Business travel to the United States for European company
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do we need specific visas to be employed by our European company but work short-term in the USA?
It depends...
The Visa waiver program allows citizens or nationals of participating countries (and Germany is one of the participating countries) to travel to the United States for business for stays of 90 days or less without obtaining a visa.
You will be allowed to conduct temporary business for the purposes allowed on a B-1 business visitor visa (without having to apply for that visa).
So far so good!
Official online resources such as this and this only show a few examples of what is allowed on a B-1 visa i.e. "consult with business associates" and "negotiate a contract" , Wikipedia lists a lot more examples but nowhere does it really explain exactly when conducting such temporary business becomes an unauthorized work activity which is no longer allowed under the visa waiver program and for which you will require a visa or (temporary) work permit...
Is the purpose of your business trip one of the commonly allowed business activities found in the examples above? Then you're good under the visa waiver program and you can give an honest answer to immigration officials that you're traveling for business without risking having your entry denied.
If you're intended business is not allowed under visa waiver program, then yes, you will need to apply for a visa.
After the OP's edit and comments:
The purpose of the trip is a risk assessment in the Client's plant, which amounts in layman terms to 4 weeks of business meetings.
That appears permissible under the visa waiver program.
Upvote:-2
Yes, you can!
What you will be looking for would be a B-1 in lieu of H-1B exception:
This exception applies to otherwise-qualified applicants who seek to enter the US to perform professional services. These would-be entrants are not allowed to receive remuneration from a US source (other than an expense allowance or reimburs*m*nt) and must be customarily employed by a non-US firm that will continue to pay their salary during the temporary assignment in the US. This provision is referred to as the ‘B-1 in lieu of H-1B’ exception, and is often used by consultants of all varieties who travel to the US to perform short-term professional services on behalf of their UK employers. Although in a May 13, 2011 letter to a US Senator the Department of State indicated that it plans to revoke or at least ‘substantially amend’ the regulation that establishes the B-1 in lieu of H-1B visa, for the time being the visa is still available.
You can find a longer discussion of the details on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_visa_in_lieu_of_other_visas#B-1_in_lieu_of_H-1B and lots of US immigration laywer websites.
Please note that qualified applicants means qualified for Visa Waiver as opposed to qualified to do their job. This is easy to misunderstand.
Note that it is extremely important that you will not get get paid by the US company but by your home company for the work you will be performing in the US.
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