volunteer on B-2 visa?

[geowrian 22,337]

If you are providing a service that normally is performed by somebody as part of their job, then it is not permitted without a work visa. Compensation or not is not really the issued (albeit compensation can be used as a factor....as you would normally compensate an employee or contractor). However, there's a lot of nuance to this since it's so broad. The example of working in a soup kitchen is one fairly simple one - you don't get compensated for doing it, and you aren't "taking" a job away from from somebody else. A murkier example is helping your family build an addition to their house - normally, a contractor would perform that function. Unfortunately, I don't think anybody here can make a definitive call for your specific circumstance. It may be no big deal, or it may be viewed as work - all based on the totality of the factors involved. I don't like giving such non-answer answers (), but I really think that's the boat you're in and a call you need to make...knowing the risk that it may or may not be considered work. When in doubt, ask yourself - is there a (legal) worker who could be would be doing this instead of me?

[Calebpinter 0]

1 hour ago, geowrian said:

If you are providing a service that normally is performed by somebody as part of their job, then it is not permitted without a work visa. Compensation or not is not really the issued (albeit compensation can be used as a factor....as you would normally compensate an employee or contractor). However, there's a lot of nuance to this since it's so broad. The example of working in a soup kitchen is one fairly simple one - you don't get compensated for doing it, and you aren't "taking" a job away from from somebody else. A murkier example is helping your family build an addition to their house - normally, a contractor would perform that function. Unfortunately, I don't think anybody here can make a definitive call for your specific circumstance. It may be no big deal, or it may be viewed as work - all based on the totality of the factors involved. I don't like giving such non-answer answers (), but I really think that's the boat you're in and a call you need to make...knowing the risk that it may or may not be considered work. When in doubt, ask yourself - is there a (legal) worker who could be would be doing this instead of me?

Ok, thanks that helps a lot.