Be careful about anything like "work" while traveling

Working in exchange for lodging is working for a type of pay. (The lodging is the pay.) This is nothing new.

My secret vice is watching Border Security, and this has come up in the past on that show.

I was going to write the same thing as BB. I've seen this numerous times on Border Security over the years. On the show, they usually catch the traveller at the border innocently and honestly declaring their intent and being sent home. One time it was a guy from England entering Canada to help with renovations on his daughter's basement and he was told he couldn't do that. Being jailed seems extreme though and screams more of bureaucratic inefficiency than evil intent.

Absolutely appalling.

Since the Guardian story makes no sense at all, I researched this. The British woman was refused entry to Canada, likely because she told them she intended to work (without a visa), was sent back to the US, and then she revealed she had done this in-USA work previously.

When stuck in the no man’s land between 2 border posts when neither country considers you legal it’s kind of likely jail is the outcome.

Adding: Enjoying Border Security on YouTube! Never seen it before.

I've been following this story. She's in ICE custody right near me. I did share the story with a few local politicians but not sure if anything will come of that. It's an awful situation but it does appear that it's a violation. The issue comes up here on the RS site from time-to-time - (usually) young people wanting to trade lodging for chores. There's so many websites that offer the option and it's always seemed a dangerous proposition. It is certainly a violation of a strict-reading of the law.

Now we see the possible danger played out to its absolute worst. I am hopeful she is released soon.

This is not new. On one of the "Border Security" shows for the UK, a woman arrived and, when asked about accomodation, admitted she would be house sitting but would receive no compensation. They told her that was a form of working and was put back on a plane home.

This was a few years ago so no current government was involved.

There are a few signs they look for....lack of accomodation, lack of luggage, how much clothing do you have, lack of funds,

Frank II, Toby: as you discovered there is always more to the story.

Okay, but in all seriousness, taking the trash out at an Airbnb can't be considered bartering or a form of work, right? Normally, I'd think of course not, that's ridiculous, but we are not living in normal times, and it seems a daily occurrence lately that just when I think the bar surely can't drop any further, it drops.

Another small detail being reporting in England is her parents are MORE than willing to fund her travel back - they just can’t get the legal machine to move to that point. So she is sitting in a cell, waiting for paperwork, when she could be home tomorrow. Apparently there is at least one charitable organization helping to get her some incidentals. It’s definitely not a case of an “illegal” being in the U.S. with nowhere to go and no way to get back where they came from.

And I can’t imagine why anyone would doubt that a quid pro quo situation might be in the future for someone from the U.S.

Sorry but I am always left with a side moral of these stories and that is the penalty of being entirely honest with border staff.

There are a few signs they look for....lack of accommodation, lack of luggage, how much clothing do you have, lack of funds

Also: single traveler, job at home, property or lease to return home to, number of months on the road.

Aside: Surprised watching Border Security that traditional hunting firearms coming from the US require pre-approval, when did that change? Well, the guide service being used would warn their customers of that so no biggie.

Mr E: Watching Border Security I would agree, but visiting your daughter pretty much always gains a person entry, no need to mention the basement remodeling project.

Also note to self: when staying with friends don’t help with the dishes, wash sheets, or take out the trash.

I understand this has made the news across Europe

nope, not here in my corner of England. And she's apparently British. We have plenty of coverage of a man climbing the Elizabeth Tower (not very far - scared of heights?) and ships carrying jet fuel colliding off Grimsby and the Ukranian attack on Moscow, but nothing of this.

But I watch the BBC and DW, and I don't read - never have - the Guardian.

And often course any blogger or vlogger is suseptible to the work rules. RS himself in a capacity of research is in that situation. If you go and cross a border to write a novel, you also fall in that category. What is work?

Why is she locked up? Bureaucracy most likely. That and because of the current clean up going on...

That's an interesting (and quite revealing) description for what's currently going on.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but she's locked up primarily because:

1) She was locked up because she was apprehended at a land border, rather than at an airport of entry. At a land border, there's no quick/easy/cost-free way of instantly deporting someone to a third country. If she had been interviewed at her airport of arrival - and had let it slip that she would be walking someone's dog while she was here (aka "working") - she would have been handed back to the airline that she arrived on, and they would have had to fly her home (at the airline's cost). With relatively little judicial process involved (and because at the airport, technically and legally, you have not actually entered the country until you have cleared immigration). But at a land border, that immediate flight home is not an option, so they sent her to jail. That much is standard procedure. Note that the German "tattoo artist" (also in the news recently for being sent to jail because agents viewed her intention to ink a friend in the US constituted "work") she was also nabbed at a land border (in her case, entering the US from Mexico, crossing in Texas). No way to quickly hand her to an airline, so off to the iron-bar motel.

2) She is STILL locked up (11 days later and counting) because there's an acute shortage of immigration judges (required to actually deport anyone) and other staff, a shortage that's gotten worse recently because a lot of immigration judges have recently been fired.

3) There could be other factors (eg how the clientele at airports versus land borders is regarded from a socioeconomic standpoint, profiling, whatever) but the lack of a nearby jet soon to depart for London or Frankfurt (at no cost to the government) is the most obvious reason, per Occam's razor.

Bottom line: the risk of arrest and extended detention for doing your host's laundry would seem to be higher at land border stations rather than at an airport of entry. At the airport, your ride home is sitting right there waiting for you. At a land crossing, not so much.

The BBC tell a slightly different story- that she was denied entry by Canada, her homestays were organised by a company called Workaway, and she had been in the US under the visa waiver scheme.

As she was on a US Visa Waiver and she had been denied entry to another country that nullified her waiver to re-enter the US.

From the US State Department-

If you wish to travel to the United States and your ESTA is denied or revoked, you must apply for a nonimmigrant visa at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate to travel to the United States.

Workaway say that they have a 24 hour a day helpline but who have now issued a statement that basically says -'not our problem, it is the client's own job to have the correct visas and insurance'.

The BBC say the opposite to the Guardian- that she can make calls (and is in contact with the British Consulate in San Francisco) but can't receive them.

It is also suggested she may have been unable to demonstrate an ability to pay for her own accommodation while in the US. It is also unclear whether she had a return air ticket.

Apparently her family have been in contact with their MP who has raised the matter with the Foreign Secretary and the Foreign Office Minister.

The BBC say that a US Immigration Lawyer in London says she only needs to appear before a judge if it is voluntary departure. She may apparently be given expedited departure [deported] without notice.

I had never heard of "Workaway" but their website certainly looks, um, intriguing. Their business model looks a little questionable to me. I'm sure it's quite appealing to others.

Volunteers or "workawayers", are expected to contribute a pre-agreed amount of time per day in exchange for lodging and food, which is provided by their host. if this is true, then that sounds like work for housing to me? Odd, this doesnt jive with the OP's "gist" of the situation. She got caught working. I dont feel too bad for her.