Europe?

Anyone Americans have experience mystery shopping in Europe - especially the airports? Not sure if that's available! Thank you, everybody.

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Yes, sign up with many MSC's so that you can start to see shops int he areas where you travel. Not only have I seen airport/airline shops, but also quite a few shops in countries other than my own. btw- I have not SHOPPED internationally, for me travel is stressful enough.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/04/2019 03:37PM by Monk-N-Nut.

Be very careful about working in another country. A tourist visa does not allow you to work in the country you are visiting. That is true for Europe, Great Britain (strictly enforced), Canada (very strictly enforced), and most other countries that grant tourist visas. And i is symmetric in the sense that unless you have a Green Card or other authorization, a non-US citizen can not work in the US.

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008

Interesting @myst4au ! I never thought about that aspect of it. I guess it doesn't matter that we are ICs, eh?

Shopping the South Jersey Shore

Working is working. It does not matter whether you are an employee or a contractor. The general view is that until proven that there is no "local" person who is qualified for the job, you are taking a job from a local person. I and many of my colleagues learned what to say (and especially what not to say) when entering Canada for a business meeting. On the other hand, Thailand does not seem to care but would like to collect the fees for a business visa.

@Jenny Cassada wrote:

Interesting @myst4au ! I never thought about that aspect of it. I guess it doesn't matter that we are ICs, eh?

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008

It's a touchy area, but if you are a US citizen and working for a US company, performing a shop overseas does not qualify as "working" in that country. It's equivalent to a business trip there for a domestic company you may work for.

That said, I have found it's best to not mention anything about it at all when coming through immigration, unless you feel like being detained and discussing the legality of it for hours (a rookie mistake I made on my first overseas hotel assignment).

@myst4au wrote:

Working is working. It does not matter whether you are an employee or a contractor.

It does matter where the company you are working for it based, though. My particular experience of being detained unfortunately was in Canada, and in the end, the supervisors in immigration declared that me entering to perform a shop for a US company was within policy.

I agree. I say as little as possible when traveling overseas. I spent hours explaining to Canada immigration that giving an invited technical talk at a University for zero pay (just reimbursement of expenses) should not qualify as work. They could not believe that a scientist would spend two days talking to other scientists for zero money.

I responded so that people would be aware of the issue, and at least think about what they are doing and saying. Your "rookie mistake" makes the point.

@SteveSoCal wrote:

It's a touchy area, but if you are a US citizen and working for a US company, performing a shop overseas does not qualify as "working" in that country. It's equivalent to a business trip there for a domestic company you may work for.

That said, I have found it's best to not mention anything about it at all when coming through immigration, unless you feel like being detained and discussing the legality of it for hours (a rookie mistake I made on my first overseas hotel assignment).

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008

We have all been detained in Canada. The Immigration people are very sour.

I've never been detained in Canada.....

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

Have you ever been to Canada?

Also find out the currency for your payment or reimbursement. Sometimes the exchange rates are not favorable.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Have you ever been to Canada?

Twice

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

I've probably been a dozen times and I have been detained and questioned three times. The detain and question has only happened within the past five years. Never had a problem before then.

Ah, it's been like 10 years since I went.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

I spent two weeks in Canada one year working full-time as acting manager in the branch of the U.S.-based company I worked for. Never was questioned or detained about it. But that was probably 35 years ago, so it sounds like things have changed a lot! I haven't even been there as a tourist in more than 20 years, and I'm guessing crossing over and back is a helluva lot different now.

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

When I was younger, (decades ago) we'd head across the border for margaritas & grilled lobster with not a worry in the world. Since I was stopped and sent to secondary, with my dog eared US Passport, I have had no desire to ever go back.

Global Entry has made all of that much easier, BTW. Just sign up for the card that's optional and you can walk over the border crossings with ease.....

@SteveSoCal wrote:

Global Entry has made all of that much easier, BTW. Just sign up for the card that's optional and you can walk over the border crossings with ease.....

That's great information to have! We plan on doing quite a bit of traveling to Canada in the next couple of years. Scouting out a location to retire to.

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

@BirdyC wrote:

That's great information to have! We plan on doing quite a bit of traveling to Canada in the next couple of years. Scouting out a location to retire to.

If you travel at all, even domestically, it's the best $100 you can spend. You get TSA-pre, the ability to walk across the Mexican and Canadian borders with no hassle or lines, and expedited customs/immigration for most airport arrivals for 5 years!

A no brainier for $20 a year.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

@SteveSoCal wrote:

@BirdyC wrote:

That's great information to have! We plan on doing quite a bit of traveling to Canada in the next couple of years. Scouting out a location to retire to.

If you travel at all, even domestically, it's the best $100 you can spend. You get TSA-pre, the ability to walk across the Mexican and Canadian borders with no hassle or lines, and expedited customs/immigration for most airport arrivals for 5 years!

It offers no benefit going into Canada - only leaving Canada and if you are doing land crossings you need to register online for Global Entry land crossings. Having just the card does no good and if you try and use Nexus lanes with just a Global Entry card three times they confiscate it.

@MickeyB wrote:

It offers no benefit going into Canada - only leaving Canada and if you are doing land crossings you need to register online for Global Entry land crossings. Having just the card does no good and if you try and use Nexus lanes with just a Global Entry card three times they confiscate it.

Interesting...coming from MX you are allowed to use the Nexus lanes. They also usually expedite my entry into MX when walking across if I flash the Global Entry card.

I can tell you first hand that going into Canada, having US Global entry gains you nothing at all. They want your US passport, Passport card, or NEXUS (unless you live in certain border states (Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont, and Washington) which issue enhanced driver's licenses) and the answers to questions of their choosing. Global Entry to my knowledge does not work for land crossings from Canada to the US.

@SteveSoCal wrote:

@MickeyB wrote:

It offers no benefit going into Canada - only leaving Canada and if you are doing land crossings you need to register online for Global Entry land crossings. Having just the card does no good and if you try and use Nexus lanes with just a Global Entry card three times they confiscate it.

Interesting...coming from MX you are allowed to use the Nexus lanes. They also usually expedite my entry into MX when walking across if I flash the Global Entry card.

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008

@SteveSoCal wrote:

@BirdyC wrote:

That's great information to have! We plan on doing quite a bit of traveling to Canada in the next couple of years. Scouting out a location to retire to.

If you travel at all, even domestically, it's the best $100 you can spend. You get TSA-pre, the ability to walk across the Mexican and Canadian borders with no hassle or lines, and expedited customs/immigration for most airport arrivals for 5 years!

Yep. I just renewed mine. Best $100 spent ever (well $200 now).

@SteveSoCal wrote:

It's a touchy area, but if you are a US citizen and working for a US company, performing a shop overseas does not qualify as "working" in that country. It's equivalent to a business trip there for a domestic company you may work for.

That said, I have found it's best to not mention anything about it at all when coming through immigration, unless you feel like being detained and discussing the legality of it for hours (a rookie mistake I made on my first overseas hotel assignment).

I certainly agree with Steve here. When I arrived at the customs agent in Buffalo, NY to enter Ontario, Canada, I never told him that I was working. I had shops lined up in Hamilton, Toronto, and Montreal. The one question that I remember him asking me is if I had hotel reservations + the location of the hotel, which I gladly complied with.

Otherwise, I viewed my entry into Canada to do mystery shops for an American company as a business trip.

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