Hacker News Reader

Comment by daleharvey | Hacker News Reader

I am fairly interested in the rules around Visa Waivers.

I have been working for american companies remotely for a while, I do fairly regular visits to the american offices, generally 'Work Meeting' will get you straight passed, but I have a few times been questioned exactly what I do at these work meetings and once tiredly and mistakenly mentioning programming, was very close to being refused entry.

The other issue I couldnt find any documentation on how long a visa waiver is valid for, it is given for 3 months, but is that 3 months out of the year or just 3 months at a time? over a full year I occasionally get close to this and was mostly curious.

View on HN

If the customs officer admits you to the United States on visa waiver (WT/WB status) you need leave the United States within 90 days or less. In addition to that, you cannot change your visa waiver status to any other non-immigrant status without departing the United States (e.g. you cannot switch to H1B within America while on WT/WB).

You can change your visa waiver status to another status without departing the USA. My ex wife was from Italy, she came here on vwp and we got married. She stayed during the AOS process.

Your ex wife has changed her status to an immigrant status. The rules forbid changing WT/WB to a non-immigrant (e.g. H1B) status.

warning: I am not a lawyer and thus not qualified to give legal advice, etc.

I don't know specifically about your situation and the VWP but it's not allowed to do things in the country other than your stated purpose, and other than what your visa allows.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_visa#Uses_of_a_B1.2FB2_visa

Looks like most normal work is not allowed, except for the last provision there. If you follow to the source, it says "These would-be entrants are not allowed to receive remuneration from a US source (other than an expense allowance or reimbursement) and must be customarily employed by a non-US firm that will continue to pay their salary during the temporary assignment in the US.". So there you have it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com