3N1GM4

I hope this is the appropriate place to post this question - it's not strictly an ex-pat question, but is related as you'll see.

First, a little background about my employment situation (if you are familiar with the concept of working through an umbrella company in the UK, you can probably skip this paragraph):

I currently work through an umbrella company in the UK on an assignment for a UK company (I'll call them the customer) and have been doing so for over a year. I am technically a PAYE employee of the umbrella company, who invoice the customer weekly based upon timesheets I submit to the umbrella company. The customer pays these invoices to the umbrella company, who deduct a margin for themselves and all of the usual UK Income Tax and NI (and Student Loan etc), before paying me the remainder as my net income. This is a relatively common arrangement that a lot of workers in the UK are engaged in.

The customer has offices in the US and I have visited these on multiple occasions in the past for periods of a week or two (and on one occasion I was in the US for a total of a month, a 2 week vacation first, then 2 weeks in one of the offices) and have never had any issue with immigration, just using the ESTA and VWP to gain access. I have also visited purely for vacations - in total this calendar year, I have only spent a week in the US (for a vacation, not a work trip). I can dig out more details about my previous visit history in previous years if it's relevant.

So now the customer has expressed that they would like to place me into one of the US offices for a longer period of 1-3 months. I realise that under the ESTA/VWP I can only stay for a maximum of 90 days, so it would be a maximum of just under 3 months in reality. I can see no problem with this as it appears to me as just an extended version of the trips I have done before. I will have round trip tickets (as I believe this is technically a requirement for entry under VWP/ESTA) and the trip will be between 30 and 90 days in duration.

The main complication is that we want my wife to accompany me on this trip for the duration. We are both UK citizens and residents and her travel to the US this calendar year so far is identical to mine, although she is about to spend a week in the US for a vacation. She isn't currently employed, so it a stay-at-home housewife, if that's the right term. The customer is willing to pay for her flights and out accommodation on top of the day rate they will continue to pay to the umbrella company (and therefore indirectly to me) and she will also have return flights booked prior to arrival etc.

In addition to this, I expect I will need to return to the UK for one weekend during the 90 day period. My understanding is that this is not prohibited, although it will not reset the 90 day period for the purposes of my VWP/ESTA situation, which is fine as I am not attempting to do so. It is likely that my wife will also take a domestic flight or two during the period we are in the US, each time travelling with a return flight already booked. We also both plan to travel to the US separately later in the year (November) for a week each on a vacation.

So (sorry about the long preamble), my question: is there anything I should be concerned about in undertaking this trip? Am I likely to experience any issues with customs/border control? Is the fact that my wife is not working (or the fact that I am) likely to cause any issues and is there any particular way we should explain the trip if questioned to ensure it is understood that we have no plans to overstay or seek employment within the US during our stay? Are there any other considerations I'm forgetting about (will my UK driving licence be acceptable for a 90 day lease/rental of a car for example, do I need to consider any special travel/health insurance for the duration of the trip, or anything else)?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, and I'm more than happy to provide any further detail as it might be required.

Noorah101

What is it exactly you will be doing on the job for these months? Only certain activities are allowed on the VWP, not your regular day to day work.

Going back to the UK will reset your 90 clock, and the POE officer might wonder why you're coming back so soon.

Shouldn't be a problem for your wife to visit using the VWP.

Rene

Guindalf

What I'm reading here is that you plan to come here to work using the VWP, as you have done in the past. This is not allowed and you're flirting with a ban.

As Rene says above, only certain activities are allowed on the VWP and your regular job is not one of them. I suspect you need to apply for a visa (B1/2) in order to work here for even the couple of weeks at a time, let alone close to 90 days.

Your non-employed wife is not a complication at all as she is allowed to be here using ESTA.

As for car hire, you need to look at the residency requirements for the state you'll be in to see if it's allowed. As a visiting worker it may well be fine to hire a vehicle on your UK licence for that period of time.

Healthcare is another matter. It can be extremely expensive to be sick or have some kind of accident in the US, so some kind of healthcare coverage is essential. This is something to discuss with your employer (or most likely the contracting company). Personally, I wouldn't want to risk being somewhere for that long where a simple surgery could and does run into the tens of thousands of dollars!

3N1GM4

The customer has some issues in their US offices which cannot be resolved without non-US personnel, so they wish to place me in the US for this period to help resolve those issues.

Is there a definition somewhere of exactly what activities are allowed under VWP? I read a bunch of official documentation this morning, but didn't find such definition.

The advice I found from the UK government here states:

So I was under the impression that a short trip out of the US during this period would not reset my 90 days, nor do I want to attempt to do so. I can't see that an immigration officer would have any reason to believe I was trying to do this and I would still have my return flight to the UK booked for the end of the 90 days period. If it is really problematic, I can forgo this trip back to the UK, but I'd rather be able to do it for personal reasons.

Great, thanks for clarifying that point and for all of your input, it's greatly appreciated.

3N1GM4

Edit: Rene, I has also replied to your very helpful post, but it seems that reply is sat in a moderation queue - hopefully it will appear soon.

Do you have a link to any official documentation which makes this clear? When I've travelled for work in the past, I have declared this to the immigration officer as I've entered the country (stating that I am visiting on business to an office of the company I work for in the UK) and it's never been questioned or raised as an issue, but your response makes it sound like even what I've done in the past is not allowed, so I'm a little confused about this apparent conflict.

Ok, I will look into a B1/2 visa and see what I can find out, thanks for the pointer.

Good to know, thanks.

Where would I find these residency requirements for each state?

Sure, I can imagine in the case of urgent medical care where it would not be practical to return to the UK first, this is an important consideration. I'll look into what coverage might be available to me, unless you or anyone else here has any pointers?

Many thanks for your reply and advice, it's really appreciated.

3N1GM4

I also just took a look at the US Department of State website and used their visa wizard, which suggested I could travel under the VWP:



Is the difficulty here in the definition of what falls under "other short term business"?

MidAtlantic

I agree with what others have said. You cannot even attempt to "fly under the radar" (and I would not recommend it), because when you go home for a weekend, then return, you are very likely to be quizzed closely about why you have returned so soon and what you are doing.

You would be crazy not to have health insurance and that is a reasonable expense that your employer or client should cover.

scrubbedexpat099

VWP and B allow the same limited Business activities, sounds more like an E or L.

3N1GM4

What about without the trip back to the UK for a weekend? Does that make any difference in your opinion?

Understood, thanks.

MidAtlantic

No, because the fundamental issue is the nature of the work you will be doing (and we haven't yet seen your answer to that) and whether that is permissible under the VWP.

3N1GM4

Sorry yes, my initial reply to Rene (and some other posts I've made too) are still awaiting moderation it seems (not sure why some are posting immediately and others are being held for moderation), but here is the pertinent part:

I've also checked out the website of the US Embassy here in the UK, which states in relation to VWP eligibility (emphasis mine):

along with some of the other requirements, such as proof of return travel etc. Again, to me this reads as if there's only a problem with using VWP if you want to stay over 90 days, but if you guys can point me at different documentation which clarifies this, that would be super helpful.

3N1GM4

Ok, so I've found section 101(a)(15)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act here (after finding the website of a US law firm based in the UK which specialises in immigration and visa law, here), which is where the specific definition of immigrant/non-immigrant aliens appears to be made and there is reference to an exception meaning that anyone visiting to perform "skilled or unskilled labor" cannot be considered a non-immigrant alien and therefore would be ineligible to travel under the VWP.

I cannot find any definition of "skilled or unskilled labor", but as an IT consultant, I expect what I do would be considered skilled labor? Is this the sticking point with travelling under the VWP in the situation I describe?

Jerseygirl

There is are no posts in the moderation queue. You have 7 posts in this thread...non are or have been in the moderation queue and they are all visible to everyone.

I see your post count shows 4 posts but you have actually made 7. Can you see all 7 posts?

3N1GM4

I only see 4 of my posts in this thread (5 including this one) - when attempting to post some of my previous replies, a message has appeared stating that the posts will not be shown until a moderator has approved them:



Have these posts now been lost?

moneypenny20

Just found three posts in the queue as they had links in them. I deleted your last post as it obviously became a duplicate. Not sure where they were hiding previously. Weird things happen from time to time.