Hi Kimberly, I'm in pretty much the exact same situation you are except in Prague, Czech Republic and we've been running a bit longer (almost 10 years).
My short answer is that this will very much depend on the country you're in and the particular laws (or lack of clarity of laws) about the necessary legal status of people using coworking spaces. IMO, you should talk to a local lawyer. We don't worry about it, but I could imagine it being a serious issue in some countries where the use of an office requires official registration. My long answer is this: In most cases we don't have to worry about it at all. Along with expats and Czechs, we have tourists and travelers working from our coworking space on a regular basis. In most cases, there are no particular visa or residency requirements to use a coworking space any more than there would be for going to a restaurant. The one exception are people who are using the space as a legally registered business address, in which case we do have to worry about it a little bit, but not because there's anything legally we're required to do. In those cases the main reason they're doing it is usually to establish residency. We occasionally have had the foreigners' police or immigration officials come to the coworking space to make sure the office is legitimate for those people using our address as a registered office. We even once had police come in with guns drawn because a member had his passport in the space and was stopped for not paying the right fair on the subway. He didn't speak Czech, they didn't speak English, and somehow they got it in their heads that they he was dangerous instead a somewhat clueless tourist. All this is to say: while we never check about legal / immigration status of our members and I don't think we have any legal reason to, I have worried that police would to interfere with our business anyway, concerned that we're some kind of visa factory or host of illegal immigrants. There's enough immigration fear in the country and enough leeway in terms of what the govt. bureaucracy can and can't do, that I think there's good reason to worry. I could well imagine this being a more serious issue in countries with more corruption or where the rule of law is less clearly in place and, meaning no disrespect to Mexico, I imagine that's the case there. I think this would be something you'd want to discuss with a local lawyer to be sure you don't have anything to worry about. If Czech laws were slightly different, it would be something we'd at least have to think about with respect to folks using our space as a registered office. Will On Monday, September 30, 2019 at 11:46:53 PM UTC+1, sechrest wrote: > > I think it would be worth your while to explore and understand what the > folks at iglu.net have done in Chiang Mai. They do all the paperwork to > get you set up to work in Thailand as an ex-pat. > > I think the issue you identify is a big one, currently under the radar for > many folks. > > The hard part is that the rules about work are likely to take a long time > to change and adapt to the modern nomad work lifestyle. > > It is also interesting to look at the work they are doing in Estonia to > provide paperwork and digital id to people who are doing this kind of work. > https://e-estonia.com/tag/nomad-visa/ > > The choice of where to travel and where to work might start being > influenced by these types of policies. > > > > On Mon, Sep 30, 2019 at 6:48 AM Kimberly Kubalek <[email protected] > <javascript:>> wrote: > >> This message is relevant to everyone, but particularly the spaces, like >> mine, run by expats in foreign countries. >> >> I have been a huge supporter of Coworking since I met Tony Bacigalupo a >> few months after he first opened his space in NYC so many years ago. I knew >> after seeing that space that I wanted to open a space as well. It took me >> many years, I did it. I live in San Miguel de Allende Mexico and I opened >> my space 3 years ago. >> >> Because my Spanish is poor, and because I knew community growth was key, >> I targeted membership to expats and English speaking visitors. Which is not >> say we limited it this way, only that the community I developed all seemed >> to speak English, so those were the members we attracted. We were >> successful - being the #1 rated city in the world by Travel + Leisure >> helped and lots of interesting folks popped in to work and often folks >> moved here permanently (with or without legal permission, many people come >> in on a tourist visa and stay for years). >> >> I am working on a plan for a much larger, more sophisticated space and I >> have concerns about expats and visitors who have no legal authorization to >> be "working" while in Mexico. Our laws are quite clear, you may not work in >> Mexico, online, in your home, etc., without authorization or without a >> permanent resident visa. I think all international coworking spaces are >> going to have to face this one. Do you ask your members if they have >> permission to work in your country? Do you feel you can protect your >> members when government officials come in and ask to see your members >> documents? Are you concerned about liability? >> >> I think this a valid concern and I'd like to hear from other space >> owners. I do not want to be a hunting ground for officials looking for >> people breaking the law - and who would want to work in a coworking space >> where they knew the government was going to come around and ask to see >> visas?! What do you do to make sure the people working in your space >> have the right to work there? Does it matter to you at all? Do you think it >> should matter? >> >> I was just in Austin for 3 months and coworked all over, no one ever >> asked. Not one coworking space ever asked if I had permission to work in >> the USA while I was there. If someone works out of your space and is not >> legally entiled to be working in your country, is that an issue you think >> about? Does this issue concern you? >> >> Thanks in advance for your feedback, >> >> >> Kimberly >> >> >> >> Kimberly Kubalek, Owner >> >> Espacio Coworking - San Miguel de Allende >> >> +52 415 150 1069 MEX Office >> >> +52 415 167 4566 MEX Cell >> +1 858 367 0102 USA Voicemail >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Coworking" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected] <javascript:>. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/coworking/b50c95ee-4fc8-46c9-b411-2e46777ff65b%40googlegroups.com >> >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/coworking/b50c95ee-4fc8-46c9-b411-2e46777ff65b%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > > > -- > John Sechrest . Need to schedule a meeting : > http://sechrest.youcanbookme.com > . > . > . > > . > [email protected] <javascript:> > . > @sechrest <http://www.twitter.com/sechrest> > > . > http://www.oomaat.com > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/coworking/36e484b8-49c5-4aab-b1d7-fabb8404bcd8%40googlegroups.com.
