2024 Trending Topic: Business Visitor Compliance

As a new year begins, lists are often published highlighting relevant topics from the year prior along with anticipated topics of interest for the future.

In the immigration and mobility arena, it is no surprise that business visitor compliance was a trending topic in 2023, with promises for a similar 2024 ahead.

Why is business visitor monitoring and compliance so important? Check out the following list outlining why this trending topic should be top-of-mind as we settle into 2024.

Continued digitalization of borders

Countries across the globe continue to implement technology improvements to screen, track and monitor business visitors. Enforcement of immigration compliance has never been as sophisticated as it is now.

Examples of the latest efforts to monitor business travelers include the UK’s Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) scheme, the much-announced European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) and some of the proactive steps the U.S. continues to implement to ensure travelers comply with their terms of admission by sending reminders about time left in the country.

Self-service practices

Many companies do not involve any corporate department to manage the business traveler population, leaving employees to self-manage. While self-service is quite practical, it can often result in a myriad of unintended issues, such as:

• Lack of awareness that certain activities considered by the employee as “business activities” are deemed as productive work by the regulations of the receiving country. This means the employee would have to process some form of work authorization before they can engage in the proposed activities; simply entering with a business visa or using the visa waiver program for the receiving country is not enough. This is a complex topic because the allowable activities vary by country. Some of the most common scenarios perceived as business activities that could actually trigger the need for a work permit are audits, consulting engagements, on-the-job training and hands-on work, such as technical services or repairs.
• Assuming that a “short trip” is acceptable under a visitor status. Duration of stay and frequency of travel to the same destination are other contributing factors that may push a trip outside of the business visitor parameters. This can be quite challenging to recognize since the allowable stay in business visitor status varies greatly from country to country.
• It is important to have a clear understanding of the aforementioned elements because if a traveler is deemed to require a work permit, certain administrative obligations may be triggered as well. A good example is the EU Posted Worker Directive requiring the submission of a notification by the employer to the Social Security and/or Labor and Employment authorities of the host country before conducting any of the proposed activities.
• No oversight of visa vendors. Employees requesting a service from a random visa provider may not be aware that the vendor simply handles visa applications as instructed by the employee. This means the vendor will not provide any compliance vetting to ensure the proposed activities and duration of stay fall within the allowed business visitor activities. When the employee undertakes the process of using a vendor to obtain a visa, they may assume they are fully compliant to travel and engage in the desired activities. However, a pre-screening process should have been included to ensure actual compliance.

Intersection with other areas of law

Historically, companies have tracked business traveler populations in some form, but mostly to understand tax obligations.

As such, they are solely monitoring how long someone is in the country for tax or expense control purposes, but not from an immigration compliance perspective.

This can lead to the consequences described above, potentially impacting labor and employment, social security, benefits and, of course, immigration regulations.

“Work from anywhere” expectations

Post-pandemic trends have shown that Digital Nomads and remote work programs are here to stay. Many countries have engaged in captivating marketing campaigns to promote these alternatives, which has created a mindset that individuals can work anywhere in the world.

Regrettably, there is a widespread, incorrect notion that anyone can enter the desired destination solely on a visitor status and start to work. However, not every country offers a Digital Nomad visa, and those that do require special formalities before work can start.

Need to know more?

Considering the above, regardless of the industry or size of your company, business visitor compliance is a topic of importance that should be attended to, and it is a complex one that intersects with many areas.

Fragomen professionals have extensive legal and practical experience in all aspects of business immigration and can support your company in creating an immigration policy and developing best practices to manage your business visitor population. Fragomen also offers short-term immigration compliance solutions to help you manage this topic and ensure all activities are vetted so employees are compliant to travel.

For questions, please contact Foreign Attorney and Client Services Manager Adriana Varela at [email protected].

This blog was published on January 8, 2024, and due to the circumstances, there are frequent changes. To keep up to date with all the latest updates on global immigration, please subscribe to our alerts and follow us on LinkedIn, X, Facebook and Instagram.