How to Hire Overseas Workers as Contractors
Last updated . Every number on this page was checked October 2, 2026.
A US owner can hire overseas workers in three ways: contract with the person directly, go through a company that supplies the person, or use a flat-rate team based overseas. This page covers the contractor path. On pay, the IRS generally treats the place where the work is done as the place the pay comes from. When a nonresident alien does the work outside the US, that pay is normally not subject to US tax withholding, the IRS says.
This page is a plain reading of the rules. It isn't legal or tax advice.
How do you hire overseas workers?
Hiring overseas workers happens in one of three ways: directly as a contractor, through a company that supplies the person, or through a flat-rate team based overseas. That choice sets who manages the work and who handles the paperwork.
| Way | Who manages the work | Who handles the paperwork |
|---|---|---|
| Contract with the person directly | You do | You do, with your accountant. The one form this page covers is Form W-8BEN |
| Go through a company that supplies the person | It differs from company to company. Ask who you call when work is late | Ask in writing who the worker's contract is with, and who pays the worker |
| Use a flat-rate team based overseas | The team's company. DeskTeam360's North American account manager hands out the work and checks it | None for a hire. You buy a service and hire no one |
Whichever way you pick, plan for a time gap. Manila is 8 hours ahead of UTC and India is 5 and a half hours ahead, and neither uses daylight time. Against US Central standard time, that puts Manila 14 hours ahead and India 11.5 hours ahead. Central time is the zone the IANA time zone database lists for most of Texas.
- For the Philippines, see hire virtual assistant philippines.
- For India, see hire virtual assistant india.
DeskTeam360 runs this site and is one example of the third way. Here's part of a Trustpilot review from a small ad agency:
"Deskteam's process is absolutely excellent. They also do a very good job in the onboarding process to coach their clients on how to be successful."
Ryan Burch, The Tobie Group (Trustpilot review)
How do you hire overseas contractors?
Hiring an overseas contractor takes six steps: write down the work, choose the person, agree on pay in writing, get a written contract, sort out the tax paperwork with your accountant, and check the first work early.
- Write down the work. List the tasks, the hours you need the person to be reachable, and how you'll hand work over.
- Find and choose the person. Ask for samples of past work that match your tasks.
- Agree on pay in writing. Say how much, how often, and how the money is sent. Payment fees are a cost of their own.
- Get a written contract. Ask an employment lawyer to read it. Rules inside the person's own country, such as its labor law and its taxes, aren't covered on this site.
- Sort out the tax paperwork. It starts with Form W-8BEN, which is covered in the withholding section below. Ask your accountant how it applies to you.
- Start the work and check it. Give feedback early, while the tasks are still small.
For a contractor in the US, see hire independent contractor.
Can a US company hire a foreign independent contractor?
A US company can pay a contractor who lives and works in another country, and the IRS has published rules for that pay. Those rules are about where the work is done and who is paid: work done outside the US, by a nonresident alien. They're laid out in the withholding section below. This site covers the US tax side only.
Can you hire overseas employees?
This site doesn't cover hiring a person overseas as your employee. It hasn't sourced any other country's labor law or taxes. The part it can source is the US side of paying a person who lives and works abroad, and that's in the withholding section below. DeskTeam360, which runs this site, doesn't do payroll.
If the work you'd send overseas is production work, you can book a call to see whether a team fits it.
The button opens DeskTeam360's Book a Call page.
Do you withhold US tax when you pay a contractor overseas?
US tax is normally not withheld from pay to an overseas contractor who is a nonresident alien and does the work outside the US, the IRS says. Here are its rules in plain words:
- Where the pay is from. The place where the work is done generally decides it. That's true no matter where the contract was made, where the payment was sent from, or where the payer lives.
- Withholding. Pay for work done outside the US is what the IRS calls foreign source income. Paid to a nonresident alien, it's normally not subject to US tax withholding.
- Reporting. That pay normally doesn't have to be reported on an information return.
- The form. Form W-8BEN is the form a foreign person fills out and gives the payer on request. It shows foreign status.
Work done inside the US by a person from another country is a different case, and this site doesn't cover it.
This isn't tax advice. Ask your accountant.
What does an overseas hire cost a month?
For a full-time person overseas, Jeremy Kenerson has paid contractors about $1,500 a month in his own hiring. That's the one monthly figure this site can show for an overseas hire. It's one owner's number, and it isn't a market rate. This site looked for two solid published sources for a market rate and didn't find them.
That figure isn't the whole cost. Not in it: payment fees, an agency's fee if there is one, and whatever the person's own country requires.
The first hire cost page sets that figure next to the other first-hire options, by the month.
A flat-rate team is priced by the plan, and the work is done by a team. DeskTeam360's production team works in one office. It has a team leader, 2 technical virtual assistants, 2 developers and 2 designers. Every plan includes the full team, and what changes is how many tasks run at one time. So a plan is a different thing from one full-time person.
More on overseas hires
A flat-rate team may fit if the work you'd send overseas is production work. A call is where you find out.
The button opens DeskTeam360's Book a Call page.
Sources
- IRS, source of income: personal service income
- IRS, foreign source income
- IRS, About Form W-8 BEN
- IANA Time Zone Database, Asia file and North America file, version 2026e. The hour gaps are our math on those offsets
- Trustpilot, DeskTeam360 reviews
- Jeremy Kenerson, owner statements: his own hiring of contractors, October 2, 2026, and that DeskTeam360 doesn't do payroll, September 25, 2026
- This site's own search for an overseas market rate, October 2, 2026
- DeskTeam360's published plan and team details (deskteam360.com), read October 2, 2026
- This site's comparison worksheet, shown on the first hire cost page
All checked October 2, 2026.
This site isn't connected to the State of Texas or any government agency.
What changed
- October 2, 2026: First version of this page.