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How to successfully expand your business and set up in the UK
Tell us about your business and we'll give you the official information and data you need, in one place
Foreign Office travel advice updates
Latest travel information for British nationals affected by the situation in the Middle East.
Check if you need a UK visa
You may need a visa to come to the UK to visit, study or work.
Apply to use simplified declarations for imports you entered in your records without authorisation
Choose how you’ll make supplementary declarations for goods that you entered into your own records without authorisation.
UKEF backs Leicester sustainable packaging firm in Australian expansion
UK Export Finance announces support for a UK luxury sustainable packaging company to expand into new foreign markets.
How the government monitors imports into the UK.
The Trade Policy Group of the Department for International Trade (DIT) and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) advise and deal with a range of trade policy, regimes, procedural issues governing imports into the UK
Import licensing
An import licence is not needed to import the majority of industrial goods into the United Kingdom or EU.
However, some industrial goods need import licences, issued by the Import Licensing Branch ( ILB), as a result of controls imposed at national, EU or UN level. ILB publicises these restrictions by issuing Notices to Importers.
Import controls
The UK is part of the EU Single Market and the European Commission has sole responsibility for the EU’s commercial policy. With limited exceptions (for example, on security or health grounds), the UK is unable to introduce national import controls.