[thisone]

entering the UK under a tourist visa or waiver program, you must be able to fund your stay. The tourist visas are No Work or Recourse to Public Funds. If you are funding your stay in the UK by working remotely, you are not abiding by the terms of your visa. This isn't the same as getting an emergency call out while on holiday.

How does the border agency know? They ask you a whole bunch of questions upon entering the country. So if the plan was to work remotely you'd end up lying to them. Digital Nomads calling it a grey area is often a nice way of saying "unless you tell someone the truth, you'll be fine"

If it's something you plan on doing, I'd highly recommend knowing the regulations for each country yourself and not relying on a third-party website to tell you things. That way you decide what you say to whom and what risk you take.

[wolco]

If you are visiting and not working for a UK company it is perfectly legal to do work while travelling. If you overstay your visa different story.

Put another way vp of sky visits Canada answers a few emails/calls while on vacation, perfectly legal.

[thisone]

answering calls, writing a few emails on holiday, is different from actually living in a country on a tourist visa and working remotely.

[ghaff]

Define "living." As a US citizen, I've gone over to the EU, including the UK, for multiple weeks to attend multiple conferences, have customer meetings, etc. I've never been anything but 100% upfront in answering any questions about the purpose and duration of my visit honestly and have never had an immigration official so much as blink at my answers.

I know that some countries (such as China) do require business visas for attending a conference and I've to get letters of introduction, etc. in order to get my visa. But it's never been an issue in Europe.