Work visa needed or visa waiver?

[bjamin 0]

Say I am travelling to the U.S. from Australia, to consult for a U.S. company for about a month on site, but will not be directly employed or paid by said U.S. company. Do I qualify under the visa waiver program?

They are very vague about the types of business activities you can carry out while travelling under the visa waiver...

[Boiler 45,913]

That would depend on what you mean by consult, US Immigration makes a difference between undertaking Business and Working.

[bjamin 0]

That would depend on what you mean by consult, US Immigration makes a difference between undertaking Business and Working.

I would be providing consulting services, is this working or undertaking business? What is the definition of each?

[Penguin_ie 5,996]

Are you being paid by a Australian business? And you are helping the US business (ie consulting, not doing the work yourself)? In which case, I'd say you are fine on the VWP.

[Boiler 45,913]

Consulting services can mean anything. The way you describe it sounds like work.

[KashEsq 0]

The Visa Waiver Program applies for certain business activities, which includes consulting with business associates. Since you will only be in the United States for about a month, and will not be paid by a US company for your consulting services, then you should qualify under the VWP.

Looking at the B-1/2 visas, it doesn't look like you need to apply for one of those just for simple consulting.