How to Recruit Military Spouses Living Overseas (OCONUS)

You found a great candidate. Sharp resume. Right skills. Then you see the location. They live in Germany. Or Japan. Or Italy. Their spouse is active duty and stationed overseas.

Most hiring teams stop right there. They assume it is too hard. Too many tax questions. Too many legal unknowns. So they pass on a strong person for the wrong reason.

That is a mistake. Military spouses stationed overseas, or OCONUS, are one of the most overlooked talent pools in the country. OCONUS just means "outside the continental United States." These spouses are US citizens. Many hold US degrees and US work history. And a big number of them can work US-based remote roles from where they live.

This guide covers the overseas-specific mechanics a US employer actually worries about. How to employ someone living abroad. How to turn a time-zone gap into an asset. How SOFA and base systems keep many spouses tied to US networks. And where to find these candidates. If you want the broader playbook on remote spouse hiring first, read our guide on recruiting military spouses for distributed and remote teams. This piece is the overseas-specific companion to it.

Why Are OCONUS Military Spouses a Strong Talent Pool?

Overseas spouses share the same core strengths as spouses stateside. They adapt fast. They handle change well. They know how to be productive with little hand-holding. But the overseas group adds a few things most employers miss.

First, they tend to stay put longer. A spouse stationed overseas is often locked into a two to three year tour. That is more schedule stability than many stateside spouses, who move on shorter cycles. You get a candidate who is not job-hopping next quarter.

Second, many have already lived global. They have dealt with foreign banks, foreign systems, and different work cultures. That comfort with the unfamiliar shows up in the job.

Third, this pool is loyal. Spouses face high unemployment because of frequent moves. When a company treats them like a real hire and not a risk, they remember it. That loyalty lowers your turnover.

The talent is real and it keeps growing. BMR adds over 1,000 new veteran and military spouse profiles every month. More than 60,000 resumes have been built on the platform. A share of those are spouses living overseas right now, ready for US remote work.

Can You Legally Employ Someone Who Lives Overseas?

This is the first question every hiring team asks. The short answer: yes, usually, and it is simpler than it sounds. But you should always check with your legal and payroll team before you make the offer.

In most cases, you hire an OCONUS spouse as a US employee working remotely. They keep their US residency. They keep a US bank account and a US mailing address, often on or near the base. Their pay runs through your normal US payroll. On paper, they look a lot like any other remote US worker.

This works because many overseas spouses never cut their US ties. They vote in a home state. They file US taxes. They may keep an address at a family member's home or a stateside PO box. The military system is built around keeping them connected to US benefits and pay.

US Employee vs Local Hire

There are two broad paths, and the difference matters.

A US employee works for your US entity and gets paid in US dollars through US payroll. This is the common path for OCONUS spouses filling US remote roles. It keeps things clean for both sides.

A local hire means employing someone under the laws of the country they live in. This brings in host-nation labor law, local taxes, and often a work permit. It is more complex and usually not what you want for a spouse who plans to move again in two years. Most employers avoid this path for OCONUS spouses.

When Should You Use an Employer of Record (EOR) or PEO?

Sometimes a US-employee setup does not fit. Maybe the role has to be local. Maybe your legal team flags a concern for a specific country. That is where an Employer of Record, or EOR, can help.

An EOR is a third party that legally employs the worker on your behalf in another country. They handle local payroll, local taxes, and local compliance. You still direct the work day to day. The EOR just owns the legal employment piece. A PEO, or Professional Employer Organization, works in a similar way and often handles US payroll and benefits.

For most OCONUS spouses filling US remote roles, you may not need an EOR at all. The US-employee path usually covers it. But an EOR is a useful tool when a country's rules get in the way, or when you want a partner to own the risk. Talk to your payroll and legal team about which setup fits the country and the role.

How Do Taxes and Payroll Work at a High Level?

Tax and payroll are the parts that scare employers off. They should not. At a high level, the common OCONUS-spouse setup keeps things familiar.

When you hire the spouse as a US employee, you often run their pay through your normal US payroll. You withhold based on their US home state, the same way you would for any remote worker. They file US taxes as a US citizen. The Status of Forces Agreement in their host country may affect how their income is treated locally. That is a reason to keep the US-employee structure clean.

The details do vary. Some states have their own rules. Some countries have tax treaties with the US. A spouse's own tax picture may include the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act, which can let them keep a home state for tax purposes. You do not need to be the expert on all of this. Your payroll provider and legal team should confirm the setup for each hire. The point is that the common path is well-worn, not exotic.

How Do You Turn a Big Time Difference Into an Asset?

A spouse in Germany is six or so hours ahead of the US East Coast. A spouse in Japan can be more than half a day ahead. That sounds like a problem. Handled right, it is an edge.

Think follow-the-sun. When your US team logs off, your overseas hire is starting their day. Work moves forward while your office sleeps. A ticket that comes in overnight gets solved before the US morning. For support, monitoring, or content work, that coverage is gold.

The key is async work. Do not force an overseas hire onto US-only meeting times at 2 a.m. their time. Write things down. Use shared docs, recorded updates, and clear handoffs. Set two or three overlap hours where the whole team is online, then let the rest run async. Good async habits make the whole team better, not just the overseas one.

Remote-first companies already know how to run this way. If your team is not remote-first yet, our guide on how remote-first companies can hire veterans covers the habits that make distributed teams work.

What Do SOFA and Base Systems Mean for Your Hire?

SOFA stands for Status of Forces Agreement. It is the deal between the US and a host country that covers US forces stationed there. It shapes what a spouse can and cannot do for work in that country. These agreements are different in every country. That is why the base legal office is the go-to source, not you.

Here is the part that helps you. Many spouses stay tied to US systems because of SOFA. Working for a US employer, paid in US dollars, often fits the SOFA framework better than a local job would. Their internet, banking, and mail may run through base networks and US providers. In practice, that makes a US remote role a natural fit.

You do not have to master SOFA. You just have to know it exists and know the spouse and their base legal office handle their side. The military side has strong resources for this. Military OneSource covers military spouse jobs overseas and points spouses to the right offices for country-specific rules. Let them own that piece.

Where Do You Find OCONUS Military Spouses?

These candidates do not always show up in a normal job board search. You have to go where they gather. Four places work well.

Start with the installation programs. Each overseas base runs a family or spouse employment office. Reach out and tell them you hire remote and welcome spouses abroad. They will point candidates your way. Our guide on recruiting military spouses through base programs shows how to work with these offices.

Next, look at the Military Spouse Employment Partnership. Partner employers get direct access to spouses who are actively looking, including overseas. Spouse networks abroad and virtual hiring events round it out. For a wider view on tapping spouse communities, see our guide on recruiting through spouse networks.

How Do You Keep an Overseas Spouse Hire for the Long Run?

The best part of hiring an OCONUS spouse is that a good setup can outlast the tour. When the service member gets new orders, your remote role can move with them. A spouse in Germany today may be in California next year. The job does not have to end.

That is a retention win most employers never think about. You build a working relationship with someone who has skills and drive, and you keep them across moves that would end most jobs. To go deeper on holding onto spouse talent through relocations, read our guide on reducing military spouse turnover from PCS moves.

If you want this to be more than a one-off hire, build it into a program. A repeatable process for finding, hiring, and keeping spouses pays off over years. Our guides on building a military spouse hiring program and the business case for hiring military spouses lay out the case and the steps.

Ready to Hire OCONUS Military Spouse Talent?

OCONUS military spouses are US citizens with US skills who can fill your US remote roles right now. The legal and tax pieces are simpler than most teams fear. Hire them as US employees. Lean on their base legal office for the host-country side. Turn their time zone into round-the-clock coverage. And go find them where they gather, through base employment offices, MSEP, spouse networks, and virtual events.

The talent pool is deep and it grows every month. BMR adds over 1,000 new veteran and military spouse profiles monthly, with more than 60,000 resumes built on the platform. Many of those people are ready for remote work today, including spouses living overseas.

Want direct access to this talent pool? Reach out to BMR to hire veteran and military spouse talent and put a strong, loyal candidate on your team, no matter where their service member is stationed.