Only Cdn employee for US company - Visa required to enter US

Hello,

I've reviewed the forums and can't seem to find an answer to my question, so I'm posting it here.

For 7.5 years I worked for a company that was headquartered in the US but that had Canadian offices (as well as other international offices). I would travel several times a year to the US for conferences and company meetings and never had any issues.

This year I switched jobs to another company that is headquartered in the US, but I'm their first Canadian employee. My position/title (Product Manager) and responsabilities are the same. After that switch, I went to the states for company meetings and the customs officer started telling me I would need a Visa for business trips to the states. This spooked me, and now I'm nervous about some upcoming trips, wondering if I need a Visa or not.

I am paid in Canadian dollars, and my employer pays CPP, EI, and does all of the appropriate tax withholdings. I need to double-check this, but I'm pretty sure they have a registered Canadian business number to do this. I know I will be receiving a regular T4 just like in the past.

My trips are always attending conferences or company meetings. When I attend conferences, I either do so of my own accord (I'm a subject matter expert and I help Microsoft by being at their conferences, working with the community -- this is something I do on the side without pay) or I present sessions (again, in my area of expertise, working with the community, and again, unpaid). For company meetings, these are simply on-site meetings to plan our roadmap.

I typically travel to the US about 4-8 times per year, for anywhere between 2 days up to 6 days at a time.

This is all identical to the work I did while I was at my previous employer.

Given this situation, can you advise me on whether I need a Visa or not? If I need a Visa, which type of Visa do I need?

The last thing I want is to get stuck at customs by a border official and delay or altogether be blocked from going on one of my trips.

Thanks in advance,

Poshoholic

The fact that you were let in (despite the officer's finger-wagging) means that you do not need a work status to enter. You were admitted and will continue to be admitted in undocumented B1 status, like you always have been.

If you truly needed a work status other than B1 to enter the time when you were told you "needed" a work vias, then the officer should be pulled from duty for not doing is one job.

He's not of course, and nor do you need a visa or status other than B1.

Thank you for reassuring me...what the officer was saying just didn't make sense, and it felt like he was leading the conversation intentionally in a certain direction. I really appreciate your timely response!