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I'm going to visit Schengen area, Norway. Can I work remotely for my company back in India from there? Are there any restrictions on that?

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The Schengen visa in and of itself doesn't give you any permission to work and there are indeed restrictions on that. If you were to come to the Schengen area to work for a brief period of time, you would need permission (implicit or explicit) on top of your Schengen visa. And if you were to apply for a Schengen visa specifically to come and work in the area, you would need to submit evidence that you do have the right to carry out this work with your application. Of course, those rules were defined with onsite work in mind but there is no blanket exception for remote work. That part is easy and unambiguous.

To muddy the waters somewhat, some work activities (checking emails, attending the odd online meeting) might be considered “business”. It's also likely remote work is not a focus for enforcement or perhaps even falls under some local exemption. It remains the case that, in general, (remote) work is not allowed under the Schengen regime.

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No, a C-Visa ('short stay visa', 'Schengen Visa') does not generally allow any 3rd country nationals to work during their stay.


For 3rd country nationals, permission to work is solely within the competence of each individual member state.

For this a D-Visa ('long-stay visa', 'National Visa'), must be issued under which a member state can determine under what conditions a 3rd country national may stay (and do) within their territory.

One member state cannot grant permission for a 3rd country national to work in another member state.

Outside their territory, the D-Visa will be treated as a C-Visa within the Schengen Area. This also applies to a residence permit issued by a Schengen member state.

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    The distinction between Schengen visas and national ("D") visas is based on the length of stay, not the purpose. Your answer muddles the two and that's not particularly helpful.
    – Relaxed
    Dec 1, 2020 at 9:46
  • @Relaxed Here you are wrong. The difference is the purpose and not the length. A D-Visa can also (and for students often are before semester begin) be issued for a 30 day period. Dec 1, 2020 at 10:01
  • I wouldn't be surprised if some countries did it, it's not worth fighting over for the Commission (which has essentially given up enforcing the Schengen regulations) but that's simply not the case. That's plain to see in the text of the regulations, the various handbooks, etc. Countries that do apply them correctly certainly do not issue D-visas in these situations.
    – Relaxed
    Dec 1, 2020 at 17:01
  • Consider for example, article 1(1) of the Schengen visa code: "This Regulation establishes the procedures and conditions for issuing visas for intended stays on the territory of the Member States not exceeding 90 days in any 180-day period." No mention of purpose, clear duration limit and if countries could simply have a parallel system of short-term visas that would be a massive loophole and defeat the whole purpose of the regulation.
    – Relaxed
    Dec 1, 2020 at 17:05
  • I could go on as this is evident in many small details of the text but the clearest evidence is that what you insist on calling "D-visa" is in fact only referred to as a “national long-stay visa" in this regulation and the rest of EU law.
    – Relaxed
    Dec 1, 2020 at 17:06

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