[codegeek]

I run a small company in the US and hire internationally. There really is no easy way other than hiring as a contractor unless I have a subsidiary or branch in your country of residence. So the only option is either you are hired as a contractor legally (and then you fill out W8-BEN) or there are services like remote.com that offer something called Employer of Record (EOR). HOnestly, I didn't get far with remote.com when I approached them recently (no response really) so I only hire as a contractor with exception of 1 country where I have multiple people so we actually did setup a subsidiary (a nightmare process)

Lot of people are making assumptions here saying it is in bad faith etc. I don't know the other company but most likely they cannot do anything else. So the option is either NOT to hire you or hire you as a contractor. Benefits cannot be provided to you legally so you will need to work out a deal built in the cost. That is all you can do really.

Some people are saying that equity can still be offered. Well that depends. If the US company is setup as an S-Corp, guess what. You cannot get equity in an S-Corp unless you are a US Citizen or a Legal Permanent Resident (popularly known as Green Card). So again, ask the company if they are structured as S-Corp or not. If they are, tough luck with equity.

I just hired a senior VP of customer success from the UK and they are on a contract as well. I am still trying to see what is possible.