Seattle- Vancover: H1b Remote work in canada

[DEEPCUR]

You don’t have to live in Canada, you could go anywhere assuming it is possible.

yes definitely, it is not very uncommon for people to work from India for several months. but then you put yourself in to time zone issues and it is not a sustainable option in long run like Canada. also you cannot take occasional trips to your employer's place if there's a need to do that once a while.

 

[limits]

Everyone have their reasons and circumstances. Any US salary is way higher than Canada, pick any field. That doesnot mean every Canadian has just one goal in life....to move to US and earn in USD.
Tell you about real cases, there are people in Canada who have priority dates in 2008 and 2009, who can get GC as soon as they can get perm done or even file through their old employer no perm needed, still they have chosen to stay in Canada, they are that point of life where they don't want any immigration hassel or waiting for kids to go to university and need to maintain residency status.

That’s the point though, you DONT have to live in the US to earn the US salary. You can live anywhere and earn a US salary assuming your employer allows remote work and assuming TN/H1B really don’t have any conditions on where you live.

 

[harirajmohan]

That’s the point though, you DONT have to live in the US to earn the US salary. You can live anywhere and earn a US salary assuming your employer allows remote work and assuming TN/H1B really don’t have any conditions on where you live.

Correct, one doesnt need to be inside US.
Also its nothing to do with visa if one is outside. Employer needs to worry about visa conditions only if they want the foreigner to work inside US. US labor laws applies to US labor force within US.

So companies can hire anyone outside to work outside of US and process payroll here. Many executives have US salary/payroll receiving USD.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/us-companies-can-legally-hire-foreigners-living-other-rich-mba/

 

[ccaallvviinn]

Correct, one doesnt need to be inside US.
Also its nothing to do with visa if one is outside. Employer needs to worry about visa conditions only if they want the foreigner to work inside US. US labor laws applies to US labor force within US.

So companies can hire anyone outside to work outside of US and process payroll here. Many executives have US salary/payroll receiving USD.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/us-companies-can-legally-hire-foreigners-living-other-rich-mba/

Great info! Follow-up question: if on H-1B, are there any requirements to be physically in the US for X number of days, in order to maintain the H-1B status? So, in other words, you can only work for certain number of days remotely outside of the US, if you want to maintain the H-1B status when entering the US?

How about when it comes to H-1B extension filing?

 

[harirajmohan]

Great info! Follow-up question: if on H-1B, are there any requirements to be physically in the US for X number of days, in order to maintain the H-1B status? So, in other words, you can only work for certain number of days remotely outside of the US, if you want to maintain the H-1B status when entering the US?

How about when it comes to H-1B extension filing?

Status maintenance: Legally you need to be reentering US every 30 days to maintain same I94. If you have visa then they would anyway give you new I94. But if you travel via road, mostly (sometimes via air) they wont give you new i94 and can get passed without new I94. But if you have visa then it doesnt matter as you can just focus only on travelling whenever its required rather than maintaining status. Maintaining status doesnt yield anything while visa is valid and working remotely.
If you dont have visa then you have to reenter every 30 days to avoid gap in status. Nowadays via road, cbp officers are allowing people to reenter without any problem even after 30 days but its still risky as they are doing it unofficially. And one should avoid trying reenter after 30 days with just valid I94 when there is no valid visa as there is no guarantee that all officers are going to allow.

Extension: You can extend only when you are on status.

Claiming remaining years of 6 year quota / 3 years based on 140: One can always do it while outside US.

 

[canprofus]

Status maintenance: Legally you need to be reentering US every 30 days to maintain same I94. If you have visa then they would anyway give you new I94. But if you travel via road, mostly (sometimes via air) they wont give you new i94 and can get passed without new I94. But if you have visa then it doesnt matter as you can just focus only on travelling whenever its required rather than maintaining status. Maintaining status doesnt yield anything while visa is valid and working remotely.
If you dont have visa then you have to reenter every 30 days to avoid gap in status. Nowadays via road, cbp officers are allowing people to reenter without any problem even after 30 days but its still risky as they are doing it unofficially. And one should avoid trying reenter after 30 days with just valid I94 when there is no valid visa as there is no guarantee that all officers are going to allow.

Extension: You can extend only when you are on status.

Claiming remaining years of 6 year quota / 3 years based on 140: One can always do it while outside US.

my work location is North Carolina.. I am planning to move to Windsor and commute once a month (just to keep AVR active).. plan is to enter Detroit and take a direct flight to NC.. do you see any issues with this arrangement? Just wanted to clarify because my work location is not Detroit. Will they ask us to show flight tickets to NC every time when we enter or something like that? I was wondering if I could just stay in Detroit for a day and return back at night without flying to NC as my goal is primarily to keep AVR active and not going to the work location as such.

I have used AVR and done this once when I landed at Windsor border long back and there weren't much issues.. CBP just asked where I am going, how long I was in Canada and let me in.

thank you..

 

[harirajmohan]

my work location is North Carolina.. I am planning to move to Windsor and commute once a month (just to keep AVR active).. plan is to enter Detroit and take a direct flight to NC.. do you see any issues with this arrangement? Just wanted to clarify because my work location is not Detroit. Will they ask us to show flight tickets to NC every time when we enter or something like that? I was wondering if I could just stay in Detroit for a day and return back at night without flying to NC as my goal is primarily to keep AVR active and not going to the work location as such.

I have used AVR and done this once when I landed at Windsor border long back and there weren't much issues.. CBP just asked where I am going, how long I was in Canada and let me in.

thank you..

Entering for NC work location should not be a problem (as long as there is job waiting for you and can be verified/confirmed by your company if at all cbp calls them - it doesnt happen but just in case. this is same case for everyone but more chance who go far).

Staying in detroit: While entering the papers should be correctly pointing to NC which first include your air ticket(apart from your other work related authorization documents). So I dont know if you can manage that. But on paper you should be ready to prove that your destination is NC( or the location for which you received approval for).

 

[canprofus]

Entering for NC work location should not be a problem (as long as there is job waiting for you and can be verified/confirmed by your company if at all cbp calls them - it doesnt happen but just in case. this is same case for everyone but more chance who go far).

Staying in detroit: While entering the papers should be correctly pointing to NC which first include your air ticket(apart from your other work related authorization documents). So I dont know if you can manage that. But on paper you should be ready to prove that your destination is NC( or the location for which you received approval for).

thanks.. my work location in NC is 11 hour drive from Detroit.. can I just enter during night/late night and mention that I would be driving to NC (if asked how would I go), and then just stay in Detroit, and go back to Windsor a day after? I can really book and take the flight, but I am not seeing much value in risking an air travel during pandemic, however need to keep AVR at the same time.. so checking my options.

 

[harirajmohan]

thanks.. my work location in NC is 11 hour drive from Detroit.. can I just enter during night/late night and mention that I would be driving to NC (if asked how would I go), and then just stay in Detroit, and go back to Windsor a day after? I can really book and take the flight, but I am not seeing much value in risking an air travel during pandemic, however need to keep AVR at the same time.. so checking my options.

Then you should enter in the weekend to appear logical that you would drive for the day and go to work next day.
Should not commute frequently to avoid issues.

 

[canprofus]

Then you should enter in the weekend to appear logical that you would drive for the day and go to work next day.
Should not commute frequently to avoid issues.

if I have a flight booking and going to the location genuinely, I can commute frequently without worries right..?

 

[harirajmohan]

if I have a flight booking and going to the location genuinely, I can commute frequently without worries right..?

Yes. Do you have valid I94?
Do you have visa? if so then you can travel whenever you like. Not necessary to be within 30 days to reenter.
If you dont have valid visa then you have to try reentering within 30 days just to be safe(even though officers are unofficially allowing people to enter after 30 days)

 

[canprofus]

Yes. Do you have valid I94?
Do you have visa? if so then you can travel whenever you like. Not necessary to be within 30 days to reenter.
If you dont have valid visa then you have to try reentering within 30 days just to be safe(even though officers are unofficially allowing people to enter after 30 days)

i do have i94 till 2023.. but my visa is expiring on November. so I don't have any choices other than traveling once in 30 days. as you said I cannot risk my ability to enter US until consulates are fully reopened.

 

[harirajmohan]

i do have i94 till 2023.. but my visa is expiring on November. so I don't have any choices other than traveling once in 30 days. as you said I cannot risk my ability to enter US until consulates are fully reopened.

Correct. 30 days it is.

 

[canprofus]

Correct. 30 days it is.

also, I had one more question.. will CBP ask why I am traveling in the middle of pandemic or ask if my employer offices have reopened? My employer has only partly reopened for voluntary return to workers and most people still work remotely from home.

 

[harirajmohan]

also, I had one more question.. will CBP ask why I am traveling in the middle of pandemic or ask if my employer offices have reopened? My employer has only partly reopened for voluntary return to workers and most people still work remotely from home.

CBP can any anything. No one knows. So thats why i told about ready for verification of your job. So it can be of any letter/email from your company that you travel or be ready to give the phone number of your HR/manager if cbp wants to verify.

But note that he can broadly think that all are working from home as many travel. I was not asked during this pandemic on why i travel during pandemic. But we should be ready to be questioned.