Ask HN: Why do companies do “remote within the US”?

International law is complex. Having a full-time employee located in another country can lead to a lot of legal unknowns. At the very least this requires a company to spend the money to understand if they are exposing themselves to any international laws that are unknown to them. I am not a lawyer but have run businesses in the past and legally that would scare the hell out of me. Also, benefits were brought up by the other commenter but it wasn't addressed in the legal context. How do ADA and FMLA and other benefits work when the employee is living in another country? These are all questions that are a burden on a company. Why should they legally have to shoulder the burden?

Having fully remote employees within the US is a large burden in and of itself. It is very very hard unless a company has resources that can address that. Each employee in a different state or location is basically treated like a separate office. You are basically asking a company to open an office in Mexico.

There are a number of reasons this goes on.

First and foremost is why remote is so slow to catch on everywhere. Every manager has to deal with cognitive load, and a limited capability to exceed it. Getting the money to hire somebody at a given rate is hard enough, but then interviewing, weighing how much difficulty will be involved in day-to-day managing this hire, is all factored in, and all adds to the cognitive load.

A lot of "100% remote" isn't. They want these hires, if for some reason it became necessary, to be able to travel to the main office (and to travel to meet them). They want to be able to pay them without any unanswered questions. They don't want a cultural or language barrier. The fact is, even if you have all these bases covered, and you are a US citizen, they have trouble taking you at your word just because "foreign", and it's a load off to just tell you no.

If someone emailed me a Mexican phone number, even though it may be as easy as just punching it in, most managers would not want to.

Companies are set up to do US taxes, and don't want to deal with foreign taxes. Even if Mexico has zero foreign tax filing requirements, the US probably has a form to fill out.

A US PO box can cost under $20 per 6 months, and many of the cheapest ones are along the US/Mexico border. Take a road trip and use that PO box as the address on your resume. Have a phone number that doesn't require international dialing. Don't lie about where you're from ("my mailing address is in Phoenix") but if it's 100% remote (and you have good internet) it shouldn't matter. You're a US citizen, and this would fix most of your problems.

I've had to deal with discrimination based on where I live, but at least I was showing up to the physical office as agreed. In sum, don't make it hard for them to see you as part of the organization they envisioned.

I use https://travelingmailbox.com. They're great. Not super modern and hip, but certainly functional and affordable.

My employer doesn't have to pay Mexican taxes. I don't even have to pay Mexican taxes. They do US taxes just like for everybody else because my bank account is in the States and I'm an American.

I use Skype and Google Voice. I can give out a US phone number and receive calls just as though I were in the US.

It's just so very very frustrating.

Having employees in a country means the company has to obey that country's labor laws, pay taxes and social security. While Mexico's labor laws aren't unreasonable, you basically need a second HR department to ensure compliance with a second set of laws.

That's not actually true in my situation. My visa requires that I not hold a Mexican job. As long as I hold a job in another country and pay taxes in that country, I owe zero taxes to the Mexican government.

As mentioned by others, it's because of compliance headaches with payroll in foreign countries. Next time this happens, I would recommend suggesting to them that you work as a contractor on 1099. In that case, it's a way more straightforward process for the employer because they just need to send you money, and you handle all the compliance paperwork on your side. In fact it's even easier for them than hiring a US employee.

I've never thought about requesting to be transferred as a contractor. That would mean I would have to pay my own taxes as in the self-employment situation.

As was the case for my termination a few months ago, I actually WAS working as a contractor, so that's not 100% foolproof.

I actually just recently heard about a guy who moved here. He told his boss, and his boss's boss, who were both fine with it. Then when he told HR they were like "no way, dude." But then both bosses told him "just tell HR you're moving to Florida." LOL!

It might depend on the industry you are working in. I know some grants have language which prohibits data from leaving the continental United States. I think this is done to "protect US jobs."

But if "protecting US jobs" means giving jobs to US Passport holders, THAT'S ME! If it's protecting US tax income, THAT'S ME TOO!

Just a guess, but probably it's because of sharing the same timezone and culture and where it's easy to set up payroll, benefits,... for the employee in question.

Y'konw, honestly, the time-zone thing I understand. If you're looking for people to cover specific shift work for incoming tickets or events or whatever, that makes sense. Just like on-prem jobs.

But I'm talking about totally asynchronous work that's just an assignment given to you, and you turn it in completed later.

Try working with startups, smaller companies or take roles where they don't care. Also, no need to disclose your actual whereabouts as long as you can get paid, sign contracts, pay taxes, are reachable at the US number, and can travel as needed.

To reduce risk.

As a manager, besides budget - the risk of delivering (or not) the project is important.

The more remote, away from home timezone, less english speaking audience is involved - the bigger the risks.

I'm a born, bred, red-blooded American, dude. I've only been living in Mexico for 3 years. My English is spectacular.

I'm even from Alabama and don't have an accent.

The risk of delivering or not shouldn't come from my geographic location. That should be susses out in the interview process or probation period.

Big corps have more restrictions and legal risks that they are unwilling to take.

Smaller corps has more flexibility.

To deal only with people who can be easily sued.

Where in Mexico? And why tell anyone? Just say you live in the US and travel a lot.

I've tried this a few times. As much as it usually passes the buck to the next interviewer at best, I would just rather be honest.

Especially when the company I'm currently pursuing lists 'trust' in their list of 3 values.