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I know as an Aussie I'm allowed to work while vising Georgia as I did so in 2011/12.

I also know I'm allowed to work in New Zealand as Australians are granted a special status there.

But are there any other countries where this is possible, as a tourist?

I don't intend to be an expat, actually moving to any country where special work visas, residency, or anything more complicated along those lines is required. I'm only interested in countries where I can arrive as a tourist yet I'm still permitted legally to work there.

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    +1 for asking about legalities instead of asking how to avoid getting caught. :-) I presume you mean working for money? In Spain, it is legal to volunteer and get "paid" with room and board. But getting paid money without the proper visa is illegal.
    – WGroleau
    Commented Feb 21, 2018 at 3:56
  • Yes I do mean working for money. In Australia and other countries I know a bit about it's technically illegal to volunteer without a visa that allows you to work whether or not it's in exchange for room and board; but in practice it's rarely enforced.
    – hippietrail
    Commented Feb 21, 2018 at 4:36
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    In USA, it's enforced if they catch you. WWOOF actually advises people to lie to our CBP. WorkAway.info is more diplomatic: they tell us it's our responsibility to get whatever visas are required. But in Spain, I was told that Spain considered what I was doing to be work and not paying me illegal but getting paid by other than money to be legal (but visa required to be paid money.. I even had a contract saying I would get room and board but not money.
    – WGroleau
    Commented Feb 21, 2018 at 4:51
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    Canada explicitly allows tourists to work remotely for an employer outside of Canada.
    – phoog
    Commented Feb 21, 2018 at 21:44
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    I'm from close to Fernie BC in Canada. I'm pretty sure an Australian accent is a requirement for employment at the Alpine Resort.
    – ShemSeger
    Commented Feb 26, 2018 at 22:32

1 Answer 1

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+50

Shamelessly plagiarizing myself:

There's one more place where an Australian citizen can work completely legally and indefinitely on a tourist visa: Svalbard! Under the terms of the Svalbard Treaty, any citizen of a treaty signatory, including Australia, may "become residents and to have access to Svalbard including the right to fish, hunt or undertake any kind of maritime, industrial, mining or trade activity."

enter image description here Squint hard enough, and it looks just like Bondi Beach! Shown here in summer. (Photo mine.)

Now, there are a couple of minor catches...

  1. Located at 78°N, Svalbard's main town Longyearbyen (pop. 2600) is by far the world's most northernmost civilian settlement, and rather resembles Mordor after it has frozen over: lots of black rock, virtually no plants larger than lichen. This means an average February day is −21°C, a balmy summer day in August is 3°C, and oh, there's no sunlight whatsoever during the polar night between late October and mid-February. Also, you need to carry a rifle if traveling anywhere outside the town due to the large and hungry polar bear population.
  2. The only practical way to get to Svalbard is Norway, which can and does enforce its own visa rules. That said, once there Norway and Schengen rules (eg. the 90-in-180 limit) do not apply, all you need to demonstrate is that you have the means to support yourself.
  3. Essentially all private accommodation on Svalbard is owned by companies in Svalbard, which means finding a place to rent is tough to impossible. Now you could just stay in a hotel, but...
  4. If you thought Norway was expensive, imagine Norwegian prices with a hefty bonus for shipping everything through some of the roughest sea on Earth. You won't get much change back from US$20 if you buy a kebab and a Coke.

So hey, it's not exactly a tropical paradise island, but at least working there is perfectly legal!

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