Location Selection Expanding to UK Clients

[Alvaro B]

Hi,

I'm an EU national living in the UK for +2 years, how can I prove my location without a british passport/driving license?

Cheers

[Nichola L]

I am sure Upwork has been helping many EU FLs  living in the UK with their verification. However,I think it is time to mention, that despite the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, the UK Home Office has now published the rules and regs concerning legal status for EU citizens living in the UK and how to register. This can be now be done online by some EU citizens, or as from March 2019 and it is obligatory (unless by some happy miracle Article 50 were to be revoked). In short, EU citizens will be granted the right to stay if they have lived for five consecutive years in the country. If they have lived there for two years, they can apply for pre-settlement status. The registration fee is £65.00 and the cut-off point (for the moment), is June 2021. r

Upwork should also take note of the changes about to happen in the UK as freelancing/taxation is likely to be affected as well.  

https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families

 ETA: (19.51) Theresa May, the British Prime Minister, scrapped the registration fee about the time I posted this. 

[Bojan S]

Hi Alvaro,

I've shared your account information with our team, and one of our agents will reach out to you directly via support ticket to assist you further with your location verification.

Thank you.

[Savina V]

Hello,

I'm EU citizen and I live in UK. How can I verify my account if I haven't got either UK driving license or UK passport?

Thank you

[Avery O]

Hi Savina, 

I will share your account information with the Customer Support Team so that they can initiate a manual verification for your location. Through this verification, you can provide a government issued photo ID and a document with proof of residence dated within 6-months.

[Izzy A]

Oh, just seen this announcement and really disappointed to read it! I'm a Londoner but moved abroad (to France) six months ago. I really enjoy the connections I've made with UK clients on Upwork - and this means lots of potential new clients won't get to see my profile anymore, even though I'm from the UK and a native in language, culture, and work culture, and probably fulfill all of the requirements/wants that motivate them to select UK only freelancers. Sad! 

[Vladimir G]

Hi Izzy,

I understand your concern, thanks for sharing your feedback in the Community. I'd like to clarify  that when a U.K. client posts a job and specifies they’re only interested in hiring a freelancer located in the U.K., freelancers outside of the U.K. will not see the job post. That does not mean you will not see new job posts from clients in the U.K., however. Many clients prefer the flexibility of hiring freelancers in any location and they will still make their job post visible to all freelancers, regardless of where they live. And as always, you’ll be able to see those opportunities.

[Izzy A]

Hey Vladimir,

Thanks for taking the time to reply - it is appreciated. I do understand that - my point is that I almost definitely meet all the requirements in terms of language, culture and work culture that would make a client want to hire UK freelancers only, so it's a shame (for me, personally, and perhaps other expat/migrant freelancers in a similar position; and definitely for the clients) that Upwork has introduced a filter that will appeal to those clients and therefore cut off the potential that I, or other UK freelancers living abroad, could have connected with them. I doubt very much that clients would select UK freelancers only because they want to be geographically close enough to physically meet the freelancers they hire - because if that were the case, Upwork probably wouldn't be the platform they'd use. I think it's more likely to be a familiarity with UK culture, and for my field in particular (copywriting), an appropriate and culturally engaging voice and understanding of local markets, that would motivate a client to go for the UK freelancers only option. 

[Nichola L]

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Izzy A wrote:

Hey Vladimir,

Thanks for taking the time to reply - it is appreciated. I do understand that - my point is that I almost definitely meet all the requirements in terms of language, culture and work culture that would make a client want to hire UK freelancers only, so it's a shame (for me, personally, and perhaps other expat/migrant freelancers in a similar position; and definitely for the clients) that Upwork has introduced a filter that will appeal to those clients and therefore cut off the potential that I, or other UK freelancers living abroad, could have connected with them. I doubt very much that clients would select UK freelancers only because they want to be geographically close enough to physically meet the freelancers they hire - because if that were the case, Upwork probably wouldn't be the platform they'd use. I think it's more likely to be a familiarity with UK culture, and for my field in particular (copywriting), an appropriate and culturally engaging voice and understanding of local markets, that would motivate a client to go for the UK freelancers only option. 

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Upwork doesn't care, Izzy, because apparently geo-blocking works for the company. However, I have read that the EU has brought in a law against geo-blocking, and I have written to find out if this extends to service companies such as Upwork  based in U.S. but subject to European and UK VAT regulations. 

[Kim F]

It's been a while since you (Nichola) posted this and I too would like to hear how Upwork is exempt from the geoblocking law [Geo-blocking Regulation (EU) 2018/302 to be specific; applied from 3 Dec 2018].

Perhaps someone could explain?