Which visa for a remote freelancer with a US client traveling to the United States?
- By
- Aparna Patel
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- 19 Jul, 2023
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The relationship with your client is totally irrelevant
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Where and when you get paid is totally irrelevant
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Whether you own or do not own your own business is totally irrelevant
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Whether the client is paying you, or your business, is totally irrelevant
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Whether the company is a US company or a foreign company is irrelevant (it’s quite common to meet, say, your Japanese client in the US for some reason)
The ONLY THING that is relevant is this:
If you are there for MEETINGS
you are totally OK. That is the very purpose of the visa.
If you are there for "work"
you cannot do that.
That’s all there is to it.
Thus you literally said:
Purpose of this trip is to attend meetings and work there for the duration of my stay.
If on arrival you say the words "I’m here to work for two weeks" the officer will roll his eyes, mumble "why did you say that" and send you home to Europe.
If on arrival you say the words "I’m here to meet my client Massive Engineering for a couple weeks" he’ll just wave you in, like the other 60% of people on the plane in the identical situation.
That’s the deal.
Note that anyone who has actually done this (and vast numbers of folks do) will explain this to you. For example, see the excellent example by @brahms in the comments.
Yes, in reality you’ll probably do some "work" while you’re there. 100.000% of people do this. It’s not as if you will sit there and say "I can’t open my laptop and do one line of code". In fact, you actually can’t open your laptop and do one line of code, as that is "work", by the letter. But the reality is everyone does that. If you’re only talking a couple weeks now and then, that’s how it goes down.
Purpose of this trip is to attend meetings and work there for the duration of my stay. Would this be possible with a B1 visa?
This is kind of a grey area as B1 visas are supposed to be used for business, but there isn’t a precise definition of what “business” is. Washing someone’s car is definitely not a form of doing business. Attending a meeting is usually business. But what about doing some coding after the meeting is over? That’s where the grey area begins.
But as a general rule you should be okay. Simply make sure to never mention the word “work” when you arrive in front of an immigration officer in the US. Say you are there for meetings, team building, discussion of projects, etc, but not “work”. Presumably that’s the truth in your case – you are only going to visit the US to do things which are hard to resolve remotely.
Source: visiting the US on a B1 visa to meet with colleagues.
I was also thinking of taking a few weeks off and extending my stay for pleasure, could this be done on either of these visas?
If you’re admitted as a B1 visitor you may also engage in tourist activities. No extra visas are required for that purpose.
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