K-1 AOS phase work query

[Tonez 24]

Hello.

 

I am currently in the K-1 process, waiting for NOA2, and was having a discussion with a friend who asked me a question I hadn't thought about, and with a quick search online, I couldn't find anything confirming or denying what I was asked.

 

During the AOS (after the wedding) and waiting for the Green Card, would someone (myself) be allowed to work for a company based in their home country and get paid to a bank account in the same home country?

 

I ask because it may be possible for me to do this as I work remotely anyway. I am unsure whether being paid by a UK (in my case) company to a UK bank account would be legal or not. If anyone can advise or better, has a link to official information about such a situation, I'd be greatly appreciative

 

Thanks in advance

Edited July 25, 2020 by Tonez
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[TBoneTX 45,267]

Welcome to the forum.

Thread is moved from the K-1 Process forum to the Working & Traveling forum -- topic is work.

[Tonez 24]

Thank you. I didn't see this forum section, only the work visa section.

[Lucky2Lucky 2,526]

2 hours ago, Tonez said:

Hello.

 

I am currently in the K-1 process, waiting for NOA2, and was having a discussion with a friend who asked me a question I hadn't thought about, and with a quick search online, I couldn't find anything confirming or denying what I was asked.

 

During the AOS (after the wedding) and waiting for the Green Card, would someone (myself) be allowed to work for a company based in their home country and get paid to a bank account in the same home country?

 

I ask because it may be possible for me to do this as I work remotely anyway. I am unsure whether being paid by a UK (in my case) company to a UK bank account would be legal or not. If anyone can advise or better, has a link to official information about such a situation, I'd be greatly appreciative

 

Thanks in advance

You can work once you have your EAD. It is highly recommended to apply for EAD and AP with AOS- as currently there is no extra cost to apply. Expect it to take 4-6 months. You are unable to work during this time - regardless if it is a non out of the country/foreign pay. If working/making money is a necessity for you guys I suggest withdrawing the k1, marry, file cr1 and go that route )will take longer but you won’t have a gap in income) this is one of the pitfalls with the k1 that needs to be researched before you begin the process.

[Tonez 24]

12 minutes ago, Luckycuds said:

You can work once you have your EAD. It is highly recommended to apply for EAD and AP with AOS- as currently there is no extra cost to apply. Expect it to take 4-6 months. You are unable to work during this time - regardless if it is a non out of the country/foreign pay. If working/making money is a necessity for you guys I suggest withdrawing the k1, marry, file cr1 and go that route )will take longer but you won’t have a gap in income) this is one of the pitfalls with the k1 that needs to be researched before you begin the process.

Firstly, I have fully researched K-1 and CR1 and that's why we (me and my fiancé) chose the K-1. We can afford the income gap easily, so please don't patronise me.

 

Secondly, I have seen no legal document stating that working remotely and getting paid in another country is illegal during AOS (it is legal to do on a tourist visa) so can you back your claim up please?

[Lucky2Lucky 2,526]

27 minutes ago, Tonez said:

Firstly, I have fully researched K-1 and CR1 and that's why we (me and my fiancé) chose the K-1. We can afford the income gap easily, so please don't patronise me.

 

Secondly, I have seen no legal document stating that working remotely and getting paid in another country is illegal during AOS (it is legal to do on a tourist visa) so can you back your claim up please?

Wow. I am not patronizing you; I am offering advice. I wouldn’t know if you fully researched your options and was merely pointing out differences and if you had a priority one choice would be better than the other. If you search on VJ the majority of k1s are shocked/uninformed to know they can’t work for an extended period of time.  Secondly, FYI, working remotely on a tourist visa is NOT legal as well. If you did that you would have violated the terms of your b1/b2. Regarding working while in the US without a valid work authorization: https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states https://www.lawinfo.com/resources/immigration/can-i-work-in-the-us-if-i-am-not-a-us-cit.html

[Tonez 24]

28 minutes ago, Luckycuds said:

Wow. I am not patronizing you; I am offering advice. I wouldn’t know if you fully researched your options and was merely pointing out differences and if you had a priority one choice would be better than the other. If you search on VJ the majority of k1s are shocked/uninformed to know they can’t work for an extended period of time.  Secondly, FYI, working remotely on a tourist visa is NOT legal as well. If you did that you would have violated the terms of your b1/b2. Regarding working while in the US without a valid work authorization: https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states https://www.lawinfo.com/resources/immigration/can-i-work-in-the-us-if-i-am-not-a-us-cit.html

Please can you show me an official link saying you can't work remotely with a company in the home country whilst on a tourist visa? Everything I've read says you can

[Lucky2Lucky 2,526]

6 minutes ago, Tonez said:

Please can you show me an official link saying you can't work remotely with a company in the home country whilst on a tourist visa? Everything I've read says you can

Everything you read on VJ says you can work on a tourist visa? Or everything you read in general, including the visa application/interview where you attest that you would follow the rules of the visa? You can look up the terms of a B1/B2 visa and that states you can not work; it is for tourism/visiting/medical treatment/social events. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-visit/visitor.html

I am not going to provide advice that goes against TOS and say you can work remotely; you can't work on a visitor visa.

You can also tell the IO you are here in the US and plan on working remotely and see how that goes?

[Tonez 24]

1 hour ago, Luckycuds said:

Everything you read on VJ says you can work on a tourist visa? Or everything you read in general, including the visa application/interview where you attest that you would follow the rules of the visa? You can look up the terms of a B1/B2 visa and that states you can not work; it is for tourism/visiting/medical treatment/social events. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-visit/visitor.html

I am not going to provide advice that goes against TOS and say you can work remotely; you can't work on a visitor visa.

You can also tell the IO you are here in the US and plan on working remotely and see how that goes?

The terms state you cannot work in the US. Working remotely means you are completing work and getting paid in your home country. People do this all the time all over the world whilst on vacation and don't break any visa laws.

 

For example, my job can get me clients in the USA and I can complete the work here in the UK. Do I need a USA work visa to complete the work? Absolutely not.

 

That's why I was wondering if it was the same during AOS. As you have no evidence saying otherwise, I await further information. Thank you for your input.

Edited July 25, 2020 by Tonez

[Wuozopo 4,293]

7 hours ago, Tonez said:

ask because it may be possible for me to do this as I work remotely anyway. I am unsure whether being paid by a UK (in my case) company to a UK bank account would be legal or not. If anyone can advise or better, has a link to official information about such a situation, I'd be greatly appreciative

There is no official information spelled out in the law on this often discussed topic. I’ve seen it debated by immigration lawyers with good arguments on both sides why they interpret it one way or the other. It’s a gray area. Many do it with no repercussions and many don’t do it because they have been convinced it is illegal by somebody on the internet. I am pretty convinced that nobody has a black and white source to go by. You’ll just have to decide what you are comfortable with. 
 

In a related area to the earning abroad question is paying income tax. When you live in the US, you file taxes with the IRS, and no longer pay income tax to the UK. It doesn’t matter if it is a British company, paying you in pounds sterling, and deposited in Barclays. You claim that money (worldwide income) and pay US taxes on it once you live in the US. Start researching tax topics on irs.gov while you wait on K1 visas to start moving again. 

Edited July 25, 2020 by Wuozopo

[Tonez 24]

15 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

There is no official information spelled out in the law on this often discussed topic. I’ve seen it debated by immigration lawyers with good arguments on both sides why they interpret it one way or the other. It’s a gray area. Many do it with no repercussions and many don’t do it because they have been convinced it is illegal by somebody on the internet. I am pretty convinced that nobody has a black and white source to go by. You’ll just have to decide what you are comfortable with. 
 

In a related area to the earning abroad question is paying income tax. When you live in the US, you file taxes with the IRS, and no longer pay income tax to the UK. It doesn’t matter if it is a British company, paying you in pounds sterling, and deposited in Barclays. You claim that money (worldwide income) and pay US taxes on it once you live in the US. Start researching tax topics on irs.gov while you wait on K1 visas to start moving again. 

Thank you.

 

That's the information I wanted

[HRQX 4,145]

14 hours ago, Tonez said:

Please can you show me an official link saying you can't work remotely with a company in the home country whilst on a tourist visa?

Do note the federal tax implications as even Nonresident Aliens (NRA) are subject to US tax code. Per US tax code, income from services performed for a foreign employer by someone present in the United States is considered to be "US source income."

[igoyougoduke 1,656]

12 hours ago, Tonez said:

Thank you.

 

That's the information I wanted

when you are in the United states, you are bound by US laws.   The moment you are physically in US, you need work authorization to work. It does not matter if your employer in Krygistan or Idaho or Antarctica.   

[Tonez 24]

8 hours ago, James120383 said:

when you are in the United states, you are bound by US laws.   The moment you are physically in US, you need work authorization to work. It does not matter if your employer in Krygistan or Idaho or Antarctica.   

This is not entirely true as I know you can work remotely on a tourist visa, as long as you are working for a company and getting paid in to a bank account not in the US.

 

This is why I was asking, because I was wondering it if was the same whilst doing AOS, but as I have been made aware, if you are living in the US then it is not allowed

[Ayrton 965]

51 minutes ago, Tonez said:

This is not entirely true as I know you can work remotely on a tourist visa, as long as you are working for a company and getting paid in to a bank account not in the US.

 

This is why I was asking, because I was wondering it if was the same whilst doing AOS, but as I have been made aware, if you are living in the US then it is not allowed

 

https://fam.state.gov/fam/09FAM/09FAM040202.html

 

You can't work on a B2 visa, which is the tourist visa. Read the link above and you will see that if you want to perform any kind of work in the US, either for a US or foreign employer, you need a B1 visa, which is a visitor visa for business purposes. It doesn't matter if it's remotely. You can't. The law won't specifically say: you can't work REMOTELY on a b2 visa. The law will say that, in the first place, to be granted a B2 visa, you need to fall under one of the qualifications for it, and work is not one of them.

 

For K1 visa, everything is different. Your place of residence is not your home country anymore. You are now a US resident alien (I'm not talking about legal status). So you now need to follow rules specifically for resident aliens. Forget about B2, because it doesn't apply to you.

 

https://www.nationofimmigrators.com/courts-on-immigration-law/immigration-lawyers-arguing-can-i-work-from-home-for-a-foreign-employer/

 

On the link above you will find the interpretation from different lawyers on working in the US for a foreign employer with no work authorization. And they show why that's their interpretation.

 

The last thing I'll say is that you do whatever you want to do. You came to forum to ask for our opinion, and the opinion for the majority of the people here (and lawyers as well) is that you can't work. But if you don't want to follow that, just know that you may face consequences later on.