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I am planning to go travelling extensively for the next few months. I am employed in a company that allows me to work remotely, I can do my job from any place that has an internet connection.

The countries I'm thinking of travelling to are those for which I would not require a visa, so I don't think "tourist visa" or "business visa" issues apply to me.

I have heard that there are countries which do not allow remote workers to work while they are in that country, but I'm having trouble finding out specifically which countries those are.

Can anyone give me more information regarding this or point to a place where I could get more information? If it helps, the countries I'm thinking of going to are Israel, Brazil, and Colombia.

Niel
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    See http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/2310/which-countries-if-any-offer-on-arrival-work-visas – Relaxed Jun 03 '15 at 12:32
  • And what is your nationality? – gmauch Jun 03 '15 at 15:41
  • See also http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/45092/where-can-i-travel-for-prolonged-periods-of-time-while-legally-working-remotely/45492#45492 – Gayot Fow Jun 03 '15 at 16:01
  • I'm South African – Niel Jun 03 '15 at 19:24
  • So reading the answers to http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/45092/where-can-i-travel-for-prolonged-periods-of-time-while-legally-working-remotely basically the only place where I can legally remote work is Svalbard? Anywhere else I just have to hope they don't care/don't catch me? – Niel Jun 04 '15 at 10:56

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Visa-free entry and stay rules are typically tied to the rules for a specific visa category. For example, the US has two visitors visas (B1/B2) but even if you don't need one, one of the requirements of the visa waiver program is that “Travel Purpose Must be Permitted on a Visitor (B) Visa”.

Similarly, the requirements to enter the Schengen area for a visa-free short-stay are exactly the same as those you need to fulfil to apply for a visa (except holding proof of health insurance). Main difference is that in practice most people don't have to produce much evidence at the border whereas visa applications require extensive supporting documentation. But, formally, the rules are still the same. It's more-or-less the same in the UK, I think.

So the fact that your citizenship allows you to enter many countries without a visa does not grant you any general advantage when it comes to work.

Working remotely is not particularly helpful either, legally speaking. Very often work permit are clearly designed for people who have an offer from a local employer but that does not imply that you are allowed to work without a work permit if you don't. It means that it might be more difficult to work remotely than locally because you still need a permit but there is no easy way to obtain one.

There might be some exceptions (including the countries mentioned in Which countries, if any, offer on-arrival work visas?) and maybe some countries will one day enact rules to attract remote workers but by default, I think you can simply assume it's not allowed.

Regarding the specifics, I can't comment on Brazil or Israel but I do know that Colombia is actually more picky than most regarding the purpose of travel. You need to specify why you want to enter the country and will get a different stamp depending on that purpose. I have a friend who said by mistake that she was coming for tourism whereas she wanted to attend a scientific conference. She had to go to some government office, wait half a day and pay a fee to change the stamps as passports were checked at the entrance of the conference venue to make sure people had the right visa/status.

So not only do they ask about your intent (which is common) but they formally record it and make at least some effort to enforce the distinction, even when work is not involved.

All this to say that “tourist visa”/“business visa” rules (and other such distinctions) definitely apply to you and that you should investigate each destination carefully if you want to be fully above board. Realistically, what most people do is simply go under tourism rules and hope enforcement is lax enough to stay undetected (which it often is at least if you are working remotely, not staying too long and nobody reports you to the authorities).

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Relaxed
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    Going to a conference or visiting a business that you work with are a bit different than firing up your laptop in a hotel room to tend to business back home. If the later requires a business visa, then 60% of adult travelers are violating laws, since we all keep up emails, company finances, etc. Countries are more concerned with people who reside in, draw salary in their country, rather than tourists doing some home work while visiting. –  Jun 03 '15 at 14:02
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    @Tom Huh? Actually visiting a business is typically allowed whereas working remotely technically isn't and academic conferences are often treated separately so I would expect countries to care even less about that. But that example was merely there to show purpose does matter even if you benefit from a visa waiver as there is half-a-dozen distinct categories (if memory serves) for that in Colombia. Just to be clear: My friend did not get and did not need any visa in advance, business or otherwise. – Relaxed Jun 03 '15 at 14:16
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    Beyond that, we could discuss why that is but it's not true that countries generally do not care about remote workers, cf. http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/45092/where-can-i-travel-for-prolonged-periods-of-time-while-legally-working-remotely/45492#45492 (Do note that the OP's work would not be incidental, he isn't actually planning to check his email during a vacation). – Relaxed Jun 03 '15 at 14:16
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    And of course it might very well be that 60% of adult travellers violate the law. I would think that the proportion of drivers who go over the speed limit at least once in any given year would be similar if not higher, yet it's not a good way to determine whether speeding is allowed. – Relaxed Jun 03 '15 at 14:32
  • @Tom: It's all a matter of interpretation evaluated differently by each country. You could just as well argue that any conversation about work that takes place back home (that's what a conference boils down to) warrants a business visa. How about going on a vacation with friends who work in the same field? – O. R. Mapper Jun 03 '15 at 15:03
  • @Relaxed, I like that thread also, but it doesn't have content for the OP's specific case (otherwise it would be a duplicate). Do you think it can be extrapolated to be canonical? Or that South America is a different situation altogether? – Gayot Fow Jun 03 '15 at 15:16
  • @GayotFow I don't know, I mostly mentioned it to show that some governments are aware of the issue and do care so you can't assume it's all fine. If someone has more specific info about Israel or South America, they can post it here. – Relaxed Jun 03 '15 at 15:30
  • @Relaxed, if the other one is canonical enough, they can include it there also. – Gayot Fow Jun 03 '15 at 15:46
  • @O.R.Mapper - Exactly, it is the interuptation of each country, and that is what the OP is seeking clarification on. General answers based on UK rules as referenced or Columbia's conference policy doesn't address the issue anymore than my generalization (which was based on responses from immigration in countries I frequent). Plus we have no idea exactly what "work" Neil is engaged in. –  Jun 03 '15 at 19:29
  • @Tom, I'm a software developer for a company based in South Africa. I am South African as well. We have a Peruvian employee who works from Peru, but I'm not sure what his situation is. – Niel Jun 03 '15 at 19:38
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    Until someone with accurate knowledge of your specific destinations provides an answer, your best source of info is calling the respective Embassies and asking them. All comments so far are simply people's experiences with other countries. –  Jun 03 '15 at 19:55
  • @Tom My answer is obviously not a full catalogue of the rules in each and every country on earth so I agree with you that more details are needed and hopefully some people more knowledgeable than myself will be able to provide some. At the same time, it's a little more than UK rules (for example, I also mention Schengen and the US, so 30+ countries in total and I believe most of it apply to many other countries). And my point with the example is not that there are restrictions for conference goers but that Colombia does make a distinction between several categories of visa waivers. – Relaxed Jun 03 '15 at 20:15
  • Most importantly, my answer provides a clear rebuttal of the assumption (implicit in both the question and your comments) that countries generally don't care about remote work and that visa waivers rules have fewer restrictions than visas. The exact same issues apply, which is precisely why it's important to research the rule for each country. – Relaxed Jun 03 '15 at 20:16
  • @Niel No reason a Peruvian in Peru should have any issue. Citizens generally can work for whomever they want, they don't need a permit to work in their own country. The key point is in fact that citizenship and location are much more important than the employer. So working for a SA company does not exempt you from any visa requirement. But being a citizen where you actually work does. – Relaxed Jun 03 '15 at 20:19
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Since you do not appear to be setting up residency anywhere it is highly unlikely anyone will care. You will not have a local job, therefore you are no different than someone traveling there for meetings, training or conferences and replying to a few work emails.

However, you can make immigration care simply by rubbing their noses in it. If you spend the day on your hotel balcony working on your laptop no one will notice. If you arrive and say that you intend to work from your hotel room for a week you can expect a somewhat lengthy interview and/or a very short stay in the country.

paul
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