Ask HN: Remote Work for Refugees and Asylum Seekers?

There really needs to be a freelance job board or something that allows refugees and asylum seekers in dangerous countries to do remote work and get paid safely (Bitcoin for instance) so they can support themselves. Imagine being an engineer hiding out in Afghanistan right now with no way to support yourself because you can't "verify your identity". You may have to hide for years or face death. That's a big issue that needs to be solved. My question is has this been solved and I just can't find anything? Or is it just something that can't be solved and we leave these people helpless? Seems like a major humanitarian issue that could be easily solved.

Unless it's for charity, I don't know who'd hire someone like this over another remote worker in a less precarious and unstable situation. If it's for charity, there are more efficient ways to help people.

Like the other commenter said, I like the spirit. But I don't see it happening, I'm afraid.

Would you need to confirm this? I think the benefit would be that refugees would have an option that would allow them to work, not that you could necessarily ensure you were hiring only refugees.

That raises some interesting legal questions.

If you pay to someone who "can't verify their identity" you are basically paying some anonymous person or institution.

Is that legal? In the US? In Europe? I have no idea. Anybody in the know?

I know that in Europe, depending on which country you pay to, you have to do different types of paperwork. So someone in country X in Europe has to do different type of reporting whether they pay someone in X, some other European country, in the USA or in Ireland etc ...

I wonder what the tax authorities would say if you report payments to an "unknown" person in and "unknown" destination. There probably is not even a form for this that you could use.

I promise you any Afghan developer reading this would prefer Visa sponsorship to get him/her and their family out of Afghanistan and the miserable refugee camps in nearby countries.

The US has a very high pay ceiling for H1B but in most other Western countries it should be feasible to do Visa sponsorship for an Afghan or Syrian web developer and his family.

I know Danish companies who hired Syrian engineers and it's been working well for them.

Also just a hint when hiring from Muslim countries: Islamic fundamentalism and bigotry is not an ideology of old men with one foot in the grave. Most Islamic bigots are young English-speaking tech-savvy people. Make a simple background check so you don't end up hiring a bigot.