H1b visa holder working from home in Canada

[anindyabecs]

Hi all,

This question has been asked multiple times before but I failed to find a final answer to this.

The following is my scenario ->

1) I have a stamped h1b visa

2) I have a full time job with a leading financial institution in US

3) I have a Canadian PR

4) My client is ok with me working from home in Canada

5) In US too I work from home.

Question is , is it legal to work from home in Canada while in h1b ? Later when I try to come to US from Canada and they ask why were you outside for 2 months while in h1b , can I say to the border people that I work from home in Canada ?

( please let's not distract the question by advising like take a transfer to Toronto office or using b1 visa instead of h1b. Most of the other threads continue in these lines and ends abruptly ).

Any answers will be of great help.

- Thanks,

Andy

[JoeF]

You are in H1 status by definition only while in the US. You don't have a status when outside of the US.

As long as you have a Canadian work permit, you can work from there.

You obviously have to pay taxes in Canada.

[anindyabecs]

Thanks a lot JoeF for the reply.

So if I am absent from US for say 2 months and then come back and I say at the border I was working from home from Canada it should not be an issue ? ( in my H1b it shows the work location at New York )

{ More so if I make frequent trips ( say every 2 months I have to go to US for like 5 days and work from NY Bank office ) }

[JoeF]

Thanks a lot JoeF for the reply.

So if I am absent from US for say 2 months and then come back and I say at the border I was working from home from Canada it should not be an issue ? ( in my H1b it shows the work location at New York )

{ More so if I make frequent trips ( say every 2 months I have to go to US for like 5 days and work from NY Bank office ) }

It should work, but you may need a letter from the employer that the job is set up that way.

There isn't any special H1 rule for such situations, unlike for a GC, which has special rules for commuter status, when somebody lives abroad and commutes to a job in the US.

I suggest you run this situation by a good immigration lawyer.

[anindyabecs]

Thanks a lot everybody for the suggestions .. Incidentally I had posted this question twice by mistake .. here is the other link http://forum.murthy.com/index.php?/topic/47888-h1b-visa-holder-working-from-home-in-canada/page__fromsearch__1

I am currently consulting a lawyer for the same .. Will post an update once I have some .. Thanks again..