The expansion of remote work has removed geographic barriers between employers and talent, and offers both unprecedented opportunities for growth, mobility and connectivity. For employers, remote work offers access to previously untapped talent pools in places across the United States and the globe. It is also now more feasible than ever before for talented professionals to become digital nomads and work from destinations around the world.
The introduction of remote work visa programs in over 20 countries worldwide offers exciting new opportunities for employees and employers alike; however, it also presents new employment, immigration and tax compliance challenges. That said, businesses that consider new mobility policies to incorporate remote work visas will be positioned to capitalize on the growing pool of talented individuals seeking to work remotely from across the globe.
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The new digital nomads
In 2022, the pandemic-era trend of remote work is now permanent for many professionals. A Gallup Poll conducted in September 2021 found that two-thirds of white-collar employees in the United States were working remotely to some extent. The same poll found that nine in ten remote workers surveyed wanted to maintain remote work in the future.
Professionals in the U.S. also possess an ardent desire to live and work abroad. A 2019 survey conducted by MetLife found that 67% of American employees were interested in taking an overseas assignment through their employer for stints lasting three months or more. That said, most U.S. professionals were office-based in the past and rarely presented with an opportunity to work overseas.
There were a small number of freelance professionals — known as digital nomads — who initiated their own overseas assignments by working remotely in part-time or contract roles while living in countries abroad or moving from place to place. However, in the pre-pandemic era, digital nomadism was a niche trend, and most companies in the U.S. did not employ these individuals nor allowed their employees to work remotely.
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But in recent years, over 20 countries across the globe have introduced remote work visa programs, including Australia, Germany, Iceland, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Mexico, the Bahamas, Hungary, Brazil, Costa Rica, Greece, the Czech Republic, Croatia and more. These visas offer professionals more straightforward paths to live and work in countries overseas without obtaining sponsorship from an employer.
The expansion of remote work combined with the introduction of remote work visa programs in these countries aligns with creating a new class of digital nomads. Many of these new digital nomads will be experienced professionals seeking to continue to work for their U.S.-based employers while temporarily living and working in a country abroad on a remote work visa. As more employees may request a move in the future, one critical question is yet to be addressed on a broad scale — will employers support remote employees working abroad?
Employers, employees, and remote work visas
Given that U.S. professionals now place such a high value on mobility and flexibility, many employees may be ready to jump at the opportunity to seek out a remote work visa to live and work abroad. However, employers require the time and information necessary to assess this very new and untested opportunity before deciding whether to incorporate it into their corporate mobility programs. Employers need to determine what risks they potentially face by allowing remote work overseas.
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On initial examination, remote work visas may allow employers to grant employees overseas work opportunities with fewer bureaucratic hoops than applying for employer-sponsored work visas. Remote work visas present one key advantage over employment-sponsored visas — the employee initiates and manages the application rather than the employer. Furthermore, application fees for remote work visas are typically lower than employer-sponsored visas, and the process to apply is quick and simple in most cases.
That said, the appearance of simplicity with remote work visas comes with caveats, particularly for employers. While the immigration requirements of remote work visas can be easy for employees to navigate, employers must conduct a risk assessment and consider tax, payroll, data security, and privacy implications of an employee working in a country abroad.
To allow an employee to work abroad on a remote work visa, employers would need to review and understand the specific country’s requirements thoroughly. On the tax front, if the destination country does not provide a tax exemption for the employer, then the employer could be liable for taxes in that country. Without an employer already having a presence in the country, supporting an employee for a remote work visa could require considerable attention and resources.
With these considerations in mind, employers are tasked with determining whether granting employees opportunities to seek out remote work visas makes sense for their business. This may seem daunting given how new remote work visas are to the global mobility landscape; however, employers can follow simple strategies derived from past immigration policies to assess the pros and cons and decide what is best for their business.
Adopting new corporate mobility policies for remote work visas
While there is no one-size-fits-all global mobility policy, employers can pull from the experiences of adjusting to past shifts in the immigration and employment landscapes to adopt innovative approaches to support remote work visas.
The first step for employers is to define their limitations around supporting remote work visas. Like with establishing parameters for green card sponsorship for foreign national employees in the U.S., employers can set criteria for supporting remote work visas. Employers can determine which countries employees are permitted to seek remote work visas in to ensure the integrity of work operations and that the business meets all local requirements.
To start, employers should seek the advice of immigration legal counsel, global tax experts, and other advisors to determine which countries are suitable for their employees to work. An employer may be comfortable allowing an employee to pursue a remote work visa where they have a legal presence but may have concerns about other countries with limited access to communication infrastructure and data privacy.
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Once a list of approved countries is established, employers can set other parameters on the specific employees seeking remote work visas. For example, employers may consider setting durational limits for employees on remote work visas as extended stays in those locations may impact long-term operations and increase immigration and tax liability.
Finally, employers should establish clear expectations and guidelines for the employees permitted to seek out remote work visas. Remote staff becomes an extension of an organization, regardless of where they work, so they must understand any regional or national requirements as well as any limitations that may be pertinent to them. Employers should engage relevant counsel and leverage resources from global mobility services and technologies to mitigate the risks associated with these remote work visa programs. Making these resources directly available to employees can also provide better compliance practices.
In sum, the circumstances and goals of employers vary greatly. While there is no single right answer for addressing the ever-evolving remote work options in the United States and abroad, employers should be flexible and proactive to stay competitive by adopting new corporate mobility policies, including incorporating remote work visas.
