law framework and how that might change and importantly, what they can do now to prepare for a new immigration system.’

About a fifth of the top 100 UK-based firms – including Lloyds Banking Group, Unilever, Vodafone and AstraZeneca – are run by bosses born elsewhere in the EU. It is understood that Lloyds boss Antonio Horta-Osorio has dual UK and Portuguese citizenship.

Businesses in Britain are also concerned that Brexit could affect their future interaction with European clients.

Birly said: ‘Companies which are used to sending their staff to Europe regularly are worried about the cost, administration burden and

impact on the natural flow of business relationships as a result of having to apply for visas. Flexibility around business travel in the EU is crucial for the UK to maintain competitiveness with the remaining EU countries who postBrexit may well cite this as a benefit to choosing, say, a German company over a British one.’

There are thought to be three million non-British EU nationals living in Britain. Census figures from 2011 suggest that almost one in ten of those working in the City – around 30,000 – fell into that category.

Chris Cummings, chief executive of lobby group TheCityUK, said: ‘Ensuring that firms are able to continue to attract and employ skilled talent from the EU and rest of the world is vital for the UK’s long-term competitiveness.’