What form of visa would I require for working remotely for 12 weeks (60 working days) in the USA for my UK-based company?

Question

My stay would be over 90 days as I would be in the US for just over three months. I've been looking online for the answer but it doesn't seem clear.

Answer 1

There is no visa in the US that allows the bearer to work remotely for a foreign employer. If you're planning to stay in the US as a "visitor for business or pleasure" for longer than 90 days, you would need a B visa (B-1 or B-1/B-2 as a business visitor; B-2 or B-1/B-2 as a "pleasure" visitor).

As a B-2 visitor, you are allowed to undertake incidental tasks related to your employment, such as e-mail, telephone calls, and so on. As a business visitor, you can also attend meetings, negotiate contracts, and other similar activity. There's no clear guidance concerning full-on working, but anecdotally it seems that if you apply for a visa saying that you intend to be working full time, remotely, for your foreign employer, the visa will be refused. Similarly, if the immigration officer discovers the same intention, you will not be admitted to the US.

This may not make much sense, especially in terms of fostering the US tourism sector, but that seems to be how it works these days.

For what it is worth, Canada has explicitly taken the opposite position on this question, so you might consider going there instead.

Another thing to keep in mind is that your pay for the work you perform in the United States is likely taxable in the United States.

Answer 2

In order to work in the US, you have to have an employment authorization in the US.

There are different kinds of employment authorizations for foreigners:

• Limited to specific employer: the employer has to ask for this, and such authorization results usually in an L or H visa (L1a/b or H1b are the most common ones, but there are other sub-classes). In some exceptional cases there's also the E visas, O visas, and for government officials there are A/G visas, and some more esoteric classes for other specific activities (like religious activities, merchant marines, air crews, etc). Some countries have specific agreements allowing their citizens to work in the US more easily (e.g.: TN status for Canadians).

• Employer agnostic: You can get an employment authorization for yourself if you're a student/recent graduate (as part of the OPT/CPT process), or if you're in a process of adjustment of status to permanent residency. Some undocumented immigrants can also receive employment authorization as part of DACA, and some refugees and other arrivals can get it while their petitions are being processed.

• Implicit: you implicitly have employment authorization in the US if you're a US citizen, national, or lawful permanent resident.

If you don't have an employment authorization, then you're not allowed to work in the US. It doesn't matter where your employer is. As mentioned in the other answer, you can conduct some business activities on a B1 visa, but these are restricted and limited in scope. For example, meetings with your US co-workers or partners, occasional phone calls or emails, negotiations, conferences, presentations, and such. Not working. The US DOS explicitly states that employment on B1 is forbidden here:

These are some examples of activities that require different categories of visas and cannot be done while on a visitor visa:

Study

Employment

Paid performances, or any professional performance before a paying audience

Arrival as a crewmember on a ship or aircraft

Work as foreign press, in radio, film, print journalism, or other information media

Permanent residence in the United States

All these cases have their own specific visas.