Resident handyman

TEN NEW COUNTRIES joined the European Union on 1 May 2004. A number of these were former Soviet-bloc states which means that workers from those countries can now work without legal obstacles in the UK. An adviser will need to be conscious of a number of issues for example reciprocal social security agreements between the Member States and the tax treatment in the worker's home country. This article however focuses on the issue of residence and domicile status of such workers.

Domicile

Most if not all mobile workers will have a domicile of origin outside the UK usually in the state whence they came.

A person's domicile is very difficult to shift and it is highly unlikely that any incoming worker will have abandoned his domicile of origin for a domicile of choice in the UK. Strictly domicile attaches to a jurisdiction within the...