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I work for a Canadian startup company from my home in India (i.e remotely). I have been working as an independent contractor for them for the past 4 years.

Recently, I have decided to travel to Spain/Netherlands for tourism purposes.

Is it a good idea to mention that I am a remote worker in the Schengen application form? Do the embassy workers understand the concept of a "remote job"? Will I be red-flagged by any chance?

In the application form I have mentioned my office address location as Canada. Is that a good idea?

Any help would be invaluable. Thanks

EDIT:

I have savings of about €6500 in my bank account

Also, I have a salary of about €1460 per month through my contract which is valid till Dec 2020.

DavidRecallsMonica
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sp497
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    Of course you should mention it, it's what gives you money to travel abroad. – CaldeiraG Sep 12 '19 at 09:00
  • But do they understand what a remote job is? Because I work from home as an independent contractor. I am salaried but still under an "Independent contract agreement" – sp497 Sep 12 '19 at 09:05
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    If you don’t mention it, how will you explain your occupation and from where you derive your income and savings? Pretty much everyone understands the concept of remote working nowadays. Provide your contract with your application for the avoidance of doubt. The downside of this type of employment is that inherently it can be done from anywhere in the world therefore it’s a weaker tie to your home country than an India-based job would be, so your other ties to home need to be strong to compensate. – Traveller Sep 12 '19 at 09:09
  • @Traveller What can I mention for other ties to my home country? I have a sufficient bank balance and also a NOC letter from my company. Anything else to be included? – sp497 Sep 12 '19 at 09:23
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    Why do you think a European country won't know what a remote job is? – Hanky Panky Sep 12 '19 at 09:24
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    There are many (and worse) red flags then telling the truth. "Indian remote worker"? In Europe we know too well this concepts: outsourcing and remote workers. – Giacomo Catenazzi Sep 12 '19 at 09:25
  • @HankyPanky Not about the country, but the people working at the embassies are sometimes not updated about the latest trend in the world. – sp497 Sep 12 '19 at 09:25
  • @GiacomoCatenazzi So u think mentioning "Indian Remote Worker" is not an issue ? – sp497 Sep 12 '19 at 09:26
  • Also, what other documents should I show to show strong ties to my country? I am unmarried at the moment. – sp497 Sep 12 '19 at 09:27
  • @HankyPanky "Outsourcing" is different from remote jobs. And yes outsourcing has been a part of the industry for more than 30 years. Remote jobs have been more of a recent phenomenon. For justifying the legality of the income what documents would be great? (Along with bank statements, Contracts etc) – sp497 Sep 12 '19 at 09:33
  • @Srinivas Prabhu See https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/103826/how-to-prove-that-you-have-significant-ties-with-family-in-your-home-country for examples of ties to home country. Having a decent travel history is important as well. See eg https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/53411/schengen-visa-refusal-justification-for-the-purpose-and-conditions-of-the-inten If your personal profile is something like ‘young, no/minimal travel history, no family (eg spouse, dependent parents/child) or fixed employment ties, your chances are probably relatively slim IMHO – Traveller Sep 12 '19 at 09:34
  • @Traveller Well my profile is young, (travel history through nepal and bhutan), dependent mother, fixed contract till december 2020. Do u think it is still slim chance? – sp497 Sep 12 '19 at 09:42
  • @Srinivas Prabhu Just an opinion, but yes I do. See the graphic in this question https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/49478/schengen-visa-refused-from-german-embassy for how the risk assessment would probably work. – Traveller Sep 12 '19 at 09:50

2 Answers2

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Yes, you need to explain in the application how you make a living. Otherwise your visa will surely be refused because then your application is indistinguishable from "unemployed with no income, probably desperate to try to find work as an illegal immigrant in our country".

"Working remotely for a foreign company" is perhaps less convincing for a visa officer than actual local jobs -- you could keep doing that work even from the Schengen area, so it's not a close tie to your home country. But still having a job (that you document in the application) is infinitely better than not having one.

Document the job you have. It's not helpful that speculate that a different job would make for a stronger application if you had it, because you don't.

I would understand "office address location" to be the place where you physically carry out your work. If you're working from home, you don't have a separate office address.

(Do document the employer's office in Canada -- but it's not yours).

hmakholm left over Monica
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  • So I mention my house address as "office address location"? In which field of the Schengen Visa application form do I mention the employer's office? – sp497 Sep 13 '19 at 11:36
  • I cannot work from a different location because my work requires powerful desktop computers with a powerful graphics card. So basically, I have a home office. I cannot work from anywhere using laptops. How do I mention all this in my cover letter? – sp497 Sep 13 '19 at 11:37
  • @sp497 I wouldn't write any "office address" at all if you don't have one. - And, as far as the visa officer is concerned, there'd be nothing stopping you from having your work computer shipped to you if you decide to immigrate illegally. – hmakholm left over Monica Sep 13 '19 at 13:23
  • Ok. I will mention that I have not put the office address in the cover letter. – sp497 Sep 13 '19 at 13:27
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I did mention that I am a remote worker in my application and cover letter. Also, I mentioned that my employers are based out of Canada and their office address too.

I got my multiple-entry short-stay visa today for 35 days.

sp497
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