Consultancy in the USA

Or "We don't need no stinking consultants... unless they are from a big consultancy company"

I periodically get requests to consult in the USA.

Great.

So how do I get a visa to do that?

• http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_2665.html#5

Whoa, I need my 'prospective employer' to file a petition with a bunch of government agencies. Because they will do that for a couple of days consultancy from an independent consultant.

Oh, and if they do, then any contract that I had with them would probably come under IR35 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IR35). Which for a small independent consultancy pretty much doesn't work.

From http://london.usembassy.gov/root/visa-wizard/pages/visawizard006a.html

"The performance of any skilled or unskilled labor - even if it is unpaid - is most always prohibited. This includes performing work in the U.S. as a trainer or consultant"

Note the - unpaid part there. So even if you turn up for 'meetings' because you want in on the Waiver scheme, and don't get 'paid' for work. You are not allowed in.

Apparently there used to be a " B-1 business visa" which allowed for this. But no longer.

A B-1 Business Visa does not allow "consultancy" work.

• http://london.usembassy.gov/niv/b1apply.html

The UK is part of the Visa Waiver Programme, which allows British Citizens to travel to the USA for less than 90 days - and it includes business, so long as the business activity isn't money related i.e. you could do meetings, but not paid work.

So where does consultancy fit? It doesn't. there are no Visa's that guarantee entry into the US for 2 or 3 days of short term paid consultancy to companies in the USA.

You have the risk that even if you get to the states, immigration don't let you in. You might mention 'work' instead of 'business' and then you are likely to get turned away.

It seems as though a "B1 in lieu of H1B" is required where someone from a foreign company, paid by the foreign company can work in the USA. If the consulate issue one, and if the immigration officers allow you entry via it.

Most consultants and trainers then, I suspect are essentially illegal migrant workers. Whoo hoo, way to go government immigration rules. Of course the UK has very similar rules and visas to the US, so US consultants should find it equally hard to gain entry into the UK.

Of course there are no restrictions on remote working.

Working Remotely with Google Hangouts

I recently spent a day working remotely with a team in Romania through Google Hangouts.

We had a few connection issues along the way, I don't think any of that was from Google Hangouts, it was because of local wifi connection issues.

Google Hangouts makes it really easy to setup a group meeting, and remember this is all for free.

You can keep them private and only invite who you want.

The participants can all see each other, and you can share your screen easily. In fact, any participant can share their screen.

There is a chat window for sharing links.

Most impressive of all, was the remote desktop sharing. So I could operate their computer remotely.

I'm not sure I'm ready to use this for webinars yet. But certainly for face to face calls I'll use this as a default rather than Skype,