Frequently Asked
Questions

Near puts every Latin American candidate through a rigorous screening process before presentation.

Every candidate goes through Near’s vetting process, which includes:

1. Skills assessment: Technical evaluation specific to the role requirements
2. Experience validation: Near verifies work history, understands the regional job market context, and evaluates the quality of their previous employers in Latin America
3. English proficiency: Live video interviews to assess communication skills for real-time collaboration with US teams
4. Cultural fit: Near screens for alignment with US business practices, work style, and your specific company culture
5. Motivation check: Near rules out candidates who are just looking for short-term contracts or salary bumps

You only see candidates who meet all these criteria. Our 97% placement success rate comes from this upfront work—we’re filtering for long-term success, not just filling seats.

Near assesses English proficiency for Latin American candidates through live video interviews. There’s no better test than natural conversation.

Near watches for:

1. Ability to speak naturally without reading from scripts
2. Comfort with spontaneous questions and unplanned discussions
3. Clear communication without excessive pauses or translation delays

For roles requiring heavy written communication, we evaluate writing samples. Here’s what we don’t do: rely on self-reported proficiency levels or standardized test scores that don’t reflect real-world collaboration ability.

Every candidate you see from Near has English skills strong enough for daily standups, strategy discussions, and all the unplanned conversations that happen in real teams. If we have doubts, we don’t send them to you.

Near offers a 180-day replacement guarantee if a hire doesn’t work out. If a placement doesn’t work out within the first six months for any reason, Near will find a replacement at no additional cost to you. This extended guarantee reflects Near’s confidence in the vetting process and commitment to long-term success rather than quick placements.

We pre-vet all of our candidates for English fluency and clean resumes. We run reference calls and international criminal background checks. We’ll do our best to find a teammate you can stay with for the long term.

No, remote workers in Latin America don’t need a visa to work for American companies. Candidates are not US-based and therefore don’t need a visa/sponsorship to work.

No, time zones are not an issue when hiring Latin American talent. One of the biggest advantages of hiring Latin American talent through Near is time zone alignment with the US. Depending on where you’re located in the US, you can hire from LatAm countries in your time zone or with only a 1–2 hour difference.

This Latin American time zone alignment enables real-time collaboration during US business hours:daily standups, strategy calls, and instant Slack responses. It’s a stark contrast to working with teams in Asia or Europe where you’re communicating across 10–12+ hour time differences.

You have options for handling payment and compliance for Latin American hires through Near, and Near makes both straightforward:

1. Option 1: Hire through our flexible monthly staffing model. Near handles all payroll, benefits, contracts, and local compliance for your Latin American employees. You get one simple monthly invoice from Near.
2. Option 2: Hire through our recruitment-only model and use an Employer of Record ‍(EOR) service like Deel or Remote. They manage the legal paperwork and payments for Latin American hires while you maintain the direct employment relationship.

Either way, you don’t need to become an expert in Latin American labor law or set up legal entities in other countries.

If you need help with equipment provision, Near can coordinate equipment logistics through local vendors across Latin America who source laptops and hardware, then deliver directly to your new hire. This avoids customs delays, import complications, and the weeks of waiting that come with international shipping.

Many companies already have systems for distributed teams—adding a Latin American team member through Near is typically a straightforward extension of those existing processes. If you need guidance on equipment standards, budgeting, or vendor selection, Near’s team has can advise based on what works.

Yes, cultural alignment is one of Near’s core screening criteria, and it’s where we differentiate from platforms that just match keywords.

During the kickoff call, Near digs deep to understand your company culture, values, communication style, team dynamics, and the subtle factors that determine whether someone thrives in your environment. We use this to identify Latin American professionals who aren’t just skilled but aligned with how your company actually works.

Latin American professionals are familiar with US business practices—agile workflows, direct communication styles, proactive problem-solving, and the pace of American business. The cultural overlap makes integration dramatically smoother than regions where expectations around hierarchy, deadlines, and work norms differ significantly.

That said, Near doesn’t treat cultural fit as a box-checking exercise. We’re looking for people who will actually click with your team, contribute to your culture, and make everyone around them better.

Near places professionals from all across Latin America. We're not limited to any single country. Most of our candidates come from Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil, but we source talent wherever we find the best match for your specific role and requirements.

Our recruiters understand which regions excel in which functions, where compensation expectations differ, and how to find the right professionals across the entire Latin American talent landscape. Whether it's Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Honduras, or any other Latin American country, Near goes where the best talent is for your needs.

It’s up to you, and most companies handle this with a flexible approach.

Latin American holidays vary by country: Argentina has different national holidays than Mexico or Colombia. But holidays like Christmas and New Year’s Day already overlap with the US, so there’s less conflict than you might think.

Here's how most of our clients handle it: They offer floating holidays or a hybrid approach where team members get both US holidays and a few local holidays of their choice. This way, your LatAm team members are available for your peak business days while still respecting their local culture.

For paid time off, you set the policy just like you would for any team member. Most US companies offer 10–15 days of PTO annually, which is competitive in Latin America. You're in control. Just make it clear in the offer what the expectations are.

The key is setting expectations up front. Near can help you decide on a policy and communicate this during the interview process so there are no surprises.

Yes, expect the same tools, platforms, and languages you’d see with US hires. Most of our candidates have worked with US or global teams and are already hands-on with common stacks (e.g., Salesforce/HubSpot for sales and marketing, NetSuite/QuickBooks for accounting, Zendesk/Intercom for support, and modern engineering stacks like React/Node/AWS/SQL). During hiring, we:

1. Screen explicitly for your stack (or close equivalents when tools are niche) and call out any ramp time.
2. Run the assessments you already use (case studies, work samples, coding tests, or your preferred testing platform), which we facilitate end-to-end.
3. Validate via references that the candidate used the tools at the depth you need (not just exposure).

If there’s a specialized system in your environment, we look for transferable skill paths. We’ll highlight any gaps upfront, so you can make an informed trade-off between perfect tool match and speed to hire.