Working for UK employer while living in USA
 

Hi all,

I'm most of the way through a K1 fiancee visa, and should be traveling to the U.S. indefinately in June. Initially I will not be able to work in the U.S. until I have my AOS and recieve a 1 year EAD.

My question is i'm going to be resigning from my UK employer this week or next. However I work in web development and a lot of my job is performed remotely, FTP, Terminal Services etc.

I am thinking of broaching the topic of me still working for my UK employer while living in the States. I know they won't be able to find a replacement for me straight away and we have to major contracts coming on board.

What i'm wondering is has anyone else done this, and what are the complications? Would my income be taxable in the UK, USA or both? Anyone who can shed some light or there experience on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

James

Hi
I resigned from my job in June 2003 just to spend 3 months with my girlfriend. But I had no intention of being re-employed by them when I left the company. Anyway 5 months later we got married and my former UK employer got in touch saying that they had heard I was in the US and there was a job opening.

But the fact that I had resigned meant I could not work for them until I got an EAD, If I had still been working for them they could have transferred me but they could not re-employ me. Bit of a double edged sword really, If I hadn't left they would never have even offered me this job but the fact that I did leave meant that they couldn't re-employ me.
So don't resign just yet until you learn more about this as once you resign you don't have the option of getting a transfer

By the way your income would be UK taxable if a UK company is employing you.
Also file your EAD Asap, like as soon as your plane lands, mine was filed early December and I am still waiting for it, I have an interim EAD which lasts 8 months which you can only get after 91 days of waiting.......and you will wait 91 days. Surely if you filed a K-1 visa you could also file an EAD before you get there if the K-1 is approved.

Eton_Rifle,

Thanks a lot for the info. I was planning on flying into NY JFK to get a 90 day TEMP EAD in my passport. But yes I definately know that I need to get my AOS, and EAD done as soon as we are married.

Thanks again

James

Not always so. It depends.......

My husband works for a British company and is in the US on an L1-A (intra-company transfer) visa.

He is basically on 'secondment' in the US, still pays his UK National Insurance and contributions to the company's UK retirement pension scheme, and gets the UK vacations - he's entitled to six weeks per year (but never takes all of it).

However, he is paid not out of the UK but paid the prevailing local salary in US$ from the US arm of the company ie. the country where he is currently based. When we were in Singapore he was paid in Singapore Dollars. Foreign staff in Indonesia get paid in Indonesian Rupiahs (which was a major headache for them when the currency was devalued!). All staff on expat postings with my husband's company get paid in local currency. This also means that since the origin of the salary is not being paid from the UK, expat staff are not liable to UK tax. (As an aside, there may be UK tax liabilities if a UK property is rented out, share dividends in the UK etc. but that has nothing to do with wages/salary.)