Which countries can micro1 not hire from?

micro1 states it is unable to hire individuals residing in Afghanistan, Belarus, China, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Hong Kong, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Macao, Myanmar, North Korea, the Russian Federation, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, Ukraine and Yemen, citing legal, regulatory and security requirements. It says it otherwise hires talent from around the world.

Does Mercor publish a list of eligible countries?

Yes, and in two places. Mercor publishes a Supported Countries and Regions page listing where it will engage contractors at all, and states it does not engage contractors outside that list. Separately, individual Mercor listings carry a Location requirements field naming the country a specific project is open in. No other platform we track does the second thing.

Do Outlier, Ethos and Alignerr publish country eligibility?

None of the three publishes a list. Outlier's FAQ does not enumerate the countries it operates in, Ethos does not state which countries it accepts on its expert-facing pages, and Alignerr publishes no country policy we could find. In all three cases you will not know your eligibility until you are into the sign-up process.

How do I tell whether a listing is open in my country?

Look for an explicit location line on the listing first, then check the platform's own policy. Mercor states a country outright on some listings and nothing on others; micro1 sometimes says Global, sometimes says an English-speaking country without defining it, and usually says nothing. Where a listing is silent, silence means unspecified rather than worldwide.

A job says remote and worldwide. Does that mean I can do it?

Not necessarily. Platform eligibility and project eligibility are separate gates. micro1's Audio Expert and STEM Expert listings both say global and fully remote, and micro1's platform-wide exclusion list of twenty countries still applies on top. A listing saying worldwide does not override a platform policy that says otherwise.

What does an English-speaking country requirement mean?

Several micro1 listings state applicants must be based in an English-speaking country without publishing which countries qualify. There is no standard definition, so the only reliable route is to ask through the screening questions before investing time in an interview. Compare Mercor, which names the United Kingdom outright on its UK projects.

Will I get a 1099 from these platforms?

Not always. Mercor states explicitly that it does not withhold taxes and that EU-based contractors will not receive a 1099 or equivalent, and that they should report income from Stripe payout records and their own bookkeeping. EU contractors are also required to complete a W-8BEN during onboarding. Treat tax handling as something to confirm per platform.

Who can actually do this work

Country guide · 7 September 2026

Country eligibility is decided at two gates: whether the platform can engage you at all, and whether the specific project is open where you live. Of the five platforms we track, two publish a policy you can check in advance, and only one tells you, on the listing itself, which country a given project is open in. This guide sets out what each actually says.

There are two gates, and people only check one

Almost every listing in this field says "remote" and most say nothing about location, so it is easy to assume the work is open to anyone with a laptop. It is not, and the reason it is confusing is that eligibility is decided in two separate places:

Platform eligibility: whether the company can engage you as a contractor at all, given where you live
Project eligibility: whether the specific project you are applying to is open in your country

Both have to clear. A listing can be genuinely worldwide while the platform still cannot pay you, and a platform can accept your country while the project in front of you is restricted to somewhere else.

Only two of the five platforms here publish anything about the first gate. Only one of them tells you about the second.

micro1: publishes a blocklist

micro1 answers the first gate directly on its experts page:

Yes. We hire talent from around the world. However, due to legal, regulatory, and security requirements, we are unable to hire individuals who reside in the following countries and regions: Afghanistan (AF), Belarus (BY), China (CN), Cuba (CU), Democratic Republic of the Congo (CD), Hong Kong (HK), Iran (IR), Iraq (IQ), Libya (LY), Macao (MO), Myanmar (MM), North Korea (KP), Russian Federation (RU), Somalia (SO), South Sudan (SS), Sudan (SD), Syria (SY), Venezuela (VE), Ukraine (UKR), and Yemen (YE).

The list has twenty entries and a stated reason, and every other country is open. It applies to residence, not citizenship; the wording is "individuals who reside in".

On the second gate, micro1 is inconsistent. Some listings say "Global, fully remote": its Audio Expert and STEM Expert roles both do. Some require you to be "based in an English-speaking country" without saying which countries those are. Most say nothing at all. And "Global" on a listing does not override the exclusion list above; both apply.

Mercor: publishes an allowlist, and states the country on the listing

Mercor is the most transparent of the five, because it addresses both gates.

On platform eligibility, it has a Supported Countries and Regions page and states that it "does not provide its products or services to, and does not engage contractors located in, countries outside of those listed in our Supported Regions Policy." The list is long and geographically broad, running alphabetically from Albania and covering much of Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe, so being outside the usual US-and-Western-Europe assumption is not disqualifying. But because it is an allowlist, absence is exclusion. Check your country on it rather than assuming.

On project eligibility, Mercor puts a Location requirements field on individual listings, and it is unambiguous when it uses it. Two of its current listings here are scoped to one country:

Candidates must be based in the United Kingdom and have the right to work in the United Kingdom. This is an essential requirement for the role.

That is UK-Based Data Engineering Experts and UK-Based MBB and Top-Tier Strategy Consulting Experts, both naming the country in the listing title as well as the field. An older Mercor role on this site is scoped to the US and Canada.

Two other current Mercor listings, its clinical survey and survey methodology roles, state no location requirement at all. On Mercor, that difference is informative: it uses the field when a restriction applies, so its absence is a reasonable signal rather than an oversight. It is still worth confirming, because the supported-regions list applies regardless.

Mercor also puts work authorisation on you in writing: it "only engages with individuals who have the right to work and provide freelance services in their country of residence", requires the right to work in the named country on restricted listings, does not sponsor visas, and expects you to meet local registration requirements such as freelancer permits and tax IDs.

One oddity: Mercor's UK-restricted listings also state it is "unable to support H1-B or STEM OPT candidates at this time". Both are United States immigration statuses, which reads like text carried over from its US postings rather than anything meaningful on a UK role.

Alignerr: no published list, several practical gates

Alignerr does not publish a country policy we could find. Its process page sets out onboarding as sign up, apply for a job, identity verification, billing signup, and Alignerr onboarding, and notes that some jobs may additionally require a Zara interview or domain assessments.

Identity verification is where geography bites. Third-party reviews report that Alignerr requires a non-expired government-issued ID from the country you will be working in, that you must be 18 or over, and that only one account per person is permitted. The same reviews report that its sign-up flow blocks a couple of dozen countries and that the practical footprint is much narrower than "global". We have not confirmed any of that against an Alignerr source, so treat it as what other people report rather than as policy.

Outlier: publishes no country list at all

Outlier's FAQ does not enumerate the countries it operates in. We noted this when we wrote its company page and left eligibility open there rather than guess.

What Outlier does publish is a different gate that catches more applicants: it requires at least an associate degree, with specific projects requiring a bachelor's, master's or PhD depending on complexity. It also requires a valid ID and a mobile phone from your country of residence, which is a geographic filter in its own right. And it states it does not sponsor visas, putting the burden on you to confirm your own right to work.

Ethos: publishes nothing on eligibility

Ethos does not state which countries it accepts anywhere on its expert-facing pages. As we noted on its company page, you will not learn your eligibility until you are through sign-up. Given that Ethos matches you to opportunities rather than letting you apply to listings, there is no per-project location field to read either.

What a usable location statement looks like

We have read a few dozen of these, and some location lines can be acted on while others cannot. Compare:

Actionable. "Candidates must be based in the United Kingdom and have the right to work in the United Kingdom. This is an essential requirement for the role." Names the country, names the legal test, states the consequence. You know within seconds.

Not actionable. "Based in an English-speaking country." No definition, no list, and no standard one to fall back on. Does Ireland count? India? Nigeria? Singapore? Three micro1 listings carry this line and none answers the question.

Ambiguous by construction. "JD from a US law school and active bar admission in a U.S. jurisdiction." That is a credential, not a residence rule: a US-qualified lawyer living in Lisbon may well be eligible, and micro1 states no residency requirement. But nothing on the page confirms it either way.

Where a listing gives you the first kind, trust it. Where it gives you the second or third, ask through the screening questions before you spend an evening on an unpaid interview.

The project-level restrictions we have actually seen

These are restrictions in live listings on this site. None is visible from a platform's country policy:

A named country, stated as essential. Mercor's two UK projects. This is the clearest form and the only one you can act on without asking.
A country pair. Mercor's Generalist Expert role, scoped to the US and Canada.
"Based in an English-speaking country." Management Consultant and Senior Software Engineer at micro1, none defining the term.
A professional credential tied to a jurisdiction. micro1's Litigation Associate Attorney and Attorney roles require US bar admission. Both state no residency rule, so a US-qualified attorney abroad may be eligible. Confirm before relying on it.
Explicitly global. micro1's Audio Expert, STEM Expert and Physics Expert roles. The platform exclusion list still applies on top.
Language priority rather than requirement. micro1's two psychology roles prioritise nineteen named languages without requiring any. Speaking one is an advantage worth declaring.

The paperwork gates nobody lists under "eligibility"

Several requirements function as country restrictions without being described as such:

Right to freelance where you live. Some countries require registration, a permit, or a tax number before you can lawfully invoice a foreign company. Mercor says this is your responsibility; the others largely do not raise it.
A phone number from your country of residence. Outlier requires this explicitly. SMS verification does not work everywhere.
Government ID matching your working country. Reported at Alignerr, and standard across the field.
Payment rails. Being eligible to be hired and being able to receive money are different problems. Mercor publishes weekly payment via Stripe or Wise; most platforms here publish nothing, so confirm they can pay into your country before you onboard.
Tax forms. Mercor requires EU-based contractors to complete a W-8BEN during onboarding via Stripe, states it does not withhold taxes, and states EU contractors will not receive a 1099 or equivalent; you report from your own records. It is also not VAT-registered in the EU. Other platforms handle this differently and none advertises it.

What to check before you spend an evening

In this order, because each step is cheaper than the one after it:

Read the listing for a location line. On Mercor, check the Location requirements field. A named country is definitive; "English-speaking country" is not.
Check the platform's published policy. micro1's blocklist and Mercor's allowlist take a minute each.
Check for a credential tied to a jurisdiction, which is not the same as a residence rule.
Confirm you can lawfully contract and be paid where you live, including any registration your country requires.
Only then sit an unpaid AI interview. micro1's practice versions are labeled 18 minutes and real ones vary with the role, and passing it still does not guarantee a project.

What we could not establish

Outlier, Ethos and Alignerr publish no country policy, so we have left eligibility open on their pages rather than guess at one
Alignerr's practical country footprint comes from third-party reviews only, and is attributed as such above
We have not verified whether "English-speaking country" is enforced by residence, by IP address, or by self-declaration
We do not know whether a Mercor listing with no Location requirements field is genuinely unrestricted or simply unstated
No platform here publishes what happens if your circumstances change mid-project

Sources

micro1's experts page, for the exclusion list quoted verbatim above
Mercor's Supported Countries and Regions page and its EU contractor considerations documentation, for the allowlist, work authorisation, W-8BEN, withholding and VAT statements
Mercor's own listings, for the Location requirements field and the UK wording quoted above
Alignerr's process page, for its onboarding steps
Our own Outlier and Ethos company pages, written from those platforms' own materials
Live listings on this site, for every project-level restriction named above

Last updated 7 September 2026; interview length wording revised 25 September 2026. Country policies change without notice, and a platform's own page always outranks this one. We are not affiliated with any of these platforms and we do not process applications.

Labeling Jobs does not give financial or tax advice.

Questions

Which countries can micro1 not hire from?: micro1 states it is unable to hire individuals residing in Afghanistan, Belarus, China, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Hong Kong, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Macao, Myanmar, North Korea, the Russian Federation, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, Ukraine and Yemen, citing legal, regulatory and security requirements. It says it otherwise hires talent from around the world.
Does Mercor publish a list of eligible countries?: Yes, and in two places. Mercor publishes a Supported Countries and Regions page listing where it will engage contractors at all, and states it does not engage contractors outside that list. Separately, individual Mercor listings carry a Location requirements field naming the country a specific project is open in. No other platform we track does the second thing.
Do Outlier, Ethos and Alignerr publish country eligibility?: None of the three publishes a list. Outlier's FAQ does not enumerate the countries it operates in, Ethos does not state which countries it accepts on its expert-facing pages, and Alignerr publishes no country policy we could find. In all three cases you will not know your eligibility until you are into the sign-up process.
How do I tell whether a listing is open in my country?: Look for an explicit location line on the listing first, then check the platform's own policy. Mercor states a country outright on some listings and nothing on others; micro1 sometimes says Global, sometimes says an English-speaking country without defining it, and usually says nothing. Where a listing is silent, silence means unspecified rather than worldwide.
A job says remote and worldwide. Does that mean I can do it?: Not necessarily. Platform eligibility and project eligibility are separate gates. micro1's Audio Expert and STEM Expert listings both say global and fully remote, and micro1's platform-wide exclusion list of twenty countries still applies on top. A listing saying worldwide does not override a platform policy that says otherwise.
What does an English-speaking country requirement mean?: Several micro1 listings state applicants must be based in an English-speaking country without publishing which countries qualify. There is no standard definition, so the only reliable route is to ask through the screening questions before investing time in an interview. Compare Mercor, which names the United Kingdom outright on its UK projects.
Do I need a work permit for remote contractor work?: You need the right to perform freelance or contractor work where you live. Mercor states it only engages people with the right to work and provide freelance services in their country of residence, requires the right to work in the country on its location-restricted listings, states it does not sponsor visas, and puts local registration requirements such as freelancer permits and tax IDs on you.
Will I get a 1099 from these platforms?: Not always. Mercor states explicitly that it does not withhold taxes and that EU-based contractors will not receive a 1099 or equivalent, and that they should report income from Stripe payout records and their own bookkeeping. EU contractors are also required to complete a W-8BEN during onboarding. Treat tax handling as something to confirm per platform.

Platforms covered here

Put this into practice

Every listing shows its pay and who it is open to.

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