Working while in the US illegal?

[Deema & Wayne 28]

Sorry, I wasn't implying you did. I was just answering in general terms.

Sorry if I sounded snippy I appreciate your response..from what I gathered on here, it's a gray area but it won't be a big deal since I'm married to a USC (even though I don't believe it's illegal), the bottom line is that it won't cause issues, am I right?

[ceadsearc 516]

Correct, even illegal work is forgiven so long as you're honest.

[Deema & Wayne 28]

Correct, even illegal work is forgiven so long as you're honest.

I plan on that:) Lying will just screw us over and I know that will not be forgiven/overlooked.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

I'm still confused. And I am not saying I think you're wrong necessarily, and your Vietnamese example does make sense, but let's say a journalist enters US on a B1 visa, and while here writes an article that is due for his foreign employer, emails it, and gets paid. Would that be illegal?

Little Miss,

I didn't save the link, but I remember vividly the case of a British journalist who was asking to be admitted to the US with a B1/B2. She was put in a detention center and sent home 24 hours later as she did not have the required I-visa that journalists need to have. She wrote an article about that and expressed her outrage of being treated like a criminal. I will try to find it again.

So, yes, that would be a visa violation for sure.

[Deema & Wayne 28]

Was her name Elena Lappin?

[Little_My 464]

Little Miss,

I didn't save the link, but I remember vividly the case of a British journalist who was asking to be admitted to the US with a B1/B2. She was put in a detention center and sent home 24 hours later as she did not have the required I-visa that journalists need to have. She wrote an article about that and expressed her outrage of being treated like a criminal. I will try to find it again.

So, yes, that would be a visa violation for sure.

Little My. It's a Moomin character. Moomins are a big thing in Finlandia. "Little Miss" makes me feel like I'm 12.

And I still think that is a different matter. Coming here as a journalist to conduct research in America is a different thing than, let's say me being here as a VWP on a holiday, and while here, writing a piece for a Finnish newspaper about the shortcomings of the Finnish child care system, which I just absolutely had to finish while in the US because my boss wanted it in tomorrow's news paper. I agree and understand that journalists coming to the US to do interviews, research or other similar work require a special visa for that - but what I am trying to get at and figure out is whether or not a person who comes here as a tourist and while here does work for his/hers foreign employer - the exact same work they do when at home - is actually violating the terms of their visa or not.

In reality, it doesn't really matter. I can't see why anyone would declare at POE: "Yes, I am here as a tourist, but I am planning to send 3 work related emails while in the US. Is this okay?" It's just something I have never been fully sure of.

Edited September 25, 2011 by Little_My

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

I strongly disagree. So let me grab the ball you threw and run with it.

Your wife comes from Vietnam, so let's stick with that.

Vietnamese citizen is employed at Ho Chi Minh City. He restores vintage Vespa motorscooters that then are being sold to clueless American buyers, unaware that they will be buying dangerous junk. He travels with a B1/B2 to San Francisco, still working for the same Vietnamese company. There he now takes possession of the crated scooters after they have been unloaded in the Port of San Francisco, assembles them, and does minor touch up work, before shipping them to the U.S. buyers. He is being paid in Vietnamese Dong on his account in Vietnam.

So, Jim, you are saying that it is perfectly legal for a foreigner to engage in such paid work while in the US on a B1/B2 because he is working for a Vietnamese company and is paid in Vietnam?

So a German tourist can sell Mercedes automobiles at a Mercedes-Benz dealership in Beverly Hills as long as he is paid in Euro in Germany?

Seriously?

Completely different situation. He's not doing the same job in the same place for the same employer. It's a completely different job, perhaps working for a US division or affiliate of his original employer. He is doing what the US employment authorization laws were specifically designed to prevent - doing work that a US citizen or permanent resident could be doing.

Now, same situation as above, except your hypothetical VN citizen has changed nothing in regard to his job. He's kept the same employer and job while visiting the US. He logs into his email a few times a week while he's here, and helps solve a few problems for his boss. He continues to be paid by his boss in VN dong to his bank account in Saigon. He hasn't broken any US employment laws. This is essentially what the OP claims she did.

Now, a hybrid situation - your hypothetical VN citizen hasn't changed anything regarding his job. He's come to the US to attend a trade conference on junk Vespas in Las Vegas. This would not be a violation of US employment laws, but it would violate the terms of his B2 visa. He should have gotten a B1 visa for this.

I'm still confused. And I am not saying I think you're wrong necessarily, and your Vietnamese example does make sense, but let's say a journalist enters US on a B1 visa, and while here writes an article that is due for his foreign employer, emails it, and gets paid. Would that be illegal? Or a website designer comes to the US under VWP for a 3-week holiday, and during his holiday has to finish a job for a client, so while here on VWP as a tourist he also does some work on a website project - for a foreign client - and gets paid, by his foreign employer.

For example, I was here on VWP once, years ago, purely as a tourist for about 3 weeks or so. While I was here, I still did some work via email to my employer back home in Finland. I don't believe that was illegal or unauthorized - it has nothing to do with the US, the income is not subject to tax here, and I do not need authorization from USCIS.

In your Vietnam / German examples, the foreigners are obviously entering US to conduct business IN the US, with US based clients - which maybe makes a difference here. But if the OP worked for a foreign employer doing whatever he does, assuming it has nothing to do with him being in the US (website design, for example), would that really still be considered illegal or unauthorized?

Correct about the website designer. Not correct about the journalist. Foreign journalists require a Media (I) visa to enter the US and do any journalistic work while they're here, even if it's just correcting an article they wrote before they left for the US. They cannot enter the US with a B1/B2 or use the Visa Waiver Program and then do any journalistic work. Journalists are a specific exception in the law.

[Deema & Wayne 28]

I think in conclusion..checking my work email from here and doing some work while getting payments every month deposited into my foreign bank account isn't illegal. It is illegal once I am a resident and continue doing my job and evade taxes. I don't intend on keeping this job, like I said, I've been here 3 months and not close to my interview date since we filed last month and my intention wasn't to come here to work.