5 ms·

I 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 lo

I 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 ago
Some 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 ago
  US 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 ago
    I 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 ago
      Business 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 ago
        Obviously 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.
        aledalgrande 5y ago
        While nobody can prevent you from sending some emails, they will have questions about how you're gonna sustain yourself in the US, especially if you stay for longer periods of time and go back repeatedly. As soon as they know you're "making money" from this activity, you'll be rejected. See real cases on Google https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=b1%20visa%20remote%20work https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=b1%20visa%20remote%20w... Also EU law is separate/different from US immigration law. In summary, if you can help it, I suggest you don't do any work from the US. PS: also if you had to deal with USCIS, you'll find there's a lot of things not written on their site, but that are actually important and enforced. Very different for example from Canada, where nearly everything is available online and helping you succeeed in the process. And yes, US immigration many times "doesn't make sense".
  - opportune 5y ago
    This is correct to my understanding, just because working remotely for a foreign company is extremely easy to get away with and not enforced, doesn’t make it legal. I assume this is true for many other countries
ska 5y ago
It'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 ago
  The 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?

ghaff 5y ago

Some 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 ago
US 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 ago
  I 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 ago
    Business 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 ago
      Obviously 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.
      - aledalgrande 5y ago
        While nobody can prevent you from sending some emails, they will have questions about how you're gonna sustain yourself in the US, especially if you stay for longer periods of time and go back repeatedly. As soon as they know you're "making money" from this activity, you'll be rejected. See real cases on Google https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=b1%20visa%20remote%20work https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=b1%20visa%20remote%20w... Also EU law is separate/different from US immigration law. In summary, if you can help it, I suggest you don't do any work from the US. PS: also if you had to deal with USCIS, you'll find there's a lot of things not written on their site, but that are actually important and enforced. Very different for example from Canada, where nearly everything is available online and helping you succeeed in the process. And yes, US immigration many times "doesn't make sense".
- opportune 5y ago
  This is correct to my understanding, just because working remotely for a foreign company is extremely easy to get away with and not enforced, doesn’t make it legal. I assume this is true for many other countries

ska 5y ago

It'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 ago
The 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?