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rphayesha
Community Member

location issue

hey 

I am new to Upwork

I got my first project and I am working on it 

I am confused regarding my location, I live in KSA but on visit visa and use here Upwork but I am from Pakistan and have the official ID of Pakistan. I want to know what location should I add in profile? I continuously travel between KSA and Pakistan? I don't have a gov ID of KSA. and I want my payment to be linked with my Pakistan bank account.

 

please guide.

9 REPLIES 9
petra_r
Community Member


Ayesha J wrote:

 

I am confused regarding my location, I live in KSA but on visit visa.


You need to add the location that truthfully reflects where you live. You say that you live in KSA.

In KSA, are you actually even allowed to work on a visit visa?

i am doing work on upwork only

 

and if i mention the KSA in location then for the recent verification procedure photo ID will be of pakistan ?

Upwork asks that your location on your profile page be where you live.

 

Upwork does not actually have a way of listing two different locations (or more) for people such as yourself who live simultaneously on two countries, or who live "continuously" in two or more countries.

 

Although this is a real phenomenon and is similar to electrons and photons which simultaneously exist in more than one place, Upwork is similar to other database-based software systems in its failure to anticipate this and its inability to record such statuses.

 

You will probably need to specify only one location on your profile page, and you can mention the other(s) in your profile overview text if you want to.

 

Upwork really DOES NOT require you to live in the same country as where your banking account or payment withdrawal account is located. For example, many Upwork users withdraw money to a U.S. bank account, even thought they do not live in the U.S. You should be able to withdraw money to an account based in Pakistan even if you don't live only in Pakistan.

 

Upwork DOES conduct identify verification procedures that entail showing government-issued ID. So whichever location you choose to show on your profile, it should be a location that you have ID for.

thank you for your kind response but the issue remains the same. currently, i am in visiting KSA for next 3 months and using Upwork while I have actual government ID of Pakistan. today i got email for verification photo ID and video call with in a week . in this situation my profile says in am in KSA but actual identity is of pakistan . does upwork verify me ? 


Ayesha J wrote:

 in this situation my profile says in am in KSA but actual identity is of pakistan . does upwork verify me ? 


Yes. It does not matter if your passport is issued in Pakistan while you live in KSA. You must state your true location, so changing your profile location to Pakistan despite the fact that you are in KSA, will cause you real problems because it's not true.

 

And Upwork also expects you to be legally allowed to work in the country you live in.


Preston H wrote:

 

Upwork really DOES NOT require you to live in the same country as where your banking account...  You should be able to withdraw money to an account based in Pakistan even if you don't live only in Pakistan.

 


This is not correct. You can not add a bank account that is not based in the country you live in. You can add a US based bank account where-ever you are, but NOT any other country's- It is a physical impossibility because the IBAN prefix is fixed to the country your profile identifies you to be in.

 

Mine is fixed to IT for Italy, so I could not add a German or UK bank account.


Ayesha J wrote:

i am doing work on upwork only


That doesn't matter in most countries. Are you allowed to work on your visit visa?

 


Ayesha J wrote:

and if i mention the KSA in location then for the recent verification procedure photo ID will be of pakistan ?


That isn't an issue. Your passport can identify you as a different nationality to that of the country you live in. But you still need to clarify if you are legally allowed to work where you are. 

re: "does upwork verify me ?"

 

Your verification situation is different from your banking situation.

 

For your current verification request, you can research on Upwork's site what type of documentation Upwork will allow you to use. There is a lengthy list. It is NOT just passports.

 

Upwork may very well allow you to use a passport from one country, showing your photo, along with documents from another country. Many people have passports from one country along with documents showing residency in another country.

 

You can ask Upwork. You can ask Upwork customer service. And you can also tell the person who conducts the verification process what your situation is. If it was me, I would try to ask customer service before I do the interview.

 

Upwork is often ambiguous about the exact time amount that entails changing profile location.

 

Going to another country for one month definitely is not long enough to require you to change your profile location. Going there for six months? Yes, you need to change your profile location.

 

The thing to keep in mind when it comes to Upwork's verification procedures is that these are singular in purpose and you will probably be dealing with employees of a third-party service provider enlisted by Upwork. So you might be facing a situation which only wants to match your face on video to your profile photo. Or you might face a person or software which only wants to match your documentation to your profile information. It might not be a nuanced situation where a person considers everything about you. Living continuously in multiple countries may not be something they can fully grapple with. So you could end up "failing" a check if you can't present documents that match up to your profile in a way that makes sense to them.


Preston H wrote:

 

Upwork may very well allow you to use a passport from one country, showing you photo, along with documents from another country.


Of course they do. I verified mine several timers with a German passport that was issued in Scotland and when my location is and was Italy.

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