How is the international remote scene? Does it exist in big (top paying?) companies in the US? To clarify, can people outside the US be hired to do remote work for US companies?
It's often called 'offshoring', I think. I know plenty of US companies large and small that hire remote workers. It also doesn't seem like it's a net win in most cases that I've seen, but people generally don't set themselves up to re-evaluate their decisions 3, 6 and 12 months later, nor have the willpower to reverse the decision if it's not working out as expected.
To clarify, I have seen remote workers outside the US, working for US companies, be a net positive/win, it just hasn't been the norm.
By 'net win', I'm meaning the original goals - more work getting done at a lower cost at the same or better quality in the same or reduced amount of time - panning out. Usually the timezone and cultural differences are bigger hurdles to overcome than anticipated. You often need more US-based resources dedicated to managing the remote team than originally planned. To counter some of those, you can hire more experienced overseas talent, but that's a higher cost, eating in to the anticipated cost savings.
Companies generally only allow this when they are forced. There are limits to remote work.