Working from the US through VPN - what gives?

Hello everyone,

I'm a Danish citizen eager to come back to the United States. I have visited the country several times on leisure.

I have family in California which I plan to visit for a good months time later this year. I am able to work from home using VPN which also means I can work anywhere I want to, provided there's an internet connection.

But what would working from the US through VPN mean with regard to choosing the right Visa? And where would I have to pay taxes off of my income? Officially, when working through VPN, it is the exact same as if I was sitting at the office in Copenhagen, Denmark albeit at a remote location.

Do I just choose the typical tourist visa, or must I choose a different one?

I apologize in advance if this thread has been placed in the wrong category, and I hope you will help me to correct this mistake.

Thank you for your time.

Well, this forum is specifically for issues that Canadians would face in going to the US. Visa requirements are quite different for other countries, as Europeans are bound by the 90 day Visa Waiver Programme. Canadians are not.

I'd suggest you Google something more in the line of Danes traveling in US.

I do know that you will need some sort of work authorization in order to legally work from the US, regardless of who or where your employer is. If you were to show up at the POE with laptop in hand and say you're there to visit family, and to work remotely, they'll turn you away.

Hi Reba,

Thank you for your response.

I know it was a bit far fetched, but atleast you've pointed me in the right direction. Something extra is required, and that places me one step ahead compared to what I was before.

Thank you very much, I will Google - and hopefully find.

Mahalo

There's no work authorization that covers this sort of arrangement whether you're Danish or Canadian, so effectively you cannot legally do it. Basically the law hasn't caught up with technology.

There are convoluted ways of doing it, for example if your spouse has L-1 or E-1/2 then you can get work authorization in the derivative category as L-2 or E Spouse.

It's something that has always been really silly, for example say you are a travel writer who writes travel books. Is it illegal for you to start writing the book on your laptop while in the US and you have to wait until you get home? Is it even legal to enter the US because technically you are "working" rather than just visiting?

Basically a very grey area of the law, the State Dept. simply comes back with the stock answer that journalists must have an I visa, but go and check the shelf in your local bookstore and see how many of those books look like they were written by people with visas.

The other common example is say you were in California and someone phones you up from the office in Denmark to ask you a question - well at that point you are technically "working". However caselaw is that "incidental" work like that does not violate visitor status.

I was in a situation once where I was using my laptop in a transit lounge in the US. At that point you haven't even legally entered the US, but yet I was "working" in the US.

On the tax situation, the answer is basically yes, you should pay taxes while working in the US on your income. But it's hard to do in this situation as essentially your employer (or you) would need to set up a US payroll and put you on it. There are usually exemptions in the tax treaty for short-term work that is under a certain dollar limit, but you'd have to check the US-Denmark tax treaty.

Read IRS publication 519 and check the treaty provisions in publication 901.

It ain't the EU.

Hi Steven,

Thank you for your reply.

What if I, hypothetically speaking, were to travel on a VWP / normal 90 day turist visa? What do you think the chances are of anyone ever finding out, that I was working through VPN a few nights a week? The far overweight is going to be relaxation.

If caught - what would happen? I would get deported and denied entrance in the future?

Thanks.

Well obviously it's illegal, simple as that. If you get caught you get banned and will not be able to re-enter.

I doubt arriving from Denmark is the same experience I get driving across the border, but they always ask what I do for a living and as soon as I mention IT they ask me if I have a laptop, what I will be doing with my laptop in the US, etc. So they are wise to it.

I'm sure thousands of people do it though, I even remember being in a hotel once in the US and one of the other people there told me he was working on a laptop from his hotel room but he lived in the UK. Well obviously that was illegal as he had no work authorization.

I do know a guy in BC who got stopped for it once when he was crossing into Point Roberts. He got a load of hassle and they put it into his entry record, so now every time he crosses they see it in his record and he gets hassled again.

And one tip - if you think a nine-hour time difference is like working from your office, think again!

Well obviously it's illegal, simple as that. If you get caught you get banned and will not be able to re-enter.

I doubt arriving from Denmark is the same experience I get driving across the border, but they always ask what I do for a living and as soon as I mention IT they ask me if I have a laptop, what I will be doing with my laptop in the US, etc. So they are wise to it.

I'm sure thousands of people do it though, I even remember being in a hotel once in the US and one of the other people there told me he was working on a laptop from his hotel room but he lived in the UK. Well obviously that was illegal as he had no work authorization.

I do know a guy in BC who got stopped for it once when he was crossing into Point Roberts. He got a load of hassle and they put it into his entry record, so now every time he crosses they see it in his record and he gets hassled again.

And one tip - if you think a nine-hour time difference is like working from your office, think again!

Hi Steven,

Thanks again for your response. Well, I think two factors come into play. I have travelled to the US on numerous occasions before and also carrying a laptop. I received no remarks on the laptop what so ever. I stated upon entry the visit had a leisurely purpose. So I guess it all comes down to my ability to tell a white lie.

I'm not a hustler, not a cheater and not a fraud. I just wish there was a simpler way to do this without breaking immigration laws. I plan to spend all the money i earn in the US, so it would've been a sound investment for the US if this was possible.

What are you refering to with regard to your comment about working with a nine hour time difference? I didn't get quite get that

Thank you again for your response.

Well unless you're an insomniac, dealing with people with a nine-hour time difference is usually pretty difficult. Either you're half asleep or they are.

I'm not a hustler, not a cheater and not a fraud.

But it is illegal, that's all they care about. There's a show on ABC called Homeland Security USA and some of the stuff they have on that show just blows my mind, in the last episode CBP fined a guy $300 for failing to declare an apple he had in his suitcase that he had forgotten about. But in a previous episode at the same POE they let a guy bring in dead guinea pigs because they are allowed in. Dead guinea pig okay, apple not okay, this is as far as they are required to think.

They also had a guy who came in from Mexico and his car smelt of marijuana, so they spent ages swabbing the car and going through the ashtray trying to get a gram of marijuana together so they could prosecute him.

Like I said, it's not the EU. The US takes their laws very seriously.

I will have to remember that. Apples bad...dead guinea pigs ok!