Canadian worker - part time H1B in the USA

[bookwormpa]

Hello,

I have a question on how to deal with business in the USA.

Scenario A: Canadian Worker (citizen/resident/permit holder) is involved in business development - works as a CXX/executive in the Canadian firm. A majority of her customers are in the USA and she needs to travel frequently to both conduct business meetings and oversee deployment of the firms' solutions on client sites. The Canadian company doesn't have representation in the USA. At times she needs to spend 3 weeks in a month in the USA - so should she be OK travelling on B1?

Scenario B: Currently the Canadian firm in question has no representation in the USA. But that is in process. Once that happens, and with responsibility for the overall company's operations, she needs to oversee the US workforce - which legally speaking is 'work' but for which she gets compensated in Canada (and not the US subsidiary) but her 3 out of 4 week extended stays in the USA *may* raise questions - should applying a part-time H1B in the USA be a good solution?

Our Canadian counsel has some answers but I'm looking for a second opinion (and possibly consulting with US legal entities) on this topic. But I'll crowd-source an opinion first! Thank you.

[GcLLC]

Hello,

I have a question on how to deal with business in the USA.

Scenario A: Canadian Worker (citizen/resident/permit holder)

Hold it right there... The answer to the rest of your questions depends on whether the person is a Canadian citizen or not. US / Canada have special bilateral relations that can be leveraged in this situation. For that, the person in question has to be a Canadian citizen.

For instance, a US green card holder can enter Canada but is heavily restricted in terms of business activities. A US citizen on the other hand can carry out activities including marketing and client servicing. *I think* that Canadian citizens would have some of the same privileges in the US as well. This is an area best discussed with a US immigration attorney.