Outside of contracting and business-to-business deals, I think we're still in a world where it's hard to legally employ people in countries where you don't have a legal presence (outside of cases where that has been explicitly agreed-upon, like EU).
Something as basic as tax withholding can be literally impossible without creating a subsidiary in that country.
Looking at remotewide.co, they don't say anything about having to accept applicants from all over the world. That is, think SF vs Idaho, not SF vs Siberia.
Out of curiosity, what makes you think Expensify wants you to relocate?
Relocation was not required or suggested when I interviewed with them last year. Their current job ad shows that they support working from anywhere: "Our employees work from all over the world" and "we spend a month abroad working from a remote location as a team".
I hypothesize that the part about visa sponsorship / relocation assistance might give the wrong impression:
> if you're looking for a change of scene we offer visa sponsorship and relocation assistance to join us at one of our rad locations...
Surely, there has to be some sufficiently motivated and intelligent person born in Thailand who is able to do the work you require. Have you hired any of them?
Also happy to answer any other questions you have. And again, if anyone reading this is interested, please take a look at our open roles [0]. This is one of many, many things which makes the company great [1].
[0] https://we.are.expensify.com/#workwithus [1] https://we.are.expensify.com/benefits-perks
Ok now I am more curious. I looked at another company "Expensify" [1]. They actually want you to ideally relocate to one of their office locations :). So again, not fully remote anywhere in the world. I think employers say it casually but in practice, it is extremely difficult.
Why would I pay the same salary to a good developer in NYC vs India/Thailand. If that's the case, why would I hire from a totally different timezone and not to mention add legal, HR and compliance issues.
[0] https://remotewide.co/listings/6IBsLC9CWYb4sO8h8xAT
[1] https://remotewide.co/listings/ncCWVkYCZx0dhK0m5Z8v