Although there are many more opportunities to work from home, many of those jobs are country-specific. For example, you might see a remote job, but it’s only accepting of applicants residing in the US.
Would you believe me if I told you that you can work for these companies without being a US resident and without needing a visa? Would you believe me if I told you that that you can work from wherever you are, and even travel while you work?
Because you can.
And I know you can, because I’ve had at least a few of those jobs. Here’s how this works:
Table of Contents
Getting the job
Firstly, you’ll need to search for and apply to remote jobs that aren’t location-specific. Or at least, if they’re location specific, they’re specific to your country of residence. A job posting will usually indicate whether the position is location specific by mentioning the country or city you must reside in.
It may be tempting to apply to jobs that are specific to a location you aren’t residing in, but don’t do it — you’ll just be wasting your time. Instead, focus your efforts on listings that either mention remote, worldwide, or your country of residence. This means that the company already has processes in place to ensure that they can legally hire people residing in other countries, or at least from within your country.
If you’re looking to work from home, check out this post where I’ve listed a few of my favourite and most trusted sites for finding remote work: Work from home: Job boards for 2023 and beyond.
Getting paid
Since you’ll be applying to jobs that accept applicants from your country of residence, those companies would have already established a means to pay you. Generally, they’re going to use some tool, app, or process that allows them to facilitate sending payment legally (and they’ll also use those tools or apps because it’s more cost-effective than establishing a headquarters in your country).
However, you will need to invoice the company for the work you completed. Due to the legal limitations of hiring outside of the country, the company will consider you as a contractor rather than an employee. As a contractor, you’ll be responsible for submitting an invoice every pay period for the work completed. Then, the company will send your payment based on the agreed-upon arrangement (which would be those processes I mentioned previously).
Now, this doesn’t mean that you need to create your own company in order to invoice and be paid. You’ll need to review the tax implications in your country. But generally, you can invoice your company as a sole proprietor. This means that you are your own company, you’re the only member in your company, and you’re representing yourself as a company. In this case, you’ll use your own name on the invoice (rather than a company name). Again, review the tax implications in your country, but I’ve always done this as a sole proprietor, and I’ve been fine. 🤷🏾♀️
As a sole proprietor, you’re also able to claim back business expenses on your taxes. A business expense is essentially anything you’ve spent money on in order to do your work. This can range from any devices or accessories (laptops, monitors, webcams), services (antivirus, portion of internet bill), or any fees you received (exchange rate) needed to run your business. However, you’ll need to check the exact expenses you can claim according to your country’s tax laws.
Getting back to invoicing, you can use a free invoice creator such as: https://invoicehome.com. I like this invoice creator because I can create, send, and manage my invoices for free. There are a variety of invoice templates to choose from, which makes creating an invoice really simple. There is also a way to accept payments to the invoice — this does cost a fee from the processor, but it isn’t much. However, you likely won’t need that anyway, as your employer will have a specific method to pay you.
One way that your company may want to pay you is using a payroll system — if they’re reconsidering options, I’d recommend Deel. Deel allows your company to meet compliance and send payment in various currencies to all of their independent contractors. However, Deel also automates invoicing sending (so you no longer have to send invoices manually), and allows you and your employer to keep, review, and update your contracts in one place. Deel also gives you 7 different ways to withdraw funds, which I think is pretty cool.
But I’m boring, so I’m happy with just 1 withdrawal method.
Additionally, due to tax treaties between Canada and other countries, you will only be required to pay taxes in Canada.
Receiving payment
Receiving the payment is probably the easiest (and most anticipated) part. But I get many questions about this as well.
Although you can probably receive funds directly into your bank account, the easiest way I’ve come across is to use Wise (formerly Transferwise). Creating a Wise account allows you to receive payment in various currencies, and then exchange and transfer those funds into your bank account.
To give more detail, Wise almost acts as a bank, allowing you to receive funds. You’ll have specific account details to send to your employer — your employer will submit payment using those details, and the payment will appear in your Wise account. Then, you can exchange it and transfer it into your bank.
It’s important to note here that it’s best practice to transfer the funds out of your Wise account as soon as they’re received (or, keep very little in the account). This is because Wise isn’t a bank, so your funds aren’t protected if something goes wrong (such as, if your account is hacked), and your funds aren’t receiving any interest when being held.
Alternatively, you can probably have funds deposited into your bank account directly, but many banks will charge hefty fees (plus exchange rate!) for accepting wire transfers or international deposits. I’ve found Wise to be the most cost-efficient method to receive funds. For the years I’ve been using them, I’ve never had an issue receiving nor transferring funds from Wise.
As a note, I do want to mention that Wise isn’t free; there are some fees associated with using Wise, which is how they make their money. But I’ve found the fees are minimal compared to other methods, and I’m still able to claim the fees back on my taxes.
Things to keep in mind
The things I’ve mentioned above covers the gist of what you need to know. However, there are some other considerations to keep in mind. It’s better to be aware of these things upfront than to be surprised later on:
- Well, this may not surprise you. But you’d be responsible for paying your own taxes. So ensure to set aside enough funds with each payment received. There are different online calculators that can give some guidance on how much you should put aside every pay period.
- Companies hiring from outside of your country will likely pay more. However, as you won’t be considered an employee, they may be restricted with the benefits they can offer. This may mean that they’re unable to offer traditional benefits (such as dental, vision, etc). This doesn’t mean that you can’t get benefits, just that many companies outside of your country may have restrictions.
Found this post helpful? Let me know! I’m passionate about helping others find and secure opportunities to work from home, and I’d love to know if you found my post helpful. I’d also love to know if you think there’s anything I missed.
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About Cami C
Cami C’s blog Cami at Home provides readers with information about finding and securing remote-working opportunities. Book a resume review, profile review, or interview prep session.