You can always hire people from outside E.U with a temporary work visa.
Ask HN: How to hire digital nomads nearby?
31–40 of 49 posts
Re: Ask HN: How to hire digital nomads nearby?
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you go for a shorter stay in a city as a digital nomad (e.g. 1-6 months), then Barcelona/Rio and similar hold a huge advantage comparing to Munich/Frankfurt/Stuttgart/Hamburg, as you could actually have some great social experiences there in a very short time, but stand little to no chance cracking the "legendary" German "coconut personality". It's highly unlikely you'd meet anyone giving you a kidney anyway, but…
I dunno, maybe I just don’t see that much value in those transient „great social experiences”. BTW, when it comes to noncommital interactions with people, I like to talk to people older than me, as they have perspectives on live not yet available for me, while the „bar scene” is dominated by similar and uninteresting twenty-somethings with relatively little story to tell.
I am not really into typical bar scene; I tend to throw parties at home where I invite people of various backgrounds/age and have evening of fun (having a music & photo/cinematography studio at home is handy). That is way simpler to do in those two cities I mentioned, where interesting people you know for a day or two want you even to attend their own social events; far more difficult when I tried to do it e.g. in Frankfurt. You get to know some very interesting people as locals tend to show off and bring you to some of their "local stars" and you get to soak culture directly (and on steroids). Still remember one guy bringing me to Bip Bip on Copacabana, introduced me to Alfredinho, and we spent evening discussing Brazilian life while having musicians performing various local songs, and you could soak the atmosphere, what makes Brazilians proud, the cracks and insurmountable issues they were facing daily, observe their blind spots my own culture handles better etc. You also get a crash course on what are advantages and disadvantages of their cultures if you are perceptive enough. With Germans, it's way more difficult and IMO not worth it for short-term stays (maybe Ossies are slightly different in this regard). Swiss & Austrians are even one level more opaque due to one more indirection layer.
Re: Ask HN: How to hire digital nomads nearby?
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
> not to mention that it would take years to find just one real German friend for normal social interactions That's factually false and incompatible with your previous statement. > could spend every month at a different place around the world
I don't see any link. You e.g. go to Barcelona or Rio de Janeiro and you get a bunch of friends the moment you walk out of the door of your apartment (figuratively ofc), whereas in Germany it takes years to develop any closer relationship that could be qualified as something more than superficial friendship (i.e. nobody cares, unless you are useful in some way right away), and even those often get abruptly terminated…
@bitL
We miss you BRO.
Please present yourself at any Brazilian restaurant or carnival.
Cheers, Brazilian community
Re: Ask HN: How to hire digital nomads nearby?
#34A lot of digital nomads don't actually have the right to work in the country in which they are located
They have corps registered somewhere where you sign a contract with that corp that satisfy local regulations but the actual guy doing the job may be just sitting in the next local starbucks doing job technically illegally.
You get 1/4-1/2 of ongoing local rate for the same quality.
You be the judge of risk/reward ratio of course.
Re: Ask HN: How to hire digital nomads nearby?
#35"Butt-in-seat"-mentality is a big, artifical problem. Anywhere that practices it isn't worth dealing with.
Re: Ask HN: How to hire digital nomads nearby?
#36Have you had a look at https://nomadlist.com/? I recall seeing something like chat groups by location.
I’m sure a lot of the concerns other people raised re working rights and legal complexities are valid but it’s not fair to assume that no nomad would be willing to take a break and hang around Munich for a few months.
Re: Ask HN: How to hire digital nomads nearby?
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
As tax resident, it's a hell, but someone living and having existing business in Greece or nearby Belgium could actually work in Munich legally for up to half a year and do some nice tricks like paying the rent via the company.
Not exactly... From what I've heard, as long as you're staying in Germany (i.e. it is your primary residence) and you work there, they believe you should pay taxes there. The 183 days rule is more for cases when you have two comparable residences at the time (and you travel back and forth between them). Of course, people try their luck and contract using their non-German companies, but I've read on some forum that at…
"This way, you have no residence in Germany at all, and also you're there for less than 183 days per year, so they really have no claim to your taxes."
Be careful with this. I don't know about Germany in particular, but in many countries tax residency isn't as simple as whether you were present for >=183 days.
Take the UK as an example. The relevant legislation (Finance Act 2013) defines a 'Statutory Residence Test'. It's complicated enough that HMRC (UK equivalent of IRS) created a booklet to help you understand how it applies in your own situation.
That booklet is 105 pages long: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rdr3-statutory-re...
Even if you spend only 3 days/week in the UK, it's possible to become tax resident there, and is more likely if you do it for 2 years in a row.
Re: Ask HN: How to hire digital nomads nearby?
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
As tax resident, it's a hell, but someone living and having existing business in Greece or nearby Belgium could actually work in Munich legally for up to half a year and do some nice tricks like paying the rent via the company.
Not exactly... From what I've heard, as long as you're staying in Germany (i.e. it is your primary residence) and you work there, they believe you should pay taxes there. The 183 days rule is more for cases when you have two comparable residences at the time (and you travel back and forth between them). Of course, people try their luck and contract using their non-German companies, but I've read on some forum that at…
Why do this if you can just move to a country like London?
I personally live in Germany and chosen to work as a normal employee, but I'm aware that the German government doesn't want people to be freelancers/entrepreneurs.
I think almost every other EU country is better than Germany in that regard. Estonia being #1(in legislation) and possibly UK being the best market.
Re: Ask HN: How to hire digital nomads nearby?
#39Digital nomads, not remote... Doesn't compute. Why would any real digital nomad that could spend every month at a different place around the world want to get stuck in Munich in subpar and overpriced housing with only 2-3 months a year of bearable weather and deal with German tax bureaucracy (need to have at least 2 clients in parallel or be forced to register themselves as a single person business with all the incre…
> not to mention that it would take years to find just one real German friend for normal social interactions That's factually false and incompatible with your previous statement. > could spend every month at a different place around the world
What he's saying is true. I live in Germany for 4 years, and even though I can definitely speak German, only the foreigners are generally willing to(it's a generalisation!).
Now, when discussing friendships, the picture is even more bleak. I have loads of foreigner friends, but 0.5 german friend.
Re: Ask HN: How to hire digital nomads nearby?
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
> not to mention that it would take years to find just one real German friend for normal social interactions That's factually false and incompatible with your previous statement. > could spend every month at a different place around the world
What he's saying is true. I live in Germany for 4 years, and even though I can definitely speak German, only the foreigners are generally willing to(it's a generalisation!). Now, when discussing friendships, the picture is even more bleak. I have loads of foreigner friends, but 0.5 german friend.
How do you have half a German friend?
Is he/she half German, or was he/she involved in some terrible guillotine accident?