Why are the majority of my US clients so hesitant with contracting outside the US?

Question

I would like to work as freelancer for USA clients, mostly because I am in the EU, and I don't want to wake up at the morning in my timezone.

I've applied to several jobs (which allow remote work) in the USA and been refused, or I haven't receive any response, or they want regular employment and I need a visa to work in USA (and so on).

Is it just the USA that seems to act in this way? I can work under contract and provide legal, valid invoices, if needed, so why the apparent restrictions on remote work?

Answer 1

Why the are not choosing you? The reasons may be:

• They prefer working with some in the USA. In case things go bad, they can always sue USA contractor. USA contractors are also aware of this.

• Price of the project - large project are usually not being subcontracted outside USA

• Remote workers are unreliable. I heard this sentence from many clients who tried hiring someone full-time remotely, and then got burnt heavily.

• They are afraid that remote worker may leave in the middle of the project. This is not rare as we all know.

• "And currency: given the current change rate, companies might be biased into thinking EU citizens are simply too expensive as workers" by ZJR. I've faced the same problems with currency conversions.

• Some credit cards (like Payoneer) will charge up to 3% any US dollar leaves the US. Meaning, if you're paying someone outside USA $1000, they will charge you $30 extra (besides all other fees) because dollar had left the USA.

• "Also timezones: a company might be already contracting overseas to China, and that requires a certain timezone juggling to brief, debrief and schedule meetings. Adding Europe into the mix might spike the management overhead, requiring too much energy and resources to keep things working" by ZJR.

• etc.

I think that these reasons may be the main reason. Of course, some of them may be patriotic, but I think that most of clients would rather hire expert for a lower price, that USA mediocrity just cause he's American.

I would suggest you really try working for that company in the USA. If you are a developer and good one, after a year or so, you may be able to negotiate remote work. A personal friend of mine succeeded in this, but he had to work for that company 2 years on-site.

Answer 2

It seems you're assuming their reason for not hiring you is the fact that you're outside US, but there doesn't seem to be any real evidence to think so. I have been freelancing for a few years and have a few friends doing the same, all of us regularly get awarded projects by US clients and have had generally pleasant experiences with them. If there are people who are over-patriotic or nationalistic enough to not choose non-US employees/contractors, they aren't numerous enough to affect our project pool significantly.

I would recommend you to try contacting those who refused or ignored your application and politely asking them the reason for their rejection, but make sure you mention that you are asking this to improve your application process and not as a complaint against the rejection. It's possible they will ignore this mail also of course, but some may take the time to reply, and even a single reply can throw some light on whatever the real issue is.

Answer 3

Personally, I'm in France and the two most significant issues clients in the US raise are:

• Timezone (I'm often stopping work when they're starting)
• The weak dollar

So, using a randomly selected $250 daily rate (I charge more), that currently works out to €183/day. That's far too little money for a Western European contractor who has a decent reputation. In fact, it's even low for the US, unless you live in a really small, cheap town.

And yes, there's the concern about offshore workers. If you disappear, the company's often not in a position to do anything about it. Of course, the reverse might be true.

Answer 4

After 9 years I found this article here:

“Camera surveillance for nine hours a day is disproportionate and not allowed in the Netherlands,” the Dutch court ruled.

Long story in short. Somebody from NL worked remotely for a company in USA (Chetu). According to another article they already monitored his activity and his screen, but they wanted to see it on webcam also. Because he didn't turn on the webcam the company fired it. This act is legal in USA and it seems it is not legal in NL / EU.

The other fact: monitoring + micromanaging maybe can be justified maybe not. When it can be justified: better to kick that person, in my opinion.

For me: this level of micromanaging and monitoring it is a clear sign of trust. Why should I work for those people?

Now, there is another side of the coin: the company.

Some freelancer sites post jobs, where they clearly require to do all your coding with remote desktop. So can be this case: a USA company employs a people in whatever country, remote. For the shake of example let's say in NL.

That person in NL post a job to a freelancer site: full time job with X salary ( a lot less than half what he gets) and need to do all coding via remote desktop / Teamviewer and other tools. In this case the person in NP has 8 or 9 hour free time + half salary. Somebody in 3rd world it is working on his PC, laptop. This can go against the NDA!

In this days from campering or living in a campervan or something like that videos I heave heard from somebody: "I am not going there, where I am not welcomed". -So maybe it is a great idea to not want to work for those companies in USA, which they don't trust me, they thread me as second or third category people and so on.