Does anyone know of any US companies that have international jobs available? I will be going to London soon and thought it would be cool if there was.

Do you have the right-to-work in the UK? If not and you do work you could face fine, deportation, and have a difficult time re-entering.

Assuming you do, take a look at the Presto map. It will point you to numerous open shops. Among US MSCs with foreign operations are BARE, Coyle, HS Brands, and Market Force. No doubt the French MSCs - including IPSOS - have shops in London.

OP - As Rousseau said, unless you have a UK Work Permit, it is very unlikely that any MSC will engage you for shops in the UK.

This is a complicated subject. I was able to visit company sites in the UK as an employee of a US company, but there are major limitations to what is permitted on a tourist visa. Here is a link to current details per the UK government. [www.gov.uk]

Every country is different. I was required to have work visas, approval for which was initiated by the country-specific subsidiary, for each of these countries: China, India, Thailand, Brazil, and I may have forgotten others. The worst ones were 30-day, single-entry visas. The best one was the 5-year multiple-entry work visa for Brazil. BTW, a work visa for Canada is almost impossible to get since the Canadian company has to prove that there is not a Canadian citizen who can perform the work. If you think that is unfair, that is what the US requires for a foreign citizen to get a work visa for the US.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/12/2024 05:04AM by myst4au.

oh! Do you actually need a UK work permit to conduct contract work for a US company? I never even thought of that!

You probably do. I edited my response to provide a more complete response (including a link to the relevant UK government website) just before your post appeared.

@nolimitem wrote:

oh! Do you actually need a UK work permit to conduct contract work for a US company? I never even thought of that!

Despite it ‘being against the law’, in reality who is going to know you are picking up $20 on the sly. And would care anyway.

That said, if your trip is a vacation it seems like a waste of vacation time writing a report.

I've done a number of overseas shops and there are some great restaurants and bars available in London from US companies.

While it's probably a grey area, working for a US based company and reporting on an overseas experience is not specifically "working" abroad. You could technically be coming back and doing the reporting from the US. Domestic workers are regularly sent overseas for business trips without work visas.

That said, I would be hesitant to bring it up at immigration. I'm usually playing the part of a tourist when I am there, so I keep that role up whenever possible.

Years ago, I made a quick trip to Canada for a hotel assignment and got the MSC to pay for a repositioning cruise that dropped me in Vancouver as my transport, since it was cheaper than flying. Apparently cruising by yourself with a lot of computer gear and a ticket home 2 days later is suspect, since I got pulled aside for further interrogation. At that point, I decided it was best not to lie and came clean that I was mystery shopping a hotel. They seemed fine with that answer after I showed them my assignment paperwork and let me go.

Ironically, I ran into the same immigration officer when was leaving the country. He came up to me while I was waiting in line and asked, "How'd we do?" so they didn't seem to care.

I also have a story about a friend who showed up in Paris with a guitar as his carry on and told immigration he was coming in to play a gig with a band. They sent him back home on the same plane and denied him entry..

@Book wrote:

Despite it ‘being against the law’, in reality who is going to know you are picking up $20 on the sly. And would care anyway.

That said, if your trip is a vacation it seems like a waste of vacation time writing a report.

Good folk obey laws because it is right to do so not because of potential sanctions for not doing so.

Hi Steve. I travel overseas a few times a year. I haven't mystery shopped overseas yet, but would love to. I've found a couple of companies that I currently shop for that offer them and I'm looking for more. Any tips on international shopping? Scheduling, routing, etc.

@EMT-KA811 wrote:

Any tips on international shopping? Scheduling, routing, etc.

There's a picking up a restaurant or two while you are there...and then there's scheduling a trip based around a shop.

These days I would not do more than take a single restaurant in a location I was going to for vacation, or work trip. I am generally an early riser, and my wife is not, so I can usually knock out a restaurant report before breakfast and we can go about our vacation normally. I use those assignments to add dining options to our trips that might be out of our price range, or just to keep the travel budget down, so I would primarily focus on dinners in the $200+ range.

I would never try to set up what I consider to be route when out of the country, since if you don't know the local area, traffic, etc, you can potentially box yourself in, and be overworked. What I will do at times is find an anchor hotel assignment (or two) and then fill in some of the free time and open meals with other shops, to the point of completely negating any travel/food expanses. I would never do this if I wanted an actual vacation or was working in any other capacity at the time, since this basically consumes your trip. I will also often use hotel points for a free "buffer" night between two hotel assignment, so I can keep up with the workflow. Four or five night of continual reviewing and eating can be exhausting.