American visiting friends in Germany working remotely for a few weeks

Question

I will be traveling to Germany to visit friends for 2-3 weeks. I would like to work remotely some days for am American company from my friends house. I do not fall under freelancer or entrepreneur, and much of my time will be spent visiting friends. As an American I can enter the country for up to 90 days without a Schengen visa. What is not clear to me is if I there is another type of visa I require? Based on my understanding of the 'Freiberufler Visa' it does not look like that visa program applies to my situation.

Answer 1

As a practical matter, an American who visits Germany on the visa-free exemption for tourists, does some remote work for their US-based employer while visiting, earns no income from any German-based employer, and departs promptly at the end of their stay is extremely unlikely to attract any notice or attention from the German authorities.

While you should never lie to a border guard, if you honestly answer that the purpose of your visit is to see friends and avoid mentioning your plans to work remotely for a small portion of your time unless directly asked, you will almost certainly be fine.

Answer 2

Realistically, there is no visa programme that applies to your situation. With very few exceptions, the different work/entrepreneurship visa programmes are structured with the assumption that you would stay in the country for some time while short-stay visa or visa-free short stays simply do not cover remote work.

In theory, the way the system is supposed to work is that you can enter visa-free and apply for a permission to work from the country where you are going (this is not a visa). You can do that in whichever order as the permission to stay and the permission to work are in principle independent rather than being rolled into one. There is one big caveat: Showing up at the border and letting the border guards know that you intend to work without already having permission would typically result in being denied entry.

In practice, it is a very rare situation and not one that countries typically care enough to encourage that there would be a well publicized programme to support it. The ones that do exist assume your employer will apply for permission on your behalf (these programmes only exist to fulfill German employers' needs, not to attract digital nomads or otherwise help employees).

See also Will stay less than 90 days in Germany, but will work there, what kind of visa do I need? and Am I allowed to do a six-week internship in Germany on a 'normal' Schengen visa?