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Ask HN: Strategies to land remote US job while living in living in EU?

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Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land remote US job while living in living in EU?

#51

Post by bitL »

jacknews wrote: post #26
bitL wrote: post #16

TopTal, Crossover, Turing etc. Also: https://jobboardsearch.com/remote-jobs-only

Except with some of these you're giving up most of the 'wage arbitrage' to the 'agent' - they're often making as much as you are for every hour you work, sometimes even more, just for being an intermediary.

That's life I guess. If TopTal adding 70% on top of your rate still gives you 2x EU salary, is that so bad? When an E7 at Facebook London earns 250k and E7 in Menlo Park earns 860k, there is quite a margin to exploit...

Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land remote US job while living in living in EU?

#52

Post by [deleted] »

sarchertech wrote: post #12

Many US companies hiring people from Europe are treating them as de facto employees but paying them as contractors. This is illegal. It’s not something that the US government has been regularly enforcing. But if the trend continues and ends up on the public’s radar, that will change.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land remote US job while living in living in EU?

#53

Post by tluyben2 »

sarchertech wrote: post #27
bitL wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not illegal. An EU person needs a legal entity in the EU (it can be either freelancer or a company) and then it's just usual B2B relationship where EU person pays their taxes, insurances etc. in the EU. US company still saves, i.e. instead of paying 200k to a fresh graduate they can pay it to a senior dev in the EU.

Nope. Contracting through a legal entity doesn’t prevent you from being a defacto employee.

Yep, in many places you would need multiple clients to prevent being seen as an de facto employee.

Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land remote US job while living in living in EU?

#54

Post by [deleted] »

pid-1 wrote: post #23
sarchertech wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most US companies will not deal with hiring someone as a direct employee from a country with the kind of worker protections most European countries have—unless they already have a presence there (and are likely paying local rates anyway).

Can't you start a company in the EU and get hired as a contractor to circumvent this? That's the way to go for BR developers. You even get some cool tax breaks for exporting services.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land remote US job while living in living in EU?

#55

Post by tluyben2 »

Semaphor wrote: post #21
sarchertech wrote: post #12

Many US companies hiring people from Europe are treating them as de facto employees but paying them as contractors. This is illegal. It’s not something that the US government has been regularly enforcing. But if the trend continues and ends up on the public’s radar, that will change.

It is probably doubly illegal. Not just in the US, but also in the country you live in. I don’t know for sure outside Germany, but I assume it’s similar: If you mainly live in Germany, you have to be hired according to German labor law (and pay taxes etc. in Germany)

Yeah, in NL and UK and probably others, you would need to have a company with multiple clients to be not seen as employee.

Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land remote US job while living in living in EU?

#56

Post by ddorian43 »

> Are there any fellow Europe based software engineers who work remotely for US companies and could share advice about landing such jobs?

Been doing for 5+ years. Assuming you're "senior" that salary is easy to get. I just search all job sites with "remote" that accept CET timezone.

Getting the $120K+ is harder though.

Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land remote US job while living in living in EU?

#57

Post by tluyben2 »

mrweasel wrote: post #38

Is there some reason to not apply for a job in an EU country? $60.000 is pretty low and getting hired in another EU country (assuming you're in the EU of cause) might be easier than getting hired by a US based company.

Also not actually that easy to be hired in another EU country without moving. If you work from another country, the employer will have to create or contract with an entity in your country that hires and pays you. It is a real pain; it is a major reason why I keep a running company that my tax entity sees as a real company (it does investments, hires people, has multiple clients etc) so I cannot be seen as a de facto employee; it is much easier for me and employers to pay me via that. No headaches.

Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land remote US job while living in living in EU?

#60

Post by wooque »

sarchertech wrote: post #12

Many US companies hiring people from Europe are treating them as de facto employees but paying them as contractors. This is illegal. It’s not something that the US government has been regularly enforcing. But if the trend continues and ends up on the public’s radar, that will change.

It's not if it's properly structured. That usually means employee having some kind of legal entity (consulting firm) and having proper B2B contract.
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