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You'd probably do it under the table. I once spent a few months working from Spain. Prior to departure, I also wanted to do things by the book, but my tax and v
by gred 5y ago
You'd probably do it under the table. I once spent a few months working from Spain. Prior to departure, I also wanted to do things by the book, but my tax and visa questions to the Spanish consulate kept getting deflected in that "I'm going to misunderstand your question in a way that makes it clear you should simply use a standard tourist visa instead of making your life harder, but I'm not going to come right out and say that" kind of way. IMO, it becomes a real issue when your travel pattern becomes more "expat" than "digital nomad" (stay abroad much longer, don't move around as much).
- opportune 5y agoGlad you brought this up, it really shows that working/visas need to be rethought. Most countries should have no problem if I show up on a tourist visa to stay for a few months but continue to work for a foreign company remotely - and defacto, they don't, as your experience demonstrates - but it's technically not allowed (or even legal?). I'm not entirely sure what kind of loopholes allowing remote work on what would normally be a tourist visa/stay open up, but surely it's preferable for all parties in the "average" case for it to be allowed.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- prewett 5y agoI think the thing with tourist visas is that you can’t work for a local company. (Also you might need to get paid in a non-local bank account.) To work for a local company you need a work visa. In some ways, a standard tourist is still working for their foreign company, they just are using their allotment of get-paid-for-doing-nothing days. Likewise, a guy who wants to workation for a week still is effectively a tourist. At some point you seem less touristy, which is probably why tourist visas are typically around 90 days.
- ghaff 5y agoSome countries (like China as I recall) are strict about getting business visas with a letter of introduction, etc. if you're doing something like attending a conference. But, yes, in general Western countries are mostly fine at least with other Western countries so long as you don't work for a local company.
- aledalgrande 5y agoUS does not allow any kind of remote work for any part of the stay with a travel or business visa. You can only work under a work visa.
- ghaff 5y agoI have never heard of anyone from Western Europe having to do anything out of the ordinary to attend, say, a team meeting or a conference in the US. And, in the other direction, I have never done anything in the other direction aside from maybe China. No immigration officer has ever cared in the slightest that I was attending a conference or business meetings.
- aledalgrande 5y agoBusiness meetings and conferences are some of the very few activities allowed. Go read on B1 visa. Just try to tell an immigration officer you will be "working" for a few days and see what happens.
- ghaff 5y agoObviously it would be a bad idea to say that you're here "to work" because the implication is that you're doing local work of some sort. If you're not going to a conference, having business meetings, etc. and were mostly going to be vacationing with a little email or other remote work on the side I assume you would get a tourist visa. There is certainly no indication on the US site that you're not allowed to spend any time working remotely. The idea that someone would be allowed to enter the country for meetings and conferences but isn't allowed to spend a morning doing email simply doesn't make sense. And US citizens have visa-free travel to Schengen which allows for either tourist or business activities.
- ska 5y agoIt's not just duration though - if you and I both enter a country on a 30 day tourist visa, say, and you work remotely on your laptop from a hotel but I do on-site sales or service visits... are we really doing this same thing?
- ghaff 5y agoThe difference is mostly plausible deniability. If I'm speaking at an event or meeting with local customers, it's hard to deny that I'm doing business in the country. If I'm just working remotely from my laptop, who knows that I'm not just being a tourist?
- geocar 5y ago> Most countries should have no problem if I show up on a tourist visa to stay for a few months but continue to work for a foreign company remotely But some do. Be careful.
- jacksonkmarley 5y agoYes this has the ring of truth, I went through a very similar experience spending some time working in France. Totally legit, paid by my company in another country and hosted by a French company for a short placement. Total bureaucratic fail, the French company just told me the specific visa was not going to happen, so I cut my stay to fit the tourist limits and went on that visa.