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Comment by hackerboos | Hacker News Reader

This is actually the big lie of being a Digital Nomad. It's not legal.

As a US citizen there are only a handful of countries/territories that you can work legally without any sort of paperwork (Puerto Rico, USVI, Samoa) and a handful more that have official working holiday schemes:

- Singapore

- New Zealand

- Australia

- South Korea

- Ireland

If you are in the EU citizen you can work freely within the EU.

However most folks aren't writing about working holiday visas or working within the EU. They are writing about South East Asia and Central/South America. Neither of which allow people to go and work without permits.

People are breaking the law and being way too public about it.

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It's totally legal everywhere I've visited (and I don't know a country where it's illegal).

Work visas are a thing because countries want to control the ability for foreigners to compete with locals for local jobs. Canada's definition of work (http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/tools/temp/work/about...):

"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."

Working for my own US company isn't competitive to local workers.

Every country I've visited has a similar definition, though I can't say for sure if every country does, so it's best to check before attempting to go.

Erm. From the source you just cited

'"Work" is defined in the Regulations as an activity for which wages are paid or commission is earned'

On another Canadian immigration page:

"Most visitors to Canada cannot work or study in Canada without a permit."

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/extend-stay.asp

It's problematic that most countries immigration websites don't explicitly point out that working for a company abroad or for yourself is not permitted on visitor visas, but if you write to their respective embassies then you will find this to be the case.

I have, quite often. :)

I've always gotten the answer from officials "if you aren't competing with local workers, you're fine". As always, depends on the country. Further down the source I just cited:

"Examples of activities for which a person would not normally be remunerated or which would not compete directly with Canadian citizens or Permanent Residents in the Canadian labour market and which would normally be part-time or incidental to the reason that the person is in Canada include, but are not limited to:

long distance (by telephone or internet) work done by a temporary resident whose employer is outside Canada and who is remunerated from outside Canada;"

It's the definition of "work", whether you're competing with locals, and whether you're being paid by a Canadian company.

Many countries don't have this clearly documented, as until very recently (last 10-15 years), the only real "work" was competitive with local citizens/residents. All work visa documentation is written with this implied definition. Many countries are starting to call this out as an exception (like Canada above, Thailand recently, etc, etc).

Until it's clear for a particular country, it's best to talk to an official.

Awesome that Canada has clarified that. The first I've seen.

Thailand's laws however explicitly don't. Work is defined very broadly. I've never seen it clarified beyond the report from Chiang Mai a couple of years back. Unfortunately the guy didn't have the authority to make the statement.

that means 100% of my work is done in Iceland. that's an awesome determination!

See jrallison comment.

If the employer is in the country you are visiting, you are correct. But if the employer is in a different country also (that is my thinking), then I'd expect there is no visa issue because the employer has no tax obligation to that country. It would be the same as if I vacationed in a different country, but responded to work e-mail for my US employer.

If that is not true, I'd be glad to know.

That doesn't apply because you're not working for a company in the country you're working in.

i.e. if you're American, and you visit Australia on a tourist visa and work for an American company while doing so, that's perfectly fine.

If you wanted to work for an Australian company and earn Australian dollars, you'd need a work visa which is a whole 'nother thing.

That's simply not true. It doesn't matter where your employer is based [1].

"if you have a tourist visa, you cannot work at all;"

[1] - http://www.findlaw.com.au/articles/2140/are-you-legally-allo...

Pretty sure that page is presuming the employer is Australian. That makes all the difference.

"Pretty sure" is something people should confirm before travelling to these places, no?

True.

Another comment in this thread makes it clear permission was asked in multiple countries, and every country was perfectly OK with it.

Anecdotes aren't evidence.

You're correct. That person calling each embassy separately and asking them is evidence.

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