[dotBen]

I think it very much depends on what you want them to do... However I have friends who have contracted with great success VA-type work to people who live locally (San Francisco in this instance but it could be anywhere you happen to live/work).

They're still 'virtual' in that they work from home - but the benefit is they are on the same timezone, understand local requests ("book me a table at that fish restaurant on the embarcadero") and can easily deal with the logistics of processing receipts/paperwork etc (better delivered locally than sent abroad or have to be scanned in).

I think the VA's tend to be stay-at-home mom types, etc and are found through contact network.

It's probably more expensive than paying someone in Vietnam $2/hr but allows them to be 'customer facing' if needs be.