Shamrock55

Hi folks,

When you visit a foreign country on a short trip for work purposes, or a trade show/conference, do you bother getting an actual business visa? Or do you just say your visiting friends or on vacation?

I realize many countries are different and your specific passport may have conditions but I guess I'm talking about the ones where your passport entitles you to a standard visitor visa of a few months.

gooselee

If I am going for work, I get a business visa. I've found that generally my company or client requires that I do so.

Sometimes, if I am returning later on a personal trip and the business visa is still valid, I'll just use it again instead of getting a separate tourist visa. But never the other way around.

deniah

i dont pay for the visa, why take the risk?

Tchiowa

Business visa. A standard visitor visa usually prohibits you from any kind of work. Also a conference. Trade show is a different animal as that's usually not considered working.

Never lie in Immigration. Not a good idea.

DieselYVR

For me it depends where I am going. I have a Canadian passport to going to the US or Europe for vacation or work does not require any special visas. When I travel in Asia for work I have never bothered getting business visas. Despite many multiple entries into many countries over 10 years I've never been bothered or asked twice.

deniah

you could probably run a pirated copy of ms office on a work computer for a decade without ever being outed, but whats the point?

LtKernelPanic

I don't have to travel for my job but if I had to I'd make sure I had the right visa. It's not worth getting sent home and looking like a fool to your boss and/or client over the cost of a visa. If it's required to travel for your job your employer should cover the cost for it.

FlyingUnderTheRadar

If I am not earning money (i.e. being paid in the local currency) I do not get a visa. If I will be earning money I get a Visa. That said when I enter I make it clear that I am entering on business and not being paid. In my case the vast majority of my trips are to attend a conference or to work with research collaborators.

Only have have been asked about earning money once and that was entering Canada. That local organizers sometime pay my expenses but that is a reimbursement.

DieselYVR

Fair enough but it's also often a timing issue for me. I'm away so frequently that I often do not have time to have my passport at a consulate or embassy. With the exception of Singapore and Japan, where visits are not for work anyway, I've never been asked one single question at any border checkpoint in Asia. YMMV

Tchiowa

^^^

You only have to get caught violating Immigration rules once to make you regret taking chances. One of my former colleagues is a "former" colleague because he went to Indonesia without a business visa to do a quick set of meetings over a 1 week period. Somehow Indonesia found out and deported him. And blacklisted him. After he couldn't go back (and found out he had problems in all ASEAN countries because of that) he couldn't go the job for HQ that he was hired to do. They let him go.

lhrsfo

I've never been to a country on business which required one. But I wouldn't dream of risking it. Why on earth? It would be 100% downside and no upside.

gooselee

Don't many countries issue a 2nd passport explicitly for this purpose?

zkzkz

For the US traveling for business is doesn't from "doing work". as far as they're concerned if you don't produce anything you're not "working". Meetings, attending training, attending or even presenting at a conference don't require a different visa. I have seen a university lecturer pulled aside and told he needs a special visa though.

AFAIK -- which is hardly at all -- the same is true for Europe and Canada. I've often been asked why I was entering a European country and have said I was on business without any further questions.

What countries don't require a visa for tourists but do for business troops like attending a conference or meetings?

It hadn't really occurred to me that there would be any but between Europe and the US that pretty much has covered out for me. I did go to Japan for a conference once -- should I have had a visa for that?

darthbimmer

I have always obtained a work visa to lawfully enter a foreign country on business when required. I've done this several times.

I have delayed last-minute business trips so that I could get a visa if I didn't already have one. (Many countries offer a multiple-entry visa good for a period such as 6 or 12 months.) I have urged colleagues in similar situations to do the same.

I have traveled abroad dozens of times in the past 10 years and I have never entered a foreign country unlawfully or under false pretense. Never.

ThePointsCollector

Oh yes. I personally know two people from Canada who have problems entering the US because they didn't bother to apply for appropriate papers.