Working for a Client in a Country You're Visiting

It's one of those weird limitations that appear where you least expect it. If you have a client in a particular country, you probably can't go there without a working visa. So, since I have a client in Germany I would need to sign up for a work visa if I wanted to visit Berlin or München. From the little I know about applying for work visas, it's not really going to work unless I know exactly when I'll be in Germany and I'd probably have to do it before leaving on the trip. Since I don't think I'll be hitting Deutschland in the first couple months, it would take some serious foresight on my part to make this happen. So how do I get my black forest cake and eat it, too?

In comes the small business. I was speaking to a friend who did a thought-provoking art project which involved about nine months of nomadic travel around the perimeter of the United States. I told her about my problem and she knew the solution right away. Governments don't mind at all when companies pay each other for services or products as long as they get their share. These deals happen all the time. What they don't like is when somebody comes into their country and works at a job that a citizen could or should be doing.

So the solution is to stop working for your client. Instead of the client paying you, the client pays your company and your company pays you as an employee.

Obviously, this isn't a great reason to start a company—you should have other reasons for that—but if you happen to have one this could save you a lot of pain.

Now, I wasn't sure about the details about this so I spoke to some one at Small Business BC and they told me that would definitely work. I also asked whether I would have to incorporate to distinguish my company and I as separate legal entities but apparently that's not necessary. This works for a sole proprietorship, too. Very cool.

In any case, I'm now the proud owner of a baby company, Asterisq Innovation so I'll be testing this out in a few months.

You can read about my experience registering a small business in B.C. at my professional blog.