TL;DR: A US passport does not make a "US only" remote job workable from Panama, Mexico or Portugal: those postings are about where you live and are paid, not your citizenship. On 7 October 2026, 22.7% of the 52,072 live remote postings in our index listed only the United States, 45.2% did not say where they hire, and only 356 (0.7%) said in their own words that they hire anywhere. Look for postings whose hiring list includes your new country, and read every location line.
Your passport is not your location
Most American remote workers hold jobs that say "Remote (US)". That wording is a rule about where the work happens. The employer runs US payroll, withholds US tax and registers in the states where its staff work, so the job assumes you live in the United States. Our guide to what "remote US only" means explains the reasons in detail.
Some postings say it outright. On 7 October 2026, at least 1,144 of the 11,812 US-only postings in our index (9.7%) said in their text that you must live, reside, be located or be based in the United States. Most of the rest say nothing either way, which does not mean the employer allows life abroad. Ask before you move, and get the answer in writing.
The other side helps you: being a US citizen does not hurt you for jobs open to other countries. A posting that can hire in Mexico can hire an American who lives in Mexico, as long as the employer can pay someone there and your residency status allows the work.
What our index shows
These figures come from our index of live remote postings that employers published themselves on their own careers pages or hiring systems: 52,072 on 7 October 2026, copies on job boards not counted (see how we check every job).
| Where the posting says it hires, 7 October 2026 | Postings | Share of 52,072 |
| Does not say | 23,556 | 45.2% |
| Only the United States | 11,812 | 22.7% |
| Only the US and/or Canada | 13,513 | 26.0% |
| The US plus other countries | 1,728 | 3.3% |
| A list of countries without the US | 13,483 | 25.9% |
| Says in its own words that it hires anywhere | 356 | 0.7% |
Counting job boards as well, our index held 92,535 live remote postings on 7 October 2026, and 34.7% of them listed only the United States.
The "worldwide" tag is often a guess
Job boards and search tools, ours included, attach a "worldwide" tag when a posting looks open to everyone. Our index read 1,493 postings (2.9%) as open worldwide on 7 October 2026. But on most of them the employer's own location field said only "Remote", and only 356 said in their own words, anywhere in the posting, that they hire anywhere: phrases such as "anywhere in the world" or "any country". Only 56 put "worldwide", "anywhere" or "global" in the location field itself.
So treat a "worldwide" tag as a lead, not an answer. Open the posting and look for the employer's own words. If it says only "Remote", ask where they can pay people before you apply. Our guide to work-from-anywhere jobs shows how to read a listing for location rules.
Countries Americans move to: how many postings can hire there
The table counts postings whose hiring list includes the country, directly or through a region such as "Latin America" or "Europe", plus the 356 that say in their own words that they hire anywhere. "Name it" counts lists that name the country itself.
| Country, 7 October 2026 | Can hire there | Share of 52,072 | Lists that name it |
| Spain | 2,680 | 5.1% | 653 |
| Portugal | 2,295 | 4.4% | 275 |
| Mexico | 1,942 | 3.7% | 400 |
| Colombia | 1,482 | 2.8% | 253 |
| Costa Rica | 1,326 | 2.5% | 92 |
| Panama | 1,253 | 2.4% | 19 |
| Thailand | 757 | 1.5% | 76 |
| United States, for comparison | 13,896 | 26.7% | 13,055 |
Smaller countries are reached through regions. On 7 October 2026, 897 hiring lists in our index included Panama, but only 19 named Panama itself; the rest reached it through a region. So search region words as well as the country: "LATAM", "Latin America", "Americas", "EMEA", "Europe". Our guide to what LATAM means in a job posting explains which countries the word usually covers.
Time zones help in the Americas. Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica and Colombia sit close to US time zones, which matters for postings that ask for overlap with US working hours. For Mexico and Colombia, our remote jobs in Mexico and remote jobs in Colombia pages list live postings that can hire there.
Three ways to keep working after you move
- Keep your US employer, with permission. Some employers allow work from abroad for a time, some never do. A move without telling them can break their payroll and tax rules.
- Work through an employer of record. A company with no office in your new country can hire you through a third party that becomes your legal employer there. See our guide to what an employer of record is.
- Work as a contractor. You invoice the company and handle your own tax and benefits. Our contractor and employee guide explains the trade-offs.
Taxes follow you. The IRS says US citizens abroad are taxed on their worldwide income, and its foreign earned income exclusion has rules about your tax home and either bona fide residence or being physically present abroad for at least 330 full days in 12 months. Your new country has its own rules too, so speak to a tax adviser before you move.
Where to search
- Himalayas shows where each job can hire. Its Panama page listed 3,537 jobs when we checked in October 2026, many of them open to long lists of countries rather than to Panama alone.
- We Work Remotely labels listings with a region; in its Devops and Sysadmin category, 11 of 18 listings said "Anywhere in the World" when we checked in October 2026.
- The Hacker News "Who is hiring?" thread asks posters to write "REMOTE (US)" or similar when the country is restricted, so a plain "REMOTE" is worth a question.
For more boards, see our lists of remote job boards outside the US and the best AI job search tools. For network and IT work, see our job boards for network and IT infrastructure engineers. A real employer never asks you to pay to apply, for training or for equipment.
Where RemoteHunt fits
RemoteHunt is not a board you post on. It reads live remote postings from employers' own careers pages and job boards, checks where each one says it can hire, and scores the ones that can hire you from 0 to 100 against your resume, with a written reason. If you have no resume, it builds one with you. It is free to start and you never pay to apply. The 90-day pass ($29 once, no renewal, 14-day refund) opens the company and apply link on every match.
FAQ
Can I keep a US-only remote job if I move abroad?
Usually not without your employer's permission. A US-only posting assumes you live and are paid in the United States. On 7 October 2026, 22.7% of the 52,072 live remote postings in our index listed only the United States, and at least 1,144 of those 11,812 said in their text that you must live or be located in the US.
Does being a US citizen help with remote jobs abroad?
Not with US-only jobs: they depend on where you live, not your passport. It does not hurt either. On 7 October 2026, 13,483 of the 52,072 live remote postings in our index (25.9%) listed countries without the United States, and those employers judge you by where you live.
How many remote jobs can hire someone living in Panama?
On 7 October 2026, 1,253 of the 52,072 live remote postings in our index (2.4%) could hire in Panama: 897 hiring lists that included Panama, mostly through a region such as Latin America, plus 356 postings that said in their own words that they hire anywhere. Only 19 lists named Panama itself.
Are "worldwide" remote jobs really open to everyone?
Often not. On 7 October 2026 our index read 1,493 postings (2.9%) as open worldwide, but only 356 (0.7% of 52,072) said in their own words that they hire anywhere. Check the posting's own words before you plan a move around it.
How can RemoteHunt help me find remote jobs I can do from abroad?
RemoteHunt checks where each live remote posting says it can hire and scores the ones open to you against your resume from 0 to 100, with a written reason for each score. For someone living abroad, that shows which postings can hire in the country you live in before you apply.
See which remote jobs can hire you in the country you live in, and how well each one fits your resume. Try it free.