3 ms·

As far as I know there is no visa that allows foreigners to travel to the US and work remotely back home. It would be a breach of the Visa Waiver program (or an

by sp_ 15y ago

As far as I know there is no visa that allows foreigners to travel to the US and work remotely back home. It would be a breach of the Visa Waiver program (or any other visa) which can lead to deportation. I'd like to hear from people who did this, told the immigrations officer about their plans and were not turned back on the border.

lutorm 15y ago
I'm pretty sure you can travel under VW and still do business for a foreign corporation. Like if I come to the US for a trade show or to negotiate a deal, I can come under VW. I don't know what the specific rules are (I'm pretty sure you can't work for a US corporation) but I don't think there is a blanket prohibition on doing work for a foreign company.
- narcissus 15y ago
  That sounds similar to my situation when I first moved to Canada from Australia: I continued to work for the company in Australia, and so I wasn't required any special visas or permits to work that while in Canada. However, I did have to continue to extend (and therefore satisfy the requirements of) the normal visitors visa (which seemed to be waived for a certain period of time, but then I had to renew it).
nandemo 15y ago
IANAL, but say you're a manager of BigSouthAmericanCorp (maybe Euro/Asian, etc, your mileage may vary) going to a meeting with BigAmericanCorp. Then you can use the Business visa, which is the same as Tourism visa. As long as you're not working for an American employee, it's OK to be in US on work temporarily. So if I were going to US to work on my own business temporarily, I'd either go as a tourist or say, "Oh, I'm from Nandemo Ltd., and will go to a business meeting with SP_ Corp, here's their invitation letter". That's similar to what I did when I went to US for a job interview at the headquarters of X Corp. trying to get a job at their Tokyo office. If I had said I was coming to a job interview they wouldn't let me in; even though I had no intention to work in US. One must be out one's mind to volunteer unnecessarily detailed information to the immigrations officer. Given that there are millions of illegal immigrants actually working for American employers and not getting deported, the odds that a web developer working at home would be deported seems pretty slim.
- sp_ 15y ago
  First, you are confusing visas. The tourist visa is not the same as the visa waiver. There is a tourist visa, it's called B-2 and it does not allow you to do any business or work. Visiting with the visa waiver program means visiting without a visa. Next, for short trips, visiting without a visa is equivalent to having a business visa (B-1). It allows you to meet with US clients, customers, partners, and so on and it allows you to go to conferences. It does not allow you to work. See as a recent example from Hacker News: http://www.noop.nl/2011/06/american-learning-experience.html http://www.noop.nl/2011/06/american-learning-experience.html
  - wisty 15y ago
    Exactly. There's a fine line between a business trip, and something that requires a work visa. I'd imagine that the best way for a foreigner to work in the US on non-US projects is if a body-shop (possibly owned by them - I think most people can own a US company) hires them, then subcontracts them out to the offshore employer. The question is how they get everything set up while they don't have a work visa. I wonder if a business visa would allow them to set the paperwork up? Anyway, it's madness.
  - nandemo 15y ago
    I'm not confusing the visas, though I probably could have made it clearer. I'm not talking about what you can do with the visa waiver. I specifically mentioned the case where the visitor is from South America, because there's no visa waiver for us. For people who are require to have visas, the tourist visa and the business visa are issued together. When you get to the port of embark, you tell the immigration officer whether you're coming for business or pleasure. http://www.workpermit.com/us/employer_b1_b2.htm http://www.workpermit.com/us/employer_b1_b2.htm > Next, for short trips, visiting without a visa is equivalent to having a business visa (B-1). It allows you to meet with US clients, customers, partners, and so on and it allows you to go to conferences. Yeah, that's the situation I described. > It does not allow you to work. ...for an US entity. If you're going for business then you're working, right? Anyway, even if it's not specifically allowed, there's a gray area. > See as a recent example from Hacker News: http://www.noop.nl/2011/06/american-learning-experience.html http://www.noop.nl/2011/06/american-learning-experience.html I read that, I think he was quite naive and uninformed. He should have done what I described. "I'm working for DutchCorp, and will go to a business trade event, here's the invitation". Then he would make sure the event organizers would not pay him directly. They would pay his Dutch company, and he would get paid in Netherlands, not in US.

by sp_ 15y ago

lutorm 15y ago

I'm pretty sure you can travel under VW and still do business for a foreign corporation. Like if I come to the US for a trade show or to negotiate a deal, I can come under VW. I don't know what the specific rules are (I'm pretty sure you can't work for a US corporation) but I don't think there is a blanket prohibition on doing work for a foreign company.

narcissus 15y ago
That sounds similar to my situation when I first moved to Canada from Australia: I continued to work for the company in Australia, and so I wasn't required any special visas or permits to work that while in Canada. However, I did have to continue to extend (and therefore satisfy the requirements of) the normal visitors visa (which seemed to be waived for a certain period of time, but then I had to renew it).

nandemo 15y ago

IANAL, but say you're a manager of BigSouthAmericanCorp (maybe Euro/Asian, etc, your mileage may vary) going to a meeting with BigAmericanCorp. Then you can use the Business visa, which is the same as Tourism visa. As long as you're not working for an American employee, it's OK to be in US on work temporarily. So if I were going to US to work on my own business temporarily, I'd either go as a tourist or say, "Oh, I'm from Nandemo Ltd., and will go to a business meeting with SP_ Corp, here's their invitation letter". That's similar to what I did when I went to US for a job interview at the headquarters of X Corp. trying to get a job at their Tokyo office. If I had said I was coming to a job interview they wouldn't let me in; even though I had no intention to work in US. One must be out one's mind to volunteer unnecessarily detailed information to the immigrations officer. Given that there are millions of illegal immigrants actually working for American employers and not getting deported, the odds that a web developer working at home would be deported seems pretty slim.

sp_ 15y ago
First, you are confusing visas. The tourist visa is not the same as the visa waiver. There is a tourist visa, it's called B-2 and it does not allow you to do any business or work. Visiting with the visa waiver program means visiting without a visa. Next, for short trips, visiting without a visa is equivalent to having a business visa (B-1). It allows you to meet with US clients, customers, partners, and so on and it allows you to go to conferences. It does not allow you to work. See as a recent example from Hacker News: http://www.noop.nl/2011/06/american-learning-experience.html http://www.noop.nl/2011/06/american-learning-experience.html
- wisty 15y ago
  Exactly. There's a fine line between a business trip, and something that requires a work visa. I'd imagine that the best way for a foreigner to work in the US on non-US projects is if a body-shop (possibly owned by them - I think most people can own a US company) hires them, then subcontracts them out to the offshore employer. The question is how they get everything set up while they don't have a work visa. I wonder if a business visa would allow them to set the paperwork up? Anyway, it's madness.
- nandemo 15y ago
  I'm not confusing the visas, though I probably could have made it clearer. I'm not talking about what you can do with the visa waiver. I specifically mentioned the case where the visitor is from South America, because there's no visa waiver for us. For people who are require to have visas, the tourist visa and the business visa are issued together. When you get to the port of embark, you tell the immigration officer whether you're coming for business or pleasure. http://www.workpermit.com/us/employer_b1_b2.htm http://www.workpermit.com/us/employer_b1_b2.htm > Next, for short trips, visiting without a visa is equivalent to having a business visa (B-1). It allows you to meet with US clients, customers, partners, and so on and it allows you to go to conferences. Yeah, that's the situation I described. > It does not allow you to work. ...for an US entity. If you're going for business then you're working, right? Anyway, even if it's not specifically allowed, there's a gray area. > See as a recent example from Hacker News: http://www.noop.nl/2011/06/american-learning-experience.html http://www.noop.nl/2011/06/american-learning-experience.html I read that, I think he was quite naive and uninformed. He should have done what I described. "I'm working for DutchCorp, and will go to a business trade event, here's the invitation". Then he would make sure the event organizers would not pay him directly. They would pay his Dutch company, and he would get paid in Netherlands, not in US.