Hi Carl,
If you have an active contract with the freelancer you will be billed and charged according to the type of the contract. The money will then be sent to the freelancer's oDesk account and the freelancer will be able to withdraw it using whatever withdrawal method he has set up on his oDesk account. It doesn't really matter for you where the freelancer is based when it comes to payment through oDesk.
Please, let us know if you have additional questions.
~ Valeria
