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Comment by charlesdm | Hacker News Reader

Your best bet is to work remotely for a SV based company, receiving US compensation. There are a few people I know who do this, and they easily gross €10k+ per month.

Or you become a contractor on a day rate, but then you're not really permanently working for the same company.

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Contractorship in Europe is very different from one country to another. Not just for laws and regulations; but rates differ a lot, too.

In the UK you can easily find contractor gigs for 300-400GBP daily rate. 500 is not uncommon for some roles; whist in Spain 250-300 Eur is the absolute maximum.

If interested in contracting check Jobserve, and itjobswatch uk first before setting your own daily rate.

That is extremely hard to do, though, as those jobs are rather rare. I do agree that it's the absolute best if you can pull it off.

The fact that they are rare might only mean that few people know and search for it. The probability of getting it conditioned on the fact that you're searching might be a lot higher.

I'm saying they're rare conditioned on the fact that you're searching for them.

Don't you need a visa to work remotely for a SV company from Europe?

Of course not. I'm not sure why would you even think that.

Why do you seem so certain of that?

I live in Germany, work for an SV company, and a work visa in Germany is absolutely required.

No, there are multiple options. If you are a contractor is one way, or an own Delaware LLC that is used for invoicing, you just need to hire international tax accountant to be good with both US and your-country-of-tax-residence's tax offices.

Visa's are by definition documents providing authorization for (re)entry and specific kinds of work. If you're not inside the country's geographical boundaries, you are not in their jurisdiction and hence don't need a visa.

Now, taxes though... that's a different beast.

Easy: you invoice from wherever you're based. Exempt from tax in the US, taxed in your home jurisdiction. Expenses tax deductible.

Long term contracting is not much different from 'permanent' employment. But it does come with slightly less safety net (e.g. essentially you can be fired at-will)

Wouldn't the company have an incentive to pay you European rates for your remote work then?

Not if you are good at what you do and they are looking for talent. Second, any self respected software developer would probably reject an offer where a company knowingly does this.

Please forgive my ignorance: What is the 'SV' abbreviation referring to here?

Silicon Valley, area between San Francisco and San Jose in California, USA, North America.

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