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Comment by a3w | Hacker News Reader

How does "payment in USD" work, if I am not from the US? If the exchange value drops, I cannot pay rent? Everyone should probably get the employer to offer a currency-hedged payment, the fee is not that high.

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If you live in a country with that volatile currency, then chances are even miserable by 1st world standards remote salary in USD is rudiculuosly higher than local market, and you are rich anyways. And it usually goes the opposite direction, i.e. local currency get cheaper over time, thus you are becoming "richier". Trust me, payments in stable convertible currency is a huge deal for many-many people outside of US

I've done a lot of remote work, mostly "in" EU/USA, and it's totally up to what you are agree upon. Normally, at least for longer contracts, it's normal to get paid in the employer's currency, upon pay day that value is transferred to your bank account, and some place on the way it's converted to your currency based on the current exchange rate.

But you can also invoice the company you are working for, and then do the same in reverse, except it's usually you who do the conversion on the day you invoice them.

For long contracts, more than 6 months, I would definitely take into account the exchange rate. For shorter contracts, I wouldn't care. I'm from Norway, and none of the currencies I have worked "with" changes dramatically.

I don't live in the US, I'm paid in dollars. My landlord gave me a discount because I was able to pay in dollars. Having a dollar is better than having my country's funny money.

Maybe this is only an issue if you live in the EU or UK where dollars aren't as highly sought.

That's the risk of getting paid in a foreign currency. It's for you to decide if it is worth it, and usually you do it because the pay is significantly higher than your local market.

I feel like most people would see payment in USD is as a positive, not a negative.

Additionally to the silbling comments - if the employer only offers USD payment, virtually all banks will offer some financial product to hedge against currency risk. This comes at a price, of course, but presumably the employer pays well enough that it's still worth it.

Can you tell me about this product? Does it cover 1 year of employment?

I was thinking about foreign exchange options [0], which buy you the right to exchange some amount of money (your salary) at a given some later date (payday) with a fixed exchange rate. You‘d buy one for every paycheck within the period you want to insure against the risk.

(I realize now that I‘m not actually sure how easy it is to get them as a consumer at a bank - alternatively you might be able to get them via Robinhood or similar.)

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_exchange_option

It's up to employee. I had a FCD bank account (store dollar) and convert into local currency when I got a good rate. Though later on I just don't care much, Wise's rates is acceptable and I convert it into local bank account ASAP.

Can you tell me about how a hedging solution works when a nobody knows if the person will be working for the company for 2 months or 5 years? Is the salary to be renegotiated if the rate moves too much?

The FX risk cannot be magicked away.

The risk can't be magicked away, but there is usually someone who will take on the risk for a cost.

Might be too much hassle for the employer, many employees will happily take USD.

You open up a US dollar denominated bank account in Switzerland and keep dollars as dollars.

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