The right to work at each level of status

Living somewhere and earning there are separate permissions in most systems, and a permit that grants the first does not always grant the second. Breaching the distinction generally costs the status rather than producing a fine.

The levels

• A visitor. No right to work in any form for a local employer or client. The treatment of remote work for a foreign employer while physically present is genuinely unsettled in many countries and is being tightened rather than relaxed.
• A residence permit tied to an employer. Work permitted for that employer, in that role. Changing jobs requires a new permission, and doing it first and applying afterwards is the common and expensive error.
• A residence permit on other grounds — property, means, family. Frequently no work right at all, which surprises holders of investment-linked permits in Europe.
• A self-employment or business permit. Work permitted within the licensed activity, and only within it. A licence for consulting does not cover trading.
• Permanent residence. Generally unrestricted access to the labour market, which is its main practical value.
• Citizenship. Unrestricted, plus access to public sector roles that are frequently closed to non-citizens.

The grey areas that are not grey

• Remote work for a foreign employer while on a visitor or non-working residence permit. Several countries have created dedicated visas precisely because they consider the practice unlawful without one.
• Directing a company you own from a country where you hold a non-working permit. Whether that constitutes work is a question with a local answer, and the answer is often yes.
• Unpaid or founder work in a business you own. Absence of a salary does not usually make it not work.
• Letting property. Generally treated as passive income rather than work, but the line moves when the activity becomes a business with staff.

What a breach costs

Depending on the country: refusal of renewal, cancellation of the permit, a re-entry ban, and a disclosable adverse immigration history that follows you into every future application anywhere. The employer or client faces their own penalties, which is why they ask.

The rule to work by: before earning anything anywhere, establish in writing which permission covers it. The question is cheap to ask and the answer is binary.