Start with the hours you need live
Before you compare countries, write down which part of your day needs a person online. Most small teams fall into one of three patterns:
- Live through the whole US day: phone answering, live chat, a receptionist role. The person's working day must match yours.
- The US morning plus work done overnight: an executive assistant, email support, order processing. The person can work your whole day, or a split day with a few live hours if they prefer, and work done while you sleep is a bonus.
- Mostly asynchronous: bookkeeping, research, data work. A daily check-in is enough, and almost any time zone works.
Live chat or phone support needs the first pattern; an executive assistant usually needs the second.
Same-day hours: Latin America
Most of Latin America sits within a few hours of the US time zones, so a normal local working day overlaps a normal US day. That makes it the natural choice for live phone and chat coverage and for teams that work in long real-time meetings. Spanish or Portuguese is the native language; English varies widely from person to person, so test it as you would anywhere.
We do not recruit in Latin America, so we cannot speak to pay or hiring channels there from our own data.
US hours at night: the Philippines
English is an official language of the Philippines, and remote and outsourced support work has a long history there. Manila is on UTC+8 all year, so a 9:00 to 17:00 day in New York falls at 22:00 to 06:00 in Manila in winter: a night shift, which is common in the local outsourcing industry. Overlap with a European working day is short.
If you hire there directly, ask the same questions as anywhere: who the person works for besides you, which hours they can commit to, and how they are paid. Our comparison with a Philippine job board shows one common hiring route.
US hours and Europe: Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Kazakhstan
These four countries sit between the US and Asia. The people we place work your hours: in winter a New York 9:00 to 17:00 is 16:00 to midnight in Kyiv, 18:00 to 2:00 in Tbilisi and Yerevan and 19:00 to 3:00 in Almaty. If the person keeps a local shift from 13:00 to 22:00 instead, the shared hours with New York in winter look like this:
- Kyiv (UTC+2 in winter, UTC+3 in summer): 6:00 to 15:00 in New York, most of the US working day before mid-afternoon.
- Tbilisi and Yerevan (UTC+4 all year): 4:00 to 13:00 in New York in winter, an hour later in summer.
- Almaty (UTC+5 all year): 3:00 to 12:00 in New York in winter, an hour later in summer.
On a normal local day, all four overlap most of a London or Paris working day. That suits companies with clients or teams on both sides of the Atlantic. Each country has a hub with roles, hours and pay: Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Kazakhstan.
English: check the person, not the country
National English rankings average millions of people and say little about the one you will hire. For client-facing writing, set B2+ on the CEFR scale as the floor; for an assistant who writes in your name, look for C1. Then check it yourself: a written task, a recorded answer and a live call.
Candidates apply to Stafka with a written English task and a recorded voice answer, each profile shows the English level, and we check their English on a live call before you interview them. Our guide on testing a candidate's English shows how to run the same checks on your own.
Contracts and payments work the same way
In every country above, most small companies hire a remote assistant as an independent contractor, sign the agreement directly with the person and pay monthly through a contractor platform or a transfer service. Deel's contractor plan is $491 a month; Wise charges from 0.23%2 per transfer; Payoneer is another common option.
Whether a contractor set-up fits your situation depends on the work and the laws involved; this is general information, not legal or tax advice. Our guide to contractors and employees abroad lists the questions to take to an adviser.
Where we recruit, and why
Stafka recruits in Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia and Kazakhstan, because these countries combine a working day that reaches both the US morning and the European day with a strong pool of English-speaking professionals. We do not recruit in Russia or Belarus.
If your work needs the whole US day live, say so in the brief: the people we place work your hours, and the recruiter confirms the schedule with each candidate before the interview. Ask for three matching profiles or post the job yourself: posting a job is free; pricing shows when a fee applies.
Questions
What is the best country to hire a virtual assistant from for US hours?
For live coverage of the whole US day, any country where the person works your hours: Latin America shares them on a normal day, and the people we place in Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia and Kazakhstan work them as an evening or night shift, agreed before the interview. For large night-shift teams, the Philippines. Pick by the hours you need, then by the person.
Is the Philippines or Eastern Europe better for a remote assistant?
It depends on your hours and on the person. The Philippines suits night-shift coverage of the US day; In Ukraine and the Caucasus the people we place work your hours, an evening shift for a US day, and a local day there covers European hours. Our guide comparing Eastern Europe, the Philippines and Latin America goes through the trade-offs.
Can a remote assistant in Europe work US hours?
Yes. A 9:00 to 17:00 day in New York is 16:00 to midnight in Kyiv in winter, and the people we place work it: candidates know the time difference when they apply, and the shift is agreed before the interview. Keep it stable and pay fairly for it.
Do I need a company in the assistant's country to hire them?
Usually not for a contractor arrangement; you sign a contractor agreement and pay invoices. If you want an employee, an employer of record is the common route. This is general information, not legal advice.
General information for small employers, not legal or tax advice: check contracts, tax and data rules for your country with a qualified adviser. Figures carry their sources below; our own prices are on the pricing page. Spotted a mistake? Write to hello@stafka.com.