I was accepted to the Cambridge MBA program in the UK. My wife works for a foreign (not UK) bank. We are thinking about packing up and moving over seas for a year, but only if she will be able to work remotely. She will still be working for the Houston office, but living in the UK. She would probably be with me for a couple months at a time, then come back for a month and work at the Houston office (so 2 months there, 1 month here, 2 months there, etc). My question is about Visas. It's a tricky situation. Obviously if she were to go into the London office and work, she would need some sort of work Visa. But, we're hoping she doesn't have to go into the office, just log into her laptop and work from our place in Cambridge. I think she would still need some sort of visa to work in the UK. Thoughts? What about a travelers visa (not sure what they're called)? It would almost be like she were on vacation for a couple months at a time, but working while on vacation. She would not be associated at all with the UK division, 100% still US payroll, work, etc.
She only needs a work visa if she is working for a UK company in the UK. She'll need a general stay visa to stay that long at a time. They have "family" visas and general stay visas. If you have a work visa, she may be able to get the family visa which is for 6 months with another 6 month extension possible. General stay may be the best bet since she'd be there for only a few months at a time. You can stay for up to 6 months at a time, and it lasts for years as needed.
http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/International-Students/Immigration-/Dependants/Working/ UK has changed their rules a lot over the past few years. When I worked there in 2010-2012, it was possible to get a tier 1 visa just by meeting relatively modest education/income requirements. That's not the case anymore. It looks like if your program was more than a year, she could easily work under a Tier 4 dependent visa. Could you get away with her working from home in the U.K. /getting paid out of Houston? Probably, but it's grey and not something I'd really suggest. If she's coming to visit, there's not really a problem either way. The (implied) tourist visa for visiting the UK is 90 days http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/country/united-kingdom.html
