Ask HN: US expats/nomads, how do you find remote-out-of-US jobs in US?

Given most remote jobs assume or prerequisite US soil, how do you find a job/niche which hires worldwide? UPD. It's not about legal side, but rather how to identify those HRs and hiring managers who open to hire a US citizen living in another country.

rozenmd · 8 months ago

You don't, you find a US company with a local entity that hires you on a local contract in that country. That way you're compliant with taxes, and the company is compliant with employment law in your country.

The alternative to that is starting a sole-trader company in the country you're in, and contracting directly with the US company through it (or a remote-employees-as-a-service company that basically does this on the company's behalf for a fat fee).

rudnevr · 8 months ago

sorry, my question is not that much of a legal side, there's plenty of info around - it's rather about identifying jobs which are open to this. Most HRs and hiring managers just ignore the applications which openly state - "I'm not on US soil".

rozenmd · 8 months ago

ah right - personal network helps a lot here. if you're applying through the job board you're starting at a disadvantage.

bnchrch · 8 months ago

I can share my experience as a canadian who's been working remotely for US companies since 2016.

Typically I would either find a warm intro from a past colleague, or I would specifically find someone involved in the hiring pipeline at the company on Linkedin and say "Hey im so and so, and blah blah blah, im thinking of applying but would love if you could tell me more about the role and the culture before I commit"

From here, so long as you baseline can stand out as a solid engineer and communicator those US only barriers fall down.

This is why to someone elses point > if they’d hire you, why wouldn’t they hire someone much cheaper.

They'd hire someone cheaper certainly, provided they could find a person with identical quality, similar culture, and near PST timezones. Which is a fairly tall order in reality.

Its also why its not too uncommon to find Canadians pulling in near SF salaries while not having to relocate

taurath · 8 months ago

Think of it this way - if they’d hire you, why wouldn’t they hire someone much cheaper.

You can’t identify them from the outside, but your network can. If you want to try, try companies with heavy worldwide presence.

muzani · 8 months ago

Americans are not necessarily expensive in this day and age. Maybe the ones in the big cities are, but international salaries are rising up to match. Plus, they might be happier with a lower salary in a lower cost of living, especially if the quality of life is boosted by weather/location/food/hot people into foreigners.

American salaries likely anchor high though, and you can probably still get a decent amount above locals for the same work.

Plus even if you were mid, you'd be mid for the upper tier market. That might still be better than an average market, and you might do well in a market that's facing a shortage. Keep an eye on HN to see which countries are investing massively in tech.

wbnns · 8 months ago

Contribute to open source and join communities associated with what you're interested in

In them, build in public and share what you're shipping each week

codegeek · 8 months ago

Go on Linkedin and search for small companies with less than 50 employees that have been in business for 3-5 years minimum. Figure out what they do, what they sell and if you would be interested in their company. Don't worry about whether they have a job listing or not.

Approach their founder(s) directly and sell yourself.

malfist · 8 months ago

Is this the new version of "just walk in and ask for a job" of our parent's time?

DANmode · 8 months ago

Is being unwilling to dig deep, find direct contacts (to avoid being grouped with LinkedIn or Indeed mass-appliers) and actually understand the place you're applying (and their mission statement) before writing your note/cover letter

the new version of not being willing to go into a place and ask for a job?

Yeah. I'd say so.

codegeek · 8 months ago

Yes and it can work if you do it the right way. I have done it at least twice in my career.

keiferski · 8 months ago

It’s never been an issue for me, but I’ve also almost exclusively worked for smaller companies and startups. Below a certain level of “HR complexity” companies don’t care where you are located.

mmaurizi · 8 months ago

At a past company, the two hires we made in this situation were people who were contributing to open source projects we maintained, who we hired to work on that project, so we knew they would be a very good fit.

pesfandiar · 8 months ago

I imagine it's a very crowded and competitive market to work remotely for US companies (and not through a sweat shop agency). The fact that a candidate has emigrated from US shouldn't typically be a big factor.