Many jobs are labeled “remote,” but the fine print often ties them to a region, a time zone, or specific legal and tax requirements.
Here are practical checks that help you spot “remote anywhere” roles faster, and avoid common red flags.
1) Read the location line Start with the simplest signal: is there a geography attached?
- “US Remote” “Remote (EU)” “LATAM only” or “Remote within X countries” usually means location restrictions. - If time zones are listed, that can also imply location limits, even when the role is technically remote. - Look for explicit language like “Global remote,” “Work from anywhere,” “fully asynchronous,” or “distributed team across multiple countries.” These are not guarantees, but they are stronger indicators.
2) Treat salary as a clue
Pay ranges can indicate the target hiring market.
- A range like $100k to $250k often signals a US-centered market (not always, but often).
3) Watch the application form
Sometimes the job post is vague, but the ATS form tells the truth:
- Questions like “Which time zone can you work in?” can reveal the required overlap. - If the location dropdown includes only a few regions (e.g., US, Canada, Europe, Other), it often indicates there are specific geographic requirements. - Red flags that usually indicate US-only hiring include questions about US work authorization, a US tax ID, US-specific benefits or requirements such as Security Clearance.
4) Check the company on LinkedIn
If a company truly hires globally, you can usually see it in its team.
- Review employee locations. Even if LinkedIn shows only a few “top locations,” individual profiles reveal the real spread. - Search for your profession (e.g., Software Engineer) and check where they actually live. - If you see people working from India, Asia, Africa or other regions beyond the US and Europe, that is a strong sign the company can hire internationally.
5) Compare career pages and external job boards
Job descriptions are sometimes more detailed on the company website.
- Look for mentions of an asynchronous culture, a multi-national team, or the number of nationalities in the company. - Check LinkedIn job posts and external job boards. They sometimes include location constraints that are missing from the official posting.
Remote anywhere roles exist, but they are a narrower category than most people expect.
Companies balance time zone collaboration, employment compliance, payroll, and security requirements.
Good luck with your remote job search!
uyzstvqs•3w ago
andrewstetsenko•3w ago
cddotdotslash•3w ago
- The company is smaller and/or already geo-distributed and doesn't have the ability (or awareness) to monitor employee locations or deal with the tax/compliance obligations and so turns a blind eye, intentionally or not. The employees are generally operating in a grey area - either on tourist visas or for a company that isn't registered to employee people in their locale.
- The company actively creates a remote-first environment, working with their employees to employ them (compliantly) in their locale, usually through a third-party employer of record. These are very few and far between, but they exist.
- Companies, like Airbnb, that allow for a certain amount of time outside of a "home locale" per year (IIRC, it's 90 days). This isn't truly "global remote" but employees can move around more freely than in-office or locale-only employers.