Is UK citizenship worth it after Brexit for software consulting?

Question

I have been living and working at a FAANG in UK for past 2+ years now. I came on the now Global Talent visa, so in next 2 years I can become a UK citizen.I am also closing in on my retirement/FU corpus, but I don't intend to stop working.I am pondering if it's worth becoming a UK Citizen after Brexit if I want to do software consulting. Will the UK passport/citizenship help? My primary market targets will be UK, US and Europe, so Visa Waiver Program and short term EU visits should allow me to do business visits for contract negotiation etc.I would prefer to work in UK for 6 months - 8 months of the year and be outside of UK in the winter :-).UK citizens (naturalised or otherwise), any inputs? Is this a good or a flawed idea? I hold an Indian passport.I don't want to worry about maintaining the ILR status, and anyways after ILR, it's just 1 year to get the British passport.edit: notes on ILR

jstx1 · Accepted Answer

> I have been living and working at a FAANG in UK for past 2+ years now. I came on the now Global Talent visa, so in next 2 years I can become a UK citizen.
No, you need at 5 years for ILR and then another year for citizenship so it works out to 3+ years at a minimum (in reality longer because of application and waiting times).
> I hold an Indian passport.
> My primary market targets will be UK, US and Europe,
Having British citizenship is better in your case but from a quick search India doesn't allow dual citizenship - are you okay with giving up your Indian citizenship?

hebejeje · Answer

I would argue that the UK is one of the worst countries in the world to base if you want to do software consulting for clients worldwide, due to some particularly awful taxation rules known as IR35[1]. If you have a consulting engagement caught by this, and your client is overseas, you need to pay tax as if you were employed on 95% of the proceeds - including the share that a UK employer would normally pay(!) - without getting any of the benefits of employment such as sick pay or accrued holiday. In addition, you cannot claim a host of normal business expenses such as travelling to visit clients.
In short - even though you may be bringing foreign money into the country that may otherwise have gone to a different tax jurisdiction, and you are not taking up a job that a local could take while also spending in the local economy - HMRC will choose to punish you aggressively by taxing you at a higher rate than if you were employed locally.
I would recommend Ireland (which doesn't have such legislation and is in the EU) or really anywhere but the UK.
I should mention the IR35 rules only apply if you are doing your consulting via a limited company rather than as an individual, but using a company is (in most places) the most tax effective route and there are many countries friendlier than the UK in this regards.
[1]: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/understanding-off-payroll-workin...

uberman · Answer

Not knowing UK law at all or international law in general, my gut reaction is to ask what if any downside is there here? Would you for example have to renounce your current citizenship to obtain UK citizenship?

zoenolan · Answer

UK citizen here. The UK still ranks around six [1]. Comparing India and the UK [2] gives you more of an idea how they match up[1] https://thepointsguy.co.uk/news/worlds-most-powerful-passpor... [2] https://www.passportindex.org/comparebyPassport.php?p1=in&p2...