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Which countries allow to stay ≥6 months on business/tourist visa and telecommute for another country during the stay?

So far I only know one:

Canada (6 months business/tourist visa)

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/fw/fw01-eng.pdf

page 28:

Definition of “Work” [R2]
“Work” is defined in the Regulations as an activity for which wages are paid or commission is earned, or that competes directly with activities of Canadian citizens or permanent residents in the Canadian labour market.

page 29:

What kind of activities are not considered to be “work”?
An activity which does not really ‘take away’ from opportunities for Canadians or permanent residents to gain employment or experience in the workplace is not “work” for the purposes of the definition.

Please add more.

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  • 2
    I believe almost every country in the world follows Canada's definition. After all, why would they care about employment in foreign countries? – JonathanReez♦ May 18 '14 at 6:15
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    I can’t say for almost every country in the world, but the US, UK, and Australia don’t allow to do any work on tourist visas and I couldn’t find any official documents mentioning that working remotely for a foreign country is okay. – NVI May 18 '14 at 7:46
  • possible duplicate of I want to travel to the USA while working remotely for my non-US employer – Kate Gregory May 19 '14 at 19:11
  • @JonathanReez Any country might care for the obvious reason that they are not getting any income tax. – gnasher729 Mar 11 at 11:20
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You need to distinguish between "work" and "business". Entering a country for work means that you will provide your effort to people in that country, and they will pay you, or even if they don't pay you, they could have paid a local. Friends of mine have been turned away from the US to speak at a conference, for example, when being given an honourarium of 1/10th their actual bill rate, and even when not getting a fee, because an American could have that speaker slot and be paid.

Entering a country for business means you will continue to be paid by your foreign employer and interact with people in the country you're visiting in some way that benefits your employer. You might learn something, negotiate a deal, tell people the status of something, etc. This is not "working" in the immigration sense of the word.

Many countries distinguish between a tourist visa and a business visa, but many others do not. They all care about work. Just as in physics, "work" here is a jargon word that has a more precise meaning than it does in general conversation.

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  • I wasn’t explicit enough in my original question. I expanded it. – NVI May 18 '14 at 20:04
  • Say, I’m a Russian citizen employed in Russia but my client is in the US. Ideally, I’d want to be in the US for at least 6 months, but I don’t think it would be legal on B1/B2 visa. – NVI May 18 '14 at 20:04
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    If the client is in the country you're visiting, your business activities to benefit your foreign employer might be interpreted as work activities to benefit the people you're visiting. This is a sticky situation that could lead to you being denied entry and told you need a work permit. Tread carefully. But if your employer is in country A, the client is in country B, and you're visiting country C and will do something for the B client during the trip, I would expect you to be fine. – Kate Gregory May 18 '14 at 22:48
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    +1: A few years ago Boeing invited Russian engineers on B1/B2 visas, who formally worked for Boeing Russia; but they were denied entry to the United States; see seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/… – R-traveler May 19 '14 at 19:08
  • "Thet all care about work." Well, Georgia apparently doesn't if you are from any of 98 countries. So I would do a little research before assuming what some particular destination cares about. – WGroleau Feb 21 '18 at 5:00

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