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artemalbul
Community Member

Upwork does not recognize Republic of Cyprus as a European Country

Hi, Upwork Community!

 

I am a freelancer from Cyprus.

When Upwork shows me jobs for Europe (a requirement from Job publisher) it shoes me red circle with an exclamation mark, meaning that I am not from Europe, so I am not eligible for this Job. I think it's a mistake, because Cyprus is a European country.

 

I tryed to contact Upwork Support, but failed - Upwork directed me here.

 

Does anybody have any idea how to fix this bug?

 

Thanks a lot for your help!

 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

11 REPLIES 11
AleksandarD
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Artem,

 

Upwork uses the United Nations geoscheme to define regions within Europe. This geoscheme groups Cyprus into Western Asia. So I'd like to confirm that this current behavior is by design. 

 

Thank you.

~ Aleksandar
Upwork

Location is never a requirement, just a suggestion.  You may apply to any job that you can do well.


Aleksandar D wrote:

Hi Artem,

 

Upwork uses the United Nations geoscheme to define regions within Europe. This geoscheme groups Cyprus into Western Asia. So I'd like to confirm that this current behavior is by design. 

 

Thank you.


______________________________

Aleksander, would you please get the Upwork team to read this: 

https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/countries/member-countries/cyprus_en

Cyprus (the entire Island Greek and Turkish) is a member of the EU. There are certain restrictions for the Turkish side , and Turkish is not one of the official EU languages. However, Cyprus is European not Asian. 


Aleksandar D wrote:

Hi Artem,

 

Upwork uses the United Nations geoscheme to define regions within Europe. This geoscheme groups Cyprus into Western Asia. So I'd like to confirm that this current behavior is by design. 

 

Thank you.


 

Dear Alexandar,

 

That geoscheme you referred to has issued in 1999 (pls, see a screnshot attached "issued in 1999.png"), so it is outdated, beacuse Republic of Cyprus is:

- a member of European Union since 2004;

- and has EURO currency since 2008.

Prooflink:

https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/countries/member-countries/cyprus_en

 

So, Alexandar, would you please rise the issue to the proper department of Upwork?

Or, please, let me know to whom should I communicate the issue?

 

Why it is important to fix ASAP:

1) because it does not reflect the real geo situation of today;

2) because freelancers from Cyprus are discriminated - we are from Europe, but Upwork sais that we are not. And because of that every time we apply for a "European" job we got a message from Upwork: "You do not meet all the client's preferred qualifications" (Please, see a screenshot attached).


Artem A wrote:

So, Alexandar, would you please rise the issue to the proper department of Upwork?

 


I don't think it's as simple as that.

 

If Upwork go by the United Nations geoscheme, you'd have to ask the United Nations to change their geoscheme. The fact that Cyprus is a member of the EU and uses the Euro, does not alter the fact that geographically (the "geo" in "geoscheme") it is, according to the United Nations, considered to be in Asia. Looking at a map I can see why, actually.

 

As "location" is defined by geographical location, not political/currency affiliation, the UN define it as being located on the Asian continent, and Upwork follows the UN geoscheme.

 

Upwork can no more change the United Nations geoscheme than change the geographical location of a country.

 

 

Dear Aleksandar,

 

Would you please reply on my last comment in this topic?

 

Hi Alexandar,

 

As Cyprus is in the EU, as per the European Union's official page, Upwork should investigate this further.

 

Having a one-fits-all approach is not beneficial to the professionals nor the clients. Customers will filter European countries in their criteria (I am a customer) and Cyprus is very much in Europe.

 

Perhaps rather than brushing this off and stating this is in an out-dated list, 1999 was 22 years ago, you should update this.

 

Check the European Union's official site. The European Union consists of European countries ONLY.

https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/countries_en

 

 

alexandernovikov
Community Member

I'm from Cyprus too. Yeah, always mentioned that it highlights me as "not meeting client requirements" when he looks for someone from Europe. Please fix this.

 

@Artem, want a beer?

Cyprus is culturally European and is a member of the European Union but is situated in the Western Asia subcontinent as per the UN geoscheme. Since the geoscheme doesn't look at political affiliations, the fact that Cyprus joined the European Union in 2004 is irrelevant to its locational designation.

Upwork could theoretically switch their locational designation system to one that takes political affiliations into account, but it would shift around lots of existing users' location tags. It's also more problematic and potentially contentious in times of territorial disputes. A lot easier to just assign countries to their physical location region on the globe.

alexisgreg93
Community Member

My country is part of Europe yet you're stating that it's not.As a result I can't meet the qualifications for a job and people are not willing to employ me. This is affecting me badly and it shouldn't. Can you please help?

Alexis G wrote:

My country is part of Europe yet you're stating that it's not.As a result I can't meet the qualifications for a job and people are not willing to employ me. This is affecting me badly and it shouldn't. Can you please help?


Upwork uses the United Nations Geoscheme, which puts your country outside of Europe. 

What makes you think that this is the reason you're not hired?

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