My fault for being too broad. I'm in tech of course. The most typical thing you'd see me across borders for at the moment might be the installation of industrial equipment, which you'd expect to be ok under B1, or VWP if under 90 days.

Previously I'd been looking for options to just hang out in countries in the form of digital nomad/working holiday, which the USA also doesn't currently really cover too well. At any rate somehow each type has sharp edges to it which I happen to personally not fit into.

My more recent understanding in the main is that actually most square pegs don't fit into round holes anyway when it comes to international travel, and there's quite a bit of official discretion at every level for people who are trying to do the right thing.

In the USA atm, ICE is sometimes effectively ending up working-to-rule to fill their quota, so a lot of the discretion is negated. The most famous example is when ICE came in and rolled up a spin-up team (B1, VWP) who Hyundai and LG had brought in to stand up a multi-billion-dollar factory investment, for US workers to come work there.