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THE RAG | WORK
Here’s Some Real Talk About Working Remotely Abroad
The more marginalized identities you hold, the less Insta-worthy it tends to be
One pandemic silver lining has definitely been the transition to more flexible working arrangements, something women have basically been asking for since they entered the workforce. Bosses are trusting their team members to get shit done outside the office and normal working hours.
With many countries opening borders and offering special visas to remote workers, it may actually be possible to live that #digitalnomadlife and clock in from overseas. I mean, who wouldn’t want to conduct Zoom meetings with an ocean sunset at their back and an umbrella cocktail in hand?
As a Black lady freelancer based in Istanbul, Turkey — my third overseas location — I’ve found that the reality of being a digital nomad doesn’t always live up to the fantasy. The more you diverge from the cis-het white normativity, the less your experience will look like what you see on Instagram.
Payroll and taxes don’t see color
At the risk of sounding like a toxically positive Karen, it’s not always about race. Your first problem as a digital nomad is actually going to be that payroll policies and tax systems just weren’t designed for the remote worker abroad. (I’m not going to get into the latter. Trust me, though. It is one. hot. mess.)
Unfortunately, this is something that the people hiring you may not actually know until they start talking contracts with HR. Travel writer Imani Bashir, who is a long-term Black expat, learned this the hard way when she was unceremoniously fired from her remote job after moving to Mexico during the pandemic.
Turns out that in our globally connected world, it is actually surprisingly difficult for companies to pay employees in countries where they don’t have a presence, says the Society for Human Resource Management and the Financial Times. (IMHO, Business Insider kind of underreported this fun fact of their coverage of Bashir’s situation.) And let’s not kid ourselves: women, POC, and LGBTQ+ workers aren’t the folks that most companies are going to sink time and money into creating…
