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I don’t think they even try to get work visas. A lot of countries have tourist visas up to 90 days. And if you go to a country to work there, but are not paid by a local company, you are basically a tourist.

I think this is what AirBnB are doing. A lot of countries have a requirement for you to reside in it for at least half the year to be able to be taxed there and be considered an employee. A lot of countries allow people to visit for limited time, as long as you don’t interfere with the local job market - e.g being a tourist. Those two are not in conflict and you can do what AirBnB are doing right now, without much more accounting difficulties. Though I’m not an accountant and take my words with a grain of salt.

Maybe someone with more knowledge of the law could chime in, but

>And if you go to a country to work there, but are not paid by a local company, you are basically a tourist.

seems wrong to me. If I work in another country I'm still working, which means I need to pay taxes in my host country after a certain time (in Norway it's the first day afaik, in some European countries it's after a few months).

It's annoying, of course, but I'm using the resources of the host country while earning money, so it feels understandable.

> I don’t think they even try to get work visas. A lot of countries have tourist visas up to 90 days. And if you go to a country to work there, but are not paid by a local company, you are basically a tourist.

this has been discussed to death on DN forums. Basically yes you're breaking the law but if you don't get caught no one will know. Some people don't like taking this risk while some don't mind.

Well traveling within the EU should be simple enough. Haven't done it outside but I have a few questions.

If I'm on paid leave, I'm still earning money, and I go to Asia - am I breaking the law? I'm still "doing" the activity that's earning me money.

If I'm on my paid leave, and fiddle with my blog, which gets ad revenue - am I earning money and thus doing illegal economic activity?

Not a lawyer so would love a more rigorous definition of "doing work" that is applied in Asia so I know if I'm overstepping. Maybe you can point me to some of those discussions?

Maybe start with recognising that "Asia" is not a legal jurisdiction.

to test your theory, i invite you to present this exact scenario to border officials anywhere in the world. This is not meant as a snarky comment but a very literal statement. If you are turned around and refused entry, what you plan to do is illegal.

As already mentioned, “Asia” is not a legal or political entity.

> If you are turned around and refused entry, what you plan to do is illegal

That's... an overstatement. Asking weird questions that indicate a risk of tourist visa overstays which nobody else bothers to ask (even if it is perfectly legal) will put you at risk of rejection, whether or not the law allows what you're trying to do.

I actually did - a bunch of times back when UK was part of EU, and I didn’t have a EU passport myself.

Traveling to UK, permanent resident of Bulgaria (EU), Russian passport.

Border guard - “What are you doing in UK?”. Me - “Working on the clients premises and in their offices.” - “Sure come on in.”

All on tourist visas. Now I have BG citizenship there are no questions, but I wouldn’t think the sentiment is much different. As long as I’m not _employed_ by a company from the country I’m visiting, and stay a month or two, its fine, at least in the Europe. (I’m a contractor employed by BG company with clients in UK)

by “Asia” I meant no disrespect but I know little about the legal state of things there so seemed prudent to generalize

Nope, unless your country has a special arrangement with the country you are visiting, you cannot work with a tourist visa, at all. Does not matter if the company is local or not. No work visa = no work.

Makes sense. So everyone that works while traveling is doing so illegally

Oh wait

Yes, unless they have the correct visa. No work visa, no working. It really is that simple.

Almost all countries don't even have policies covering a lot of those scenarios and you'd probably win in court anyway

So you can't open your work laptop while on vacation?

You cannot always take the law literally....

What the law says and what you can get away with are different, yes.

Caveat emptor indeed.

Most folks will end up working on tourist visas which is explicitly not allowed around most of the world.

I work at a remote first company and HR have given a nod and a wink to this, but with the requirement that you maintain a permanent address and pay taxes in a country where they have an office.

>> Most folks will end up working on tourist visas which is explicitly not allowed around most of the world.

Are you sure this is the case? You’re not allowed to get hired locally but I believe you can work online for a company based in your country of residence provided you don’t stay long enough to become a resident of the new country (which you can’t on a tourist visa). I visited Canada for 6 months on a tourist visa. I had a full immigration interview at the airport when I arrived and they were perfectly happy with me working freelance/online for those 6 months. They were just clear I couldn’t become an employee of a Canadian company.

Yeah; I'm pretty sure that isn't the case. They don't care if you do work online while visiting, just that you're not looking to stay or to take a local job (that they'd prefer to go to a resident). The legal language may be a little fuzzy since I bet it was written before remote work (telecommuting if it even existed at the time :P) was as much a thing, but I'd challenge anyone to find a case of someone penalized for working for doing their job remotely from another country.

That said, if you're working for a multinational company, you may want to be careful. Being hired in country A, for a company that has presence in both A and B, and then flying and working for a few months in B, could conceivably raise all sorts of flags if noticed.

> Being hired in country A, for a company that has presence in both A and B, and then flying and working for a few months in B, could conceivably raise all sorts of flags if noticed.

My employer adopted a similar policy (just not as publicly announced as Airbnb's), and the way they work around this problem is by, assuming you reside in A, allowing you to travel and work in B but explicitly disallowing you from entering an office location in B.

Canada is one of the exceptions. If I as a Canadian tried to approach CBP with that intention then I wouldn’t be admitted.

Nope, unless your country has a special arrangement with the country you are visiting, you cannot work with a tourist visa, at all. Does not matter if the company is local or not. No work visa = no work.

Haha yes, exactly. However, AirBnB figured out how to change culture (and law?) to rent our homes out to strangers, maybe they'll lead the way here as well.

I think a couple dozen countries offer digital nomad visas now, the ones I've looked into in detail just require you to be employed remotely by a company outside the country and earn at least a couple thousand USD per month.

I do wonder which country would in effet cause troubles to travellers on a tourist visa, contributing to the local economy by renting a temporary home and other living expenses but happen to be working on their laptop every day of their 90 days trip.

they would cause trouble to the company though. And the company would have troubles with the country where they are tax residents

I find it hard to imagine any country actually cares, and even if they do, I find it hard to imagine they could reasonably check whether anyone is there for tourism, or just to work.

They do. Actually the amount of taxes in some countries if you end up messing up and staying over 180 days is significant. And then there is health care. Maybe not an issue in those third world countries with private one, but with public systems real question for them.

Is health care really an issue? They'd really only need to cover emergency issues? Everything longer term I would assume you'd have to go back to your home country to get covered.

Healthcare tourism is real. People come to Spain for that.

For lower prices, not free so why would the government care since the government wouldn't be the ones footing the bill.

Self-imposed limits on imagination do not restrict the possibilities and imagination of government agencies, nor restrict what other people think is "fair and reasonable"

Like you, I also wish the world worked in the way I like to imagine it should.

They don't care if you are visiting for a week, but for 90+ day stays they definitely care.

Is there any country that gives out 90+ day tourist visa? Obviously you still have to follow the rest of immigration law (so no overstaying your welcome).

Americans in Mexico. Canadians in the US. Brits in Hong Kong. There are few 6 month visas available depending on your nationality.