Remote jobs from Pakistan: how to get paid, and what to ask for
Landing a remote role is half the problem. The other half is a contract and a payment route that do not eat 8% of your salary every month.
Every month someone books a call with me after they have already accepted a remote offer, and the questions are always the same: how do I get paid, am I an employee or a contractor, and did I ask for too little. Here is what I tell them, in the order it matters.
Know which contract you are signing
Most foreign companies cannot employ you directly in Pakistan. They will either sign you as an independent contractor or hire you through an employer of record, a company that employs you locally on their behalf. A contractor deal pays more on paper but has no leave, no notice period and no benefits unless you write them in. An employer of record deal pays slightly less and gives you a real employment contract. Neither is wrong. Not knowing which one you have is.
If you are a contractor, ask for paid leave in the contract itself, at least 20 days, and a notice period of 30 days on both sides. Companies agree to this far more often than people expect, because it costs them little and they would rather keep you.
Getting the money home
Ask to be paid in USD or EUR into a dollar account at your bank, or through Payoneer if the company already uses it. Compare the exchange rate you actually receive with the interbank rate for three months; the gap is the real fee, and it is often bigger than the transfer charge printed on the statement. Register with PSEB as an IT exporter if your work qualifies, because the tax treatment on foreign remittances is far better when you can prove what the money is for.
Keep every invoice, every contract and every bank advice in one folder from day one. Your tax consultant will thank you in September, and if a visa application ever asks you to prove income, you will have it in an hour instead of a week.
On salary: do not price yourself against Lahore. Price yourself against the cheapest country the company is also hiring from, and then add 15%. A Pakistani backend engineer at a European startup should not be asking for PKR 400,000 a month when the same company pays Poland twice that. Ask for the band before you name a number, every time.