Weird thing. As a contractor it shouldn’t be a problem at all. I have worked as a contractor for US based companies and all what was needed was W-8BEN document that I am foreigner. Nothing unusual, as in the end it is B2B contract where you export service overseas.
hauleth
NobbZ
I was just repeating what others have said to me. So of course there might be slight misinformation.
1
mblagusz
I work on a small Elixir team at a startup in the US. Our experience is that finding devs with Erlang or Elixir experience is somewhat difficult, and the ones we do find are in demand and get competing offers. We fill many of our junior positions via our intern program (former college interns taking full time offers), so most positions advertised externally are more senior. In my experience, larger teams are more likely to hire junior devs externally, but it’s riskier than recruiting former interns.
I totally agree that what gets put in job advertisements is a wishlist, not real requirements. Apply if you think you could do the job, regardless of the specific requirements. What can help with limited work experience is to have a strong portfolio of work, either from personal projects or hacking on open source. If there’s code on GitHub I can look at, that’s ideal. As an engineer who reviews resumes, I will make a case to a skeptical hiring manager if I think a junior or non-traditional candidate had strong skills.
Companies I’ve worked at do sponsor H1-B visas and green cards, but they won’t hire foreign candidates to work remotely. This is because there’s a large burden to becoming an employer in another country. You may need to incorporate in that country, and you must follow their employment and tax laws. My previous employer did have a couple Norwegian employees that worked remotely from Norway, but they were very valuable, experienced hires that they couldn’t have gotten otherwise. Other European employees all moved to London (pre-Brexit) and worked in a central office there.
Doing contract work as a foreign worker is easier legally, assuming it’s for a specific project, but you need to bring some specific skills and experience to the table.
The opportunities for remote work domestically are better now than they’ve ever been. My current employer allowed very little remote work before the pandemic, but now we’re looking to hire nationwide for some positions.
4
Simonsezs
PabloG6
dimitarvp
Depends what you mean by independent. As a contractor I can leave at any time but I can be let go almost anytime as well. 
0
PabloG6
That’s what I mean, I understand my position as an international developer and I’m mostly looking for experience with fair pay.
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