I'm a Canadian looking for remote work in America. Is there any downside risk to the employer if I work a W2 remote job from Canada? As long as I pay taxes, is there any risk to the employee?
From an immigration standpoint, no downside and no risk. We have a lot of companies that do this: employ people abroad as W-2 employees without any U.S. work authorization (which isn't required if the employee is working remotely outside the U.S.).
How are these companies able to employ remote people as W2 employees? Aren't the remote employees subject to their local employment law? For example, in Canada the GP would need to be employed as a T4 which requires the company to maintain a Canadian presence (and pay corresponding taxes in Canada).
Any potential employer would need to have a Canadian presence (usually a ULC, which is a Canadian subsidiary of an American corp) or go through an EOR (Employer of Record), which would handle taxes, insurance, benefits, etc. "Quietly" working remotely from Canada isn’t a good idea as you'll likely fall foul of Canadian tax law (amongst other things) and immigration law (if you aren't a Canadian citizen), and your employer would likely have issues as well. This is a good summary of the issues:
