In this video, we'll talk about whether a tourist, somebody who is here on a tourist
visa can work remotely for companies like Fiverr or Upwork while present, physically,
in the United States. Hey, everybody. So in this video, we'll talk about a question actually,
that I've been getting in our comments here on YouTube, but also through email from some
of our clients. And so the question is, if somebody is here on a tourist visa, visiting,
they have up to six months to be in the United States, what if during this time while they
visit, they are also trying to work remotely for companies like Upwork or Fiverr, Freelancer,
what happens then? Before I answer that question, if you’re here for the first time, I want
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Let's dive into the subject of our video, which is, if you’re here on a tourist visa
entering the United States for the purpose of visiting, being a tourist, for leisure,
can you also perform work for remote companies that are not necessarily in the US if you're
not getting paid in the United States? So, the biggest issue that I see here and the
confusion that a lot of my clients have is they say, “Listen, yes, we are physically
in the United States, but we're not getting paid here. These companies are sending us
our payments via PayPal or Stripe to our home countries.” Well, this is really a gray
area, because if you're physically in the United States, and you're performing work
on your accounts, there's a log of the work the dates while you work while you’re physically
present in the United States, even if the money is not sent to you in the US, you are
performing work while on US soil while being a tourist. Sometimes, these clients are US
clients. So, the question is actually, where are the clients, first of all, and where are
you getting paid? If your clients are not in the US, and you're not getting paid in
the US, then you’re really kind of in a very light gray area because still, you are
a tourist and you are performing work in the United States. Let’s say graphic design,
or podcasting editing, or whatever that you do, you're doing that while you're here as
a tourist in the United States. And even if you don't gain your income, generate necessarily
income in the US, I personally advise my clients not to do that, try not to perform the work.
What you can do is, if you will come in here and try to get contracts, or close deals,
negotiate contracts that eventually you will perform in your home country, that may be
allowed on a B1 visa, which is basically when you come to the United States, they will ask
you if come here for business or for pleasure if you are intending to try to kind of drum
up some contracts, or close some deals with US clients, then you will come in on the B1
visa, and then you are allowed to meet your clients, set some terms, negotiate, make some
planning, and then when you leave the US you can actually perform the work and get paid.
The safest thing would be not to do the work while you're in the US, not get paid while
you're in the United States, even if you're not getting paid to a US account. And the
best thing would be, essentially, is to build maybe some of your client portfolios while
you’re visiting but not actually do the work while you're here in the United States.
And the reason is because, right now, as it is so sensitive, where people are entering
the US and exiting, you don't want to be in a position where one day, you'll be inspected
by CBP, and then look at your computer and they see that you have all these contracts
and work orders on Upwork. And then they're not actually going to try to question whether
this actually happened in the US or not in the US and all they're going to do is just
revoke your tourist visa. So, the safest bet would be, if you know you're going to be coming
to the US because you're a freelancer, always try to get a B1 because that will give you
more flexibility. You can still be a tourist and visit, but at the same time, you can also
come here and negotiate some contracts and do some work. Essentially, do some due diligence
for future work, but not actually do the work and not actually get paid while you here in
the US. So, the gist of it is if you're a tourist, you just want B1, which is the Business
Tourist visa. And I would not recommend doing any physical work while in the US and specifically
not get paid while being in the US. So, there you have it. Hopefully, you find this information
useful. If you do know somebody who may benefit from this, share this video, like or comment,
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know in the comments what other videos you want us to make. Thanks for watching. I will
see you in our next video.