Many companies advertise "remote" roles, but hiring is limited to the US, Canada, UK, or Germany. Sometimes they add one or two more countries, but rarely anything beyond that.
Given that it's the last quarter of 2025 and remote work is more established than ever, I'm trying to understand the reasoning behind this.
A few questions I'm hoping founders, hiring managers, or people with international hiring experience can shed light on:
- Is the main blocker regulatory complexity? (employment law, compliance, local registrations, PE risk, etc.)
- Is it primarily about taxes and payroll overhead when hiring abroad?
- Are there security or liability concerns that make certain jurisdictions easier to work with?
- Is it simply the cost of maintaining compliant employment structures worldwide, or are there deeper strategic reasons?
- And finally: Is there evidence that the value produced by strong engineers abroad doesn't offset those costs, or is the issue not economic at all?
I'm asking out of genuine curiosity, from the outside, it seems like a global talent pool should be an advantage, especially for remote-first companies. But the hiring restrictions persist, even as tools like Deel, Remote, Oyster, etc. mature.
I'd love to hear perspectives from people who have dealt with this firsthand.
many companies are afraid of the employment laws they don't fully understand
timezones/cultural differences
There are still contracts for working remotely at companies like this, but you've gotta be known for solving painful problems that they can't fix themselves