Working Remotely from Abroad: Tips for Keeping Customers

How to establish yourself in a foreign country while maintaining your business and customers?

Freelancers now have the opportunity to move and live in a foreign country while keeping clients in the mid and long term. Here are two potential options for freelancers belonging to the digital and IT world and who are interested in relocating.

The “digital nomad” visa

Professional “travelers” or “nomads” often work in the digital and IT world, and an increasing number are embracing international mobility. A new type of visa (Digital Nomad Visa) was introduced a few years ago, allowing “nomads” to regulate their status in countries requiring a visa. This visa permits digital nomads to stay in a country longer than a tourist visa would allow. The only downside is that there are some eligibility criteria that must be met, which can sometimes be difficult.

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT COMPANIES

Leaving and continuing your business activity while maintaining complete transparency with your customers. This is what business management companies allow you to do in compliance with local regulations.

Some freelancers or independent contractors prefer to establish their own business, declare themselves self-employed, or go through a business management company. These different legal statuses allow you to take off for a while and work from another country, by the beach, in the mountains or elsewhere, it’s really whatever you prefer. The only difference between these three statuses is that the first two require a different time investment for the self-employed who chooses them. Indeed, maintaining your own business or declaring yourself as self-employed will require time investment for administrative follow-up and legal declarations of all sorts. Going through an activity management company allows you to free up time to focus on your mission and immerse yourself in f the country you have decided to settle in.

With management companies, you benefit from all the advantages associated with employee status, while still working independently as a freelancer, under your own conditions and schedule.

Umbrella companies: how do they work? How to declare?

Some umbrella companies offer an innovative structure combining salaried employment and independence, which allows you to optimize your time and income. You are independent, you decide your contracts, you set your criteria and rates, while also being an employee of the umbrella company. This allows you to delegate all administrative tasks such as invoicing, collection, management of costs, legal, and tax declarations… And the icing on the cake, if you decide to go and live in another country, the management company will simply declare you in your destination country while maintaining your existing contracts with your customers, regardless of the country where they are located!

You can, for instance, decide to leave the UK to settle in Spain while retaining your UK customers, or even open new contracts with Spanish customers.

What are the advantages of working with an umbrella company?

The benefits are great for both parties: you won’t have to worry about compliance with your host country as you will be officially employed by Hightekers with a local contract giving you access to the benefits of the country you will be living in.

After considering the many advantages, it is quite striking how this simple procedure and way of working can make your life easier!

You can choose to work from abroad temporarily in order to find out if it suits you and possibly adopt this way of working in a more sustainable way. If it’s a match… Amazing discovery!

Spotlight: “work from home” vs “ work from abroad”

Work from home is now trending and progressively employees are prioritizing remote work – from home or on the go, over time spent on their on-site companies.

Home office, work from home, flexible working, hybrid working, mobility: these terms are sometimes used, wrongly, as synonyms. However, they refer to slightly different realities.

Since the health crisis, the lockdowns or the several restrictions, work from home has become relatively common: in 2020, it concerned 41% of employees. According to a study by the Department of Research, Studies and Statistics (Dares), released in June 2021, now 26% of employees work remotely.

A few large companies have even decided to take the plunge into full remote, with all teams working exclusively from home. This is the case, among many others, of Gitlab, Facebook (95%, to be quite precise), Square, etc.

However, working remotely or working from anywhere requires a few prerequisites: you must have at least, some good Wi-Fi connection! But let’s try to define the terms mentioned above more clearly.

WORK FROM HOME

The terms home office or work from home indicate that the work is done at home, in a fixed place: the house or the flat in which one lives. It is also here where all the necessary tools to do the job are located.

REMOTE WORK, HYBRID WORK…

Unlike work from home, remote, hybrid, flexible or mobile work does not involve a fixed workplace. Those who do so can exercise their profession on the train, at the hotel, at the beach (be careful of the sand and your laptops!), while traveling, in a café, … or at home, of course!

Work from abroad consists of working for a client without necessarily being established in theirhis country (living in Spain and working for the United Kingdom, for example). You can choose to either work from home or in a coworking space, for example.

With this said, here’s a take for all those who wish to change their living environment, country, drop everything to discover new cultures, gastronomy, languages without having to “go on holidays”: it is possible to move abroad while maintaining your customers and without having to navigate alone the maze of administration, tax declarations and social security coverage.

TOP 5 BENEFITS AND DISADVANTAGES OF WORKING REMOTELY FROM ABROAD

What are the essential requirements for remote work abroad today?

The first thing to do is probably ask yourself this: is remote work for me? Can I motivate myself enough? Do I have a specific place to do that in my host country? Or can I create it?

If you have the opportunity to work from anywhere, you should consider whether this way of working is possible and suitable for you. If you’re unsure and if you have the chance, maybe try it for a short period of time first. On top of that, remember that you need to be available. That means the working hours should probably be the same as in the company, but they may have some extra flexibility, either because you feel the need or because the company asks you to. Determine with the company, your client, and the family or people who live with you, what times you will be available for both professional and private questions.

Top 5 benefits of working from home and from abroad

Telecommuting abroad has many advantages, below the most popular:

No more travel, long hours in the subway, bus or endless time lost in traffic jams! Time is precious, and it can now be dedicated to many other activities, including… working or having time to devote to family, or to discover the new host country for those digital nomads!
Work from home makes everyday life easier because it gives you the possibility to do your personal tasks and to-dos during times beyond evenings or weekends. It is indeed possible to receive a delivery or run the washing machine while working, there are some effective ways to optimize your schedule!
It seems like work from home positively affects the quality of work produced because it promotes concentration and increases productivity.
In addition, employees who work from abroad often have a positive perception of their working conditions. They are even more satisfied than people who regularly work from home.
You save the cost of daily trips to your business by working from home. Fuel costs, tolls, and other transport tickets can be saved! Make way for pleasant trips.

Top 5 (fixable) disadvantages of working from home

These are the most trivial problems: the cat that walks on the keyboard, the camera that turns on accidentally when you least need it to, children pronouncing unglamorous sentences when the mic is on… Yet, there can be some more serious drawbacks that need to be considered:

Tools: It is absolutely necessary to have a good installation. This comes at a cost, and occasionally, it can bear some difficulties. This concerns both the seating, computer, and the desk, as well as the instruments needed to work: videoconferencing and instant messaging, for example, which allow files to be sent without cluttering up electronic mailboxes. These tools must be correctly set up, but they must also be mastered, which requires a little time and some explanation. As far as furniture, the employer is usually the one to purchase things that make working more easy, such as an adapted office chair, for example.
Isolation: Sometimes working away from colleagues and with little contact to others can cause feelings of loneliness and isolation. In this case, an option is to look for coworking spaces.
Overwork: A heavy workload, a blurred boundary between professional and personal life, might make you overwork. Working from home or outside the company requires a great sense of organization and concentration. You have to learn to avoid distractions and thus avoid the risk of overextending yourself to complete your work.
Human relations: Like all “remote relations”, when you don’t see the person at the other side of the email, this can cause communication difficulties and, in turn, could lead to slowdowns in complex situations. Make sure to settle that with a few exchanges by phone or video.
Autonomy: To find solutions to these concerns, a little experience helps a lot. Hence, teleworking is less ideal for people who struggle with autonomy, such as certain junior profiles. These people need to be followed and accompanied and will need regular and constructive feedback to gain seniority.

So, are you tempted by international mobility? We support freelancers and IT consultants in their international mobility project. Make sure to contact us to tell us about your project.

Mobility: working remotely from another country and keeping customers