Pick the region by the hours your work keeps and the languages your customers speak, then pick the person, not the passport.
Short answer
Hire from Latin America when the role needs live overlap with U.S. business hours or Spanish with your customers. Hire from the Philippines when the role suits a dedicated night-shift schedule in U.S. hours, which experienced Filipino assistants can work. Either way, screen the person for English and skills; the country only sets the starting odds.
“Where should my assistant be?” is usually the second question owners ask us, right after “what does it cost?”
The honest answer: the region matters less than the person, but it sets two things you can’t change later. What time it is there when your phone rings, and which languages they grew up speaking. This guide compares the two regions most U.S. small businesses consider on both, with the numbers.
In this guide
What time is it there during your workday?
Latin America shares your day; the Philippines works your day at night. Here is a U.S. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. workday in local time, worked out from the IANA time zone database for January and July 2026.
| Your 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Manila | Mexico City | Bogotá | Buenos Aires | São Paulo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York, January | 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. | 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. | 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. | 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. | 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. |
| New York, July | 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. | 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. | 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. | 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. | 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. |
| Phoenix, all year | Midnight to 8 a.m. | 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. | 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. | 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. | 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. |
| Los Angeles, July | Midnight to 8 a.m. | 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. | 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. | 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. | 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. |
Two things stand out. Bogotá matches New York almost hour for hour, and Mexico City stays within two hours of the whole continental U.S. And none of these five cities moves its clocks, so the gap with you shifts by an hour in March and November when the U.S. does.
A Philippine assistant covering U.S. hours works a night shift. At VirtueStaff, a remote staffing company in Gilbert, Arizona, our candidates have experience working U.S. time zones and every hire works in your time zone. What changes is the rest of their day, which is why some roles fit better than others.
How good is the English?
Strong in both regions at the top of the pool, but the national averages differ a lot by country. EF’s English Proficiency Index scores adults who took EF’s English test. It isn’t a census, but it’s the most widely cited comparison.
| Country | EF EPI 2025 score | Global rank |
|---|---|---|
| Argentina | 575 | 26 |
| Philippines | 569 | 28 |
| Brazil | 482 | 75 |
| Colombia | 480 | 76 |
| Mexico | 440 | 103 |
The global average is 488. Read the table as starting odds, not a verdict. A country average tells you how deep the pool is, not how good the person in front of you is. That’s why English is a screening step of its own for us: every candidate goes through an English and accent screen before you meet them, and over 5,000 candidates are screened per week so that only the top 1% are presented to clients.
When is Latin America the better fit?
When the work happens live, in your hours, or in Spanish.
- Phones and live chat during your day. Front-desk coverage, customer service, dispatch and scheduling need someone awake when your customers call.
- Real-time teamwork. Roles that sit in your meetings, answer Slack in minutes and hand work back and forth with your team all day.
- Spanish-speaking customers. Bilingual English-Spanish candidates are available, which matters in trades, real estate, medical practices and any market where many of your customers prefer Spanish. Our real estate professionals include bilingual candidates for exactly this reason.
When is the Philippines the better fit?
When the work rewards a long, steady run of focused hours, or when you want work done while you sleep.
- Back-office work in your hours. Bookkeeping, invoicing, data entry, CRM updates and reporting run well on a night-shift schedule that mirrors yours.
- Overnight progress. For roles that don’t need to be live with you, a schedule that starts when yours ends means you wake up to finished work. Agree on it up front; our hires work the hours that suit your business.
- Experience with U.S. clients. Our candidates have experience working U.S. time zones, and all have prior remote work experience in English-speaking countries.
Our legal professionals and medical professionals, for example, come from both the Philippines and Latin America. The role decides, not the region.
What about the rest of the world?
Don’t limit yourself to two regions if the role is specialized. We source primarily from the Philippines, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Pakistan, Africa and India, because the goal is the best hire for the role regardless of location. A specialist in finance, IT or design may be in any of them.
How do you choose in practice?
Decide on hours and language first, then hire the person, not the passport.
- Write down the hours the role must be live. If it answers your phones between 9 and 5, it needs your hours, and both regions can work them.
- List the languages your customers use. Spanish tips it toward Latin America.
- Decide whether overlap is a must or a nice-to-have. Real-time roles need it; output roles often don’t.
- Let the screening do the rest. English, skills and tools are tested candidate by candidate. Interview the finalists yourself.
- Plan the first 30 days the same way wherever they are. Our onboarding playbook works for both regions.
If you’re still deciding which roles to move remote at all, start with the Hallway Test our clients use.
Do this week
Write the role’s must-be-live hours and customer languages on one line. That line picks the region; the interviews pick the person.
Frequently asked questions
It depends on the hours and the language the role needs. Latin America overlaps U.S. business hours and offers Spanish speakers; Philippine assistants can work U.S. hours on a night shift and suit back-office roles. Screen the individual for English and skills either way.
Many do. A U.S. 9-to-5 falls overnight in the Philippines, and our candidates have experience working U.S. time zones. At VirtueStaff, every hire works in your time zone.
On EF’s 2025 English Proficiency Index, Argentina scored 575, Brazil 482, Colombia 480 and Mexico 440, against a global average of 488. Those are averages of test-takers, so screen each candidate’s English directly.
Our rates are set by role, not by country. A full-time VirtueStaff Assistant is $12 an hour, and every rate is on our pricing page.
Yes. Bilingual English-Spanish candidates are available, which helps when many of your customers prefer Spanish.
Tell us the hours and languages your role needs, and we’ll find the person who fits. See every rate on our pricing page.
Sources
- EF Education First, EF English Proficiency Index 2025, country profiles for the Philippines, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, read 22 October 2026.
- IANA time zone database (tz data for Asia/Manila, America/Mexico_City, America/Bogota, America/Argentina/Buenos_Aires, America/Sao_Paulo, America/New_York, America/Phoenix, America/Los_Angeles), checked 22 October 2026.
