Testing freelancer location for job posts

[Alexandra H]

I'm a bit late to this discussion (and too lazy to read through all the comments, sorry), but I would like to draw attention to two issues (which I have seen crop up on other platforms).

1) The country I live and work in -- Austria -- is very small and hardly registers with some people as being part of the German-speaking world. I offer language services tailored to the (larger) German market in addition to Austrian German services and products, but I fear that clients looking for German translators, etc. will look for "location: Germany" ONLY! (Are you sure that you want your clients to miss out on receiving proposals from...ahem...brilliant providers like me, especially now that I have added a new qualification and become a certified terminology manager?)

2) If this feature is rolled out to include job notifications sent to us, via email or app, then the filter criteria may have to be expanded to include our skills and services offered. Because I don't look forward to receiving invitations for "Location: xxx", Job: web designer" etc. because the only filter applied was the location!

[Ravindra B]

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@Garnor M wrote:

**Update - starting the week of 5/18, we’ll be expanding this test to include some existing clients from the US. Please read our detailed reply here for more detail.**

For some projects, clients have told us they want to work with a freelancer within their country. Maybe these projects require localized knowledge (like legal or marketing projects), the possibility of on-site coordination, or specific compliance needs that make it easier to work with someone in their own country.

Thanks!

Garnor

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What are these categories?

Is the new filter being applied only for a few categories or across the board?

Is the new filter the default, just as 90% JSS is?

ETA: This post is likely to get buried soon. 

[Stephen T]

I'm interested in verifying my loacation--I was born and reside in the U.S.--by some means other than giving out bank info, as I've already been a victim of ientuty theft some years back. That's left me--undertandably, I hope--very leery of giving out such info. Please advise.

[Rebecca D]

Good Afternoon Garnor,

I'm new to Upwork in order to expand my career in grant writing.  The requirement for a bank account to verify I'm a legal U.S. citizen before I'm able to submit proposals for is very odd.  I do have an active U.S. passport to confirm the same information, if not more, than a bank account can, and it's more appropriate to use for public exposure.  I would like to know if this is a valid option to move forward with your website.

Becky

[Ravindra B]

Everyone has a right to identity protection, but consider the following:

1) Every time one writes a check (cheque), the account number of the bank becomes visible to all who view the check (cheque).

2) All freelancers who use a “Direct to U.S. Bank,” “Direct to Local Bank” or “U.S. Dollar Wire Transfer” provide their bank details to Upwork.

[Valeria K]

Hi Rebecca,

At this time, the only way to confirm your location is to have a U.S. bank account, add it as a payment method and complete the verification process.

[Rebecca D]

Thank you for the response, Vanessa.  I hope to see a better change with this.  A request for bank information is logical for payment purposes; however, not for verifying citizenship or mere location in my opinion.  I submit government I-9's daily with my current job and a bank account is not considered a valid ID on their list.  Perhaps, looking into this process would be valuable for Upworks.

Becky

[Christina S]

I'm not providing my bank account info so what's another option?  I also didn't read that entire novel is there a cliff note version lol jk

[Avery O]

Hi Christina, 

There is no work around. In many cases, confirmation happens automatically, behind-the-scenes. If you're not verified automatically, which needs that we need more information to verify your location, you'll be prompted to add a verified bank account so we can confirm you reside in the U.S.. 

[Doreen Z]

It would be really great if the "US only" button stayed off once it's turned to the off position. Once you click on a job, it reverts to "US only" and to the beginning of the search listing. This is obviously a waste of time. I know this button is supposed to help, but it's not very useful for some categories (e.g., translation, which already has a relatively limited number of jobs).