18

I am considering leaving my day job to concentrate on setting up my own business. As my business is online based, I can work from anywhere and do not need a physical office.

As such, I'm considering going travelling around South America for 6 months while I get everything set up.

Can this be done on a normal tourist visa, or would I need a work visa for each country I visit? The business will be an online service, and will initially only be available to UK based businesses.

choster
  • 43,032
  • 7
  • 122
  • 176
Gavin Coates
  • 1,152
  • 1
  • 9
  • 12
  • http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/45092/where-can-i-travel-for-prolonged-periods-of-time-while-legally-working-remotely is relevant – CMaster Feb 16 '16 at 15:26
  • What is your citizenship (if you are a UK citizen, then I have an answer for you) – CMaster Feb 16 '16 at 15:28
  • 2
    Also review http://expatriates.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/digital-nomads . – choster Feb 16 '16 at 15:45
  • @CMaster I'm a UK citizen – Gavin Coates Feb 16 '16 at 16:08
  • @GavinCoates Well, that gives you a few options to work while travelling with minimal hastle - including a small part of South America. Beyond that, you'll need to check the law for each country you want to visit. – CMaster Feb 16 '16 at 16:23
  • OP: The way you word your question, it seems like you are under the impression that there is A tourist visa for all of South America.... – CGCampbell Feb 16 '16 at 20:04
  • it's not considered work unless you're making income – Alex Gordon Feb 17 '16 at 02:54
  • 1
    @l--''''''---------'''''''''''' again, that depends on the rules of the individual country. That statement is not true for the UK for example. – CMaster Feb 17 '16 at 08:10
  • Along with the very useful answers below, if you decide to do without a working visa, consider the duration of your stay in each country. An immigration official may ask you where the money is going to come from to support yourself while in the country. If you answer "I'll be working remotely", they will probably not like it. – jcaron Feb 17 '16 at 15:38
  • On the other hand, it might be possible that a business visa (which is often very much the same as a tourist visa) actually allows you to justify extended presence in the country while still being paid by your company. But that needs to stack up: you need to have a list of people you're actually going to meet for business and/or conferences or trade fairs you'll be attending. If you undergo extended scrutiny for any reason, you'd better have the appropriate attire in your luggage, not just shorts and flip-flops :-) – jcaron Feb 17 '16 at 15:39
  • And a final comment: setting up your company is a lot of work. I'm not sure it's the right time to go travelling around the world, especially places where Internet access may not be top-notch (if available at all), factoring in all the time spend travelling, setting up, and actually exploring. If you need to have interactions with customers, don't forget that time differences can make it challenging. My advice: either take actual holidays while you explore, or stay at home while you get started. – jcaron Feb 17 '16 at 15:43

4 Answers4

16

The precise answer is local law specific, but in general, you cannot work while on a tourist/business visa or visa waiver. There are outlying exceptions, but they wouldn't cover running a business. Enforcement varies by country (and some may be happy to have you there spending money, even if its not entirley within the rules), but you are running the risk of getting in a lot of trouble if you attempt to hide the activities you intend to undertake during your stay. There are tax implications to working like this as well, which are a whole other kettle of fish.

However, you mention that you will initally be providing services to UK companies. If you are a UK citizen (or other EU citizen), then under EU freedom of movement laws, you have the right to:

  • look for a job in another EU country
  • work there without needing a work permit
  • reside there for that purpose
  • stay there even after employment has finished
  • enjoy equal treatment with nationals in access to employment, working conditions and all other social and tax advantages

So you can travel while setting up your business without any special permisions, provided you do it within the EU.

That's not South America you say? Well actually, thanks to imperialism (especially French and Iberian) the EU stretches a lot further than you might think: enter image description here (Image is By Alexrk2 - Natural Earth 1:50m http://www.naturalearthdata.com), CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15025858)

Only the blue stars are full EU (other areas may operate under different rules) but you have places as distant as French Guiana, La Réunion, Canary Islands and the Azores.

Several countires also offer "Working holiday visas", which depending on the specifics may or may not cover your requirements.

CMaster
  • 13,020
  • 7
  • 59
  • 100
  • 1
    Still not a south-america answer. Only French Guiana is in South America. Azores is in the middle of the atlantic, closer to Europe. Canary Islands is next to Sahara desert, africa. La Reunion is on the Indic Ocean. – Mindwin Remember Monica Feb 16 '16 at 18:41
  • 2
    @mindwin and OP: The onus is on you to tell us which country you are interested in. If you list more then one, though, this can easily be VtC as too broad. Pick a country, ask. Pick a different country, and ask a new question. That's how this works and the OP has enough rep to know better. – CGCampbell Feb 16 '16 at 20:03
  • 4
    The OP is considering South America, but this answer opens up several other possibilities that, in my opinion, are extremely valuable to someone who is considering a place and is unsure whether he can do so legally. Besides, South America isn't a country. – magma Feb 17 '16 at 03:41
  • 1
    Indeed - South America is just a possibility, if someone was to make an alternative suggestion that would be easier (as CMaster has done), then that will certainly be considered. No need to split hairs. – Gavin Coates Feb 17 '16 at 11:14
9

I would imagine the answer here would be country-specific, but it seems that in most countries the immigration rules are not friendly to remote workers, and you do indeed need a work visa if you want to follow the letter of the law. For example, I know this could be a problem in the USA, Japan and Thailand. In Thailand, I even heard of a co-working space being raided by immigration officials to find people illegally working online while on tourist status.

However, as I understand it, such enforcement is very rare. The spirit of the law, after all, is to prevent you from taking jobs from a local, and if you work online you're no more likely to do that inside a country than outside of it. And you're actively contributing to the country's economy by earning outside it but spending inside. As long as you don't stand out from the general tourist population (unusual items in luggage, participation in work-like events, excessive visa renewals / visa runs), you should realistically be fine in a lot of countries. I suggest you read the various sites and blogs about the topic of "digital nomads" - there are entire communities of people devoted to finding great places to work remotely, and these communities are probably better suited to ask detailed questions about the legal aspects in each specific country.

By the way, I have heard some indication that having an incorporated entity in a place where you are allowed to work can help. You are then not a sole proprietor working for yourself in a far-away country, but you are merely an employee of XYZ Inc. in your own country, on a long vacation in a faraway country, occasionally performing the odd task for your remote corporate employer but technically not working locally. Obviously this happens all the time with employees of actual large corporations who travel, I don't think it's reasonable to assume that they never answer any work-related emails while overseas. Please take this advice with a huge grain of salt, I am not a lawyer, much less a lawyer in any South American countries : )

Eugene O
  • 9,124
  • 3
  • 42
  • 58
  • 1
    Rules are unfortunately anachronistic with regard to remote workers using the internet, and difficult if not impossible to enforce. The nature of online entrepreneurship makes things even harder: one might want to go on holiday somewhere, while periodically checking their business anyway. – magma Feb 17 '16 at 03:50
3

You will need working visas for most South American countries. For the major South american countries:

  1. Brazil: Bring to the Brazilian embassy your passport valid for at least six more months, negative criminal records (at most 3 months old), two copies of a 5cmx7cm photo (passport), some filled forms available at the embassy. All documents must be in Portuguese (new Ortographic Treaty), if any must be translated, it must be done by a professional translator. A temporary work visa is valid for 2 years. Official Info

  2. Argentina: As noted in the comments by CMaster, contact the embassy. The website may be outdated.

  3. Chile: You need to request a special working permit: http://www.extranjeria.gob.cl/ingles/permiso_visa_tra.html

  4. Colombia: You need to get a TP15 temporary visa:

TP 13: For the foreigner who wishes to enter Colombian territory to provide technical assistance in his/her area of expertise, with or without, work contract to public and private entities.

It is also worth of note that you won't be "working" in the traditional sense (being employed by a national company or a local subsidiary AND being paid while in the country), so some regulations may not apply.

Also since OP is self-employed, he won't be working for any nationals and probably won't be receiving any money during his travel (even though his company may), maybe it does not fall into a work visa. Contacting the embassy of the destination may clarify if he indeed needs a work visa or not.

Mindwin Remember Monica
  • 481
  • 4
  • 13
  • Your Argentina statement is incorrect. See http://www.clond.mrecic.gov.ar/en/node/2424 (unfortunatley, it seems you need to contact the embassy for more details) – CMaster Feb 16 '16 at 20:56
  • @CMaster contacting the embassy is always better than to trust some internet forum. But the page you linked was the one I accessed to get to migraciones.gov.ar, so it may be the case the Argentina official website is not up-to-date in some sections. – Mindwin Remember Monica Feb 17 '16 at 11:28
  • Page I linked, last paragraph says "If the purpose of the trip is related to an activity for which you are going to receive any kind of payment, either in Argentina, in the UK, or in a third country, please contact the Consulate General via email to visasclond@mrecic.gov.ar to check the visa requirements." - cleary relevant to the OPs situation. The page you link merely says no visas are needed for tourism or diplomatic "Service" visits - nothing about work. – CMaster Feb 17 '16 at 11:46
  • @CMaster i agreed with you on the previous comment. The page I linked was where the search engine landed me, before I followed the first link to that list, that has a column for Otro Pasaporte: Diplomatico/Servicio, that I assumed to be work (my spanish is close to zero). But you raise a interesting point. If OP is self-employed, and is not receiving any payment during his visit (his company instead), does it counts as work? IANAL... – Mindwin Remember Monica Feb 17 '16 at 14:33
  • My point was that "contact the consulate" wasn't a general recommendation, but the specific instruction from the consulate itself. I think starting your own business would count as "receive any kind of payment" - but the answer that comes back from the consulat may well be "no worries, just do this trivial application" for all we known. – CMaster Feb 17 '16 at 14:47
  • -1: this answer sounds clearly misguided. The OP's "purpose of the trip" (which is the decider for a visa) is not work related. – Martin Argerami Feb 17 '16 at 15:00
  • @CMaster: "receive any kind of payment" goes together with "related to the purpose of the trip". The OP would not be going to any of those countries because he is starting his own business, but rather in spite of it. – Martin Argerami Feb 17 '16 at 15:02
  • @MartinArgerami do you have experience with Agentine immigration law on this matter? You may well be right, but I'd lean towards caution on this sort of thing. My experience of immigration officals who care about this sort of thing at all when entering a country, is they care about what you are going to be doing, not what the "main purpouse" of the visit is. – CMaster Feb 17 '16 at 15:05
  • @CMaster: Actually, many times I've been asked literally "what is the purpose of your visit?". Probably not at the Argentinean border, though, as I don't recall them asking any questions at all (like the absolute majority of borders). – Martin Argerami Feb 17 '16 at 15:57
1

The other answers may be legally correct, but

A lot of people will answer some work emails while on holiday and may even VPN into the office machine.

If you are in each county for a short time and there is no way from your company website etc to see that you are working from the given county, I don’t expect any real life issues. However I am assuming that you are spending most of your time “travelling” and only a few hours each day on “work tasks”, and there you will not be hiring an office etc while travelling.

I am also assuming the costs of your travels is not being funded by your new company and the no money will be leaving your new company to go into your personal bank account until after you have finished your travels.

Sometimes it is better to ask for forgiveness then it is to ask for permission.

However I question if it is the best way to make your new company successful….

Ian Ringrose
  • 2,718
  • 18
  • 22