2 full-time jobs at the same time in 2 different countries? (employment, law)

[adymech]

Hello

I have 3 questions about a particular scenario, if someone can help:

1) Is it illegal for someone to be on full-time payroll at the same time in different companies in two different countries, eg USA and some other country in Europe? Of course, the person cannot be physically be present full-time in 2 companies at the same time, but can he be on some sort of "leave of absence" in one, and actually working in the

2) in the same scenario: Lets say John is working full-time in company A in England. He goes on a lengthy "leave of absence", and accepts full-time employment in USA in Company B. Before he actually starts working at Company B, will this company require him to produce some sort of letter saying that he is no longer employed at company A?

3) John got a work visa to work at Company B in USA. When he first enters USA to start working at company B, will the border officer require him to show a letter proving that he is no longer working at Company A?

Thanks for your help.

[psychopompos]

1) It's definitely not illegal. No law can forbid a company from having someone on their payroll (provided that someone is allowed to work, but we'll come to that later). However, it's extremely likely that such behavior is against one or both companies' policies (and the repercussions of violating such policies can range from nothing, to verbal warning, to termination to legal action against the employee and everything you can imagine in between) and even if it somehow isn't it's very likely to impact job performance and lead to trouble.

2) Unlikely, as it's rather hard to prove that you're not employed somewhere, but again up to that specific company's policies.

3) The CBP officer will only ask to see John's work visa and ask John whether he's still working for the company that sponsored the visa and in what capacity. In rare cases John may be asked to show proof that he's working at the company (full-time; part-time employees are not eligible for work visas) such as a recent letter on official company letterhead. At no time will the officer ask or care if John works anywhere else outside of the US.

4) You never asked if having two jobs might come up in John's visa interview, perhaps because John already has a visa. If he doesn't, be mindful of the fact that the visa application form asks for current and previous employments and if answered truthfully might raise some red flags and impact John's ability to get a visa in the first place.

Good luck to you and John!

[adymech]

thanks a lot psychopompos for the advice. appreciate it