Mexico not North America?

[aukev]

Hi,

I just got a notification that I didn't fit the client's minimum requirements. This was the fact that I`m not located in North America, which I am as Mexico is most definately North America. Any idea if this is a bug or an error by design?

Thanks!

[geigerj]

Not surprising.  Studies have shown that nearly 8 of 10 Americans/Canadians do not consider Mexico as part of North America. Not like you can argue with geography, but ... perceptions... 

Some poor code writer /developer / whatever you call those computer people is going to get fired now...

[yitwail]

I guess some people in the US don't look at maps very closely. Quite a bit of Mexico lies to the north of much of Texas and Florida and all of Puerto Rico. 

[prestonhunter]

It is acceptable to classify Mexico as part of Latin America OR as part of North America OR as both.

Don't take it personally. How something is classified in one list does not change the nature of that thing.

[geigerj]

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@Preston H wrote:

It is acceptable to classify Mexico as part of Latin America OR as part of North America OR as both.

Don't take it personally. How something is classified in one list does not change the nature of that thing.

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While it is acceptable to refer to Mexico as being in Latin America, it is certainly NOT acceptable to deny that it is part of North America.  When clients are selecting the preferred location of North America, ideally, it should not flag the client to the fact that someone is not in North America when clearly they are.

[yitwail]

Here's something Upwork might consider before excluding Mexico from North America for job search purposes (if it in fact does so). Canada, Mexico, and USA jointly signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994 and it's still in effect.

[aukev]

Exactly, it's nothing personal, it a practial thing as clients might not able to find me.

[garnorm]

Thanks for raising Auxe. We're going to follow up with the team so we can get this fixed.

[jsutherland]

Having lived in Mexico for 11 years I can assure you THEY ARE North Americans and they do NOT like being referred to as Central America where most countries are 3rd world. Mexico is no longer a third world country and there are over 1 million expats living there and many are freelancing...and I was one of them in an enclave of 20K Canadians, Americans and Germans to name a few nationalities. We paid taxes in our home country and Mexico does not look at freelancing as working in their country. 

Let's get with the program people.

[marciamalory]

Central America is actually part of North America as well.

[colettelewis]

It's all Zorro's fault for putting Mexico on a fictional map! 🙂

[nadia-de]

Hi,

Is there any news on this topic?
I'm in Mexico and it is still not matching the location for North America. I don't really mind what people conisder it to be, in my opinion there is North America and South America, and Mexico is NOT part of South America.

I'm interested in jobs as VA and often people set North America because of the time zone, being in Mexico works great with the time zone in the U.S., so can you please look into this again as I would like to be seen by clients.

Thank you.

[kaitlinbuerba]

This was an issue brought to Upworks attention in 2015 and it is still not fixed.  It is undeniable that Mexico is a part of North America and as someone that I trying to find work I don't appreciate being flagged when I am tryng to find work.  What is the ETA on resolving this issue so that those of us in Mexico aren't flagged?

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Kaitlin,

We are aware that this is still an issue and we apologize for the delay. There were some problems that our engineers ran into when fixing the issue and they are looking for alternative solutions. We'll update the thread once the changes are made. 

Thank you for your patience.

[versailles]

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@Valeria K wrote:

Hi Kaitlin,

We are aware that this is still an issue and we apologize for the delay. There were some problems that our engineers ran into when fixing the issue and they are looking for alternative solutions. We'll update the thread once the changes are made. 

Thank you for your patience.

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Thanks Valeria!

That being said, any person with an IT experience, especially in software development will have a moment of WTF after having read this 🙂

I wouldn't want to see the code behind this website 🙂

[tomaswesterlund]

When should we expect this to be fixed or is it like everything else here on Upwork i.e. an auto-reply and hope the Freelancer will go away?

[yowiedesign]

If you don't meet one(or more) of the requirements, does that prevent you from applying for the contract?

The reason I ask, is that I was still able to apply for a contract (which I got) even though I didn't meet two of the four requirements (minimum JSS and hours worked). I acknowledeged in my cover letter that I understood I didn't meet some of the requirements, and explained how I felt that I could do the job, and he was ok with that.

[david_gregory]

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@Craig A wrote:

If you don't meet one(or more) of the requirements, does that prevent you from applying for the contract?

The reason I ask, is that I was still able to apply for a contract (which I got) even though I didn't meet two of the four requirements (minimum JSS and hours worked). I acknowledeged in my cover letter that I understood I didn't meet some of the requirements, and explained how I felt that I could do the job, and he was ok with that.

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You can apply for any job you want. I often apply for jobs where I don't meet all the criteria. Sometimes I get the job and sometimes I don't.

The only concern is that the system might display you lower on the list of freelancers bidding for the project compared to freelancers who meet all the requirements.

[iaabraham]

Just last week I applied for a job that required only freelancers from North America. I was hired the next day.

Clients don't always know what they want.

[ale-es]

Hey!

I'm from Mexico and I had this problem too. Sometimes clients ask for this because of the time zone... I wrote to the client and told him that I'm from North America, Mexico and he hired me anyway. 

[researchediting]

While we're waiting, should we play guessing games? I'll start:

What are the three most populous cities on the North American west coast?

[researchediting]

A: The three most populous cities on the North American west coast are, in order: Los Angeles, Vancouver, Tijuana.

[versailles]

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@Douglas Michael M wrote:
A: The three most populous cities on the North American west coast are, in order: Los Angeles, Vancouver, Tijuana.

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Ok, my turn. Among those cities, which ones are separated by a wall?

[researchediting]

Los Angeles, by a wall of disdain for anyone not rich, famous, or (at a minimum) on the make.

[lucioric]

Tijuana - to San Diego. Also there is an ideological wall - that Mexico is very inferior to the US, and why not - Central America.

[peterappleby]

Anything new on this?

Glad to hear that some are still hired despite Upwork's lack of geographical knowledge, but this still isn't really fair, is it?

I'd love to hear the reason as to why no one has bothered to fix this error 10 months after being notified about it.

[lucioric]

Indeed, North-American tectonic plate holding Mexico, North american treaty, etc.