Thankfully I'm personally on the other side of this already (got my green card less than a year ago). With many jobs becoming fully remote, do you think it's still possible to offer relocation to employees through L-1s, O-1s and H-1Bs? On the one hand, it's hard to claim that they truly need to be in the States, but on the other hand, it could be important for the timezones to match (and it's an amazing employee benefit).
Obviously my question doesn't apply to in-office or hybrid positions, only to pure remote.
There's some variation depending on the visa classification but yes, an employee could qualify for a visa even if the job is fully remote. But the employer must be a US company with US operations.
When you say remote, you mean remote in the US, right, such as working from home? You definitely can be PERM sponsored as a remote employee under these circumstances.
I would heavily disagree on any benefits of being physically in the US.
Working for US companies remotely while in a warm European place (Italy, Spain, Portugal) is the real deal.
The US is diverse in terms of both culture and climate :) Many people I know want to live in the US for various reasons. And I can't offer relocation to any European country without having operations in Europe, for the same reason that people outside of the US can't offer relocation to the US.
> And I can't offer relocation to any European country without having operations in Europe
That's not entirely true - several European countries offer "Digital Nomad" visas that are specifically aimed at attracting people who won't take jobs in their host country, but will instead receive income from elsewhere and spend it in their host country, thus boosting their host country's economy.
If you partnered with the right European law firms, you could totally offer a nice package of US based salary + assistance with "Digital Nomad" visa application.
It is difficult to meaningfully collaborate with a team that is working in US time zones if you are in Europe/Asia. You can make it work, sure, but saying that there is no benefit to being in the same place is disingenuous.
How does one go about doing that? I have been living in Spain and having a hard time getting remote work with U.S. companies despite having a PhD in computer science and being a U.S. national. Do you have any pointers?
Obviously my question doesn't apply to in-office or hybrid positions, only to pure remote.