Having now read that letter it is truly horrendous and you’d be mad to use. Who on earth put together that dross. THS should be ashamed of themselves. A new housesitter could easily think they actually needed to show it but it practically screams “don’t let me through your border”
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It is only a minority of sitters that read on this forum. That is even true I think for sitters that travel intercontinentally to a pet sit.
I believe that THS knows quite well how many problems these letters cause, because it is quite likely that when entry is refused, that the sitter and/or the host would contact membership services.
THS just chooses not to divulge this information to its paying customers.
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In a different thread you write you were a customs agent. Is this true? Some logic could have helped you here.
I think we can agree that laws need to be followed?
Of course, the border control agents need to follow the law when they admit or refuse entry.
But my recent bout of petsitting in the UK does not weigh on my conscience. Technically, it is not allowed but it is not a punishable offence.
@pietkuip and I am sure you were also gratefully received as a sitter since there are way more sits than sitters in the UK! We sitters are all in high demand- especially in UK & USA!
I would NEVER use the THS letter- and I would ALWAYS say we are tourists- if asked. As with Covid regulations I have no qualms whatsover with omitting information that would go against us as sitters! 
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No Tanya2024, I was never a Customs agent, worked in IT for Border in Canada, did not study the IMM laws as IT! Why is THS making false statements in their US CBP letters stating cleared with their IMM US lawyers? They need to state sitters coming into the US need to not tell the truth and risk getting banned or flagged as no Work permits will be issued to a Foreign national in the US for this. Accountability needs to happen here. Risk of not telling the truth and getting caught could lead to a ban, even worse!! I am mad as h… on this, ruined my early plans for Florida retirement, no one cares!
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Hi, Sorry if subject has been here before but new to site.
We are going housesitting to France soon and I recall there being an issue with the French Immigration and housesitters, any advice greatly appreciated.
Rob
Welcome to the Forum @Twogreys 
I’ve popped your question in to the dedicated discussion about this subject, hope you don’t mind.
I always state I’m a tourist, visiting friends and trying new foods.
Only once has this been questioned in all my years of travelling and that was entering Ireland. I had to show proof of bank details and provide “friends” details.
When I sit abroad, I enter my hosts’ info into my cell phone address book and know what they do for a living. Because friends know that sort of thing. And if asked, I’ll tell border agents that we met on an online pets group.
I also wipe out incriminating emails from my phone and store needed sit info in the cloud.
That’s because when you cross borders, they can ask various Qs and check your electronics.
I also take a screen shot of my bank balance ahead of flying, in case I can’t get a signal to show proof of ability to support myself.
I learned to do this sort of thing after watching a bunch of videos on social media about how border agents work in various countries.
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In addition to any rules around whether house sitting is work and requires a visa … there are the usual entry requirements that apply to all U.K. passport holders visiting the EU.
You can only stay in the Schengen area for up to 90 days out of 180 .
Your passport cannot have been issued more than 10 years before the day you enter the Schengen country ( France in this case ) and
Your passport must be valid for at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave.
I always send a link to this thread when sitters apply from another country regardless of whether I’m automatically declining them or seriously looking at their application. If they have a great application, and reviews, and I’d consider them for the sit, I bring it up again during the video chat. Usually, those sitters are aware of issues. Usually, if I’ve chosen a sitter traveling from another country, they’ll already have arrived in my country long before the sit either for another sit, or travelling to see friends or relatives, etc.
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I don’t think the French border is particularly difficult in this respect. (But I am an EU citizen.)
Just as for any border: do not mention housesitting when they ask why you are travelling.
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@Twogreys I haven’t been to France in a few years, but I’ve flown into Luxembourg and Germany recently and in both cases I was not asked any questions at all. Just handed them my US passport, they stamped it and that was it. I haven’t heard anything about France being more difficult that other Schengen countries.
Hello everyone,
This topic is open again - if you want to discuss the recent CBC article please head here, please take note of the boundaries we’ve set within our initial post.
Thanks for your patience while we’ve been working on this.
Jenny
You absolutely should not lie to border protection personnel.
If you say you say you’re coming to visit fiends you will likely need to answer follow up questions regarding the nature of your friendship and where you met etc.
There is absolutely no doubt that THS walks a fine line when it comes to international sits with regard to entry requirements/restrictions for tourists.
It’s very common for countries to have a a ‘no work, paid or unpaid’ policy. It doesn’t matter how THS dresses pet sitting using their mutually beneficial exchange concept in the eyes of Border Protection (and most people outside of this THS bubble) pet or house sitting is considered WORK.
If you try to elude Border Protection questioning or blatantly lie to them you will dig yourself into an even deeper hole.
I have done international sits in countries with strict entry restrictions similar to the US - I never make the sit the primary purpose of my travel - I combine it with visits to friends etc in other cities of regions before and after. So when asked by border protection personnel and can truthfully answer questions regarding portions of my trip - this usually satisfies them… but if I was asked to provide a full schedule of my trip and how I know each and every person I’m visiting then it might get sticky.
This is from: https://support.trustedhousesitters.com/hc/en-gb/articles/6261917234077-Advice-for-international-house-sitting
A question for native speakers of (British) English: how many is “a very small handful of cases”?
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AmEng speaker here…generally I’d interpret “a very small handful” to mean “less than five”. Per year? All time? Not clear.
This poor lady, she put her trust in THS after loosing her dog, it sounds like such a horrible experience for her. When is THS going to stop lying about the border issues with pet sitters!
The letters are a joke and ppl can have severe consequences of never been able to return to a country for a very long time. I know someone personally this has happen to.
Have the backbone to be open and honest with sitters THS and stop deceiving ppl then everyone can decide for themselves once they have all the correct information.
Knowledge is power and ppl will appreciate transparency from THS a lot more then been deceived by them.
Edited to meet posting guidelines
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