Schengen visas for tourism or business: is working authorized?

Non-EU nationals who travel to Italy and the Schengen area, even by holding just a Schengen visa for tourism or business might be – in very limited cases – allowed to carry out some remote work.

The one and only condition to work remotely without a proper work visa is that the activities to be carried out during the stay Italy must be “marginal”.

Apart from that, non-EU nationals should be applying for a work visa even if they work remotely for foreign employers and/or clients because from a strictly legal point of view — even though clients and employers would be outside the Italian territory — they would still be working and that would exceed the scope of their visa (or scope of entry should they be nationals of short-stays visa exempted countries).

What can be considered as a “marginal activity”?

Marginal activities shall be considered those activities that are insignificant in terms of time and economic return, for which they cannot be considered as “work”.

A numerical parameter to be considered is that the activities should be accounting for less than 5% of the worker’s regular working time and/or less than 5% of their overall remuneration.

In terms of the nature of the activities, they should be not independent and should be ancillary to the principal service and preferably performed from home.

Since Italy, as of March 2024, does not have a specific visa for remote work, individuals who may be interested in performing such an activity without obtaining any other specific work visa shall be conscious of the fact that short-term Schengen visas cannot be used to replace a remote work visa and that the possibility to carry out some work activities while in Italy with a Schengen visa are very limited, as explained above.

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The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

Article written by Alessia Ajelli, Managing Associate of LCA Studio Legale, Italian lawyer specialized on Italian immigration and citizenship law.