Hiring a Filipino virtual assistant in 2026

Contents

• Why so many businesses hire in the Philippines
• What to pay in 2026
• Working hours for US, UK and Australian teams
• What English level to ask for
• Where to find them, and what each route costs
• Contractor or employee, and the 13th-month question
• Paying them
• First-week checklist
• Questions people ask
• Sources

The Philippines has one of the world's largest pools of remote support and admin workers, and English is an official language. This guide covers what a Filipino virtual assistant costs in 2026, the hours that work for US, UK and Australian teams, the English level to ask for, and how to engage and pay someone properly.

Why so many businesses hire in the Philippines

The country has one of the world's largest outsourcing industries. Its IT and business process management sector earned about $40 billion and employed about 1.9 million people in 2025, up from $38 billion and 1.82 million in 2024, according to the industry association IBPAP.

English is the other reason. The Philippines ranks 28th of 123 countries in the EF English Proficiency Index 2025, in the "high" band. That index is built from people who chose to take EF's free online test, so it isn't a census, and a country average tells you nothing about one applicant. Test the person.

The third reason is cost, which deserves its own section.

What to pay in 2026

Most Filipino VAs who work for foreign clients do it full-time for one client, so pay is usually monthly. OnlineJobs.ph's salary guide (last updated April 2026) reports these full-time monthly salaries, in US dollars:

For hourly or part-time work, Upwork says virtual assistants on its platform typically charge $10 to $20 an hour, with a $13 median, and that Philippines-based freelancers often sit at the lower end of that range for general admin work.

Two figures you'll see quoted that are not pay guides for foreign clients:

• Local salaries. Philippine companies hiring VAs at home advertise about ₱27,225 a month on Indeed Philippines (October 2026). That is what local employers offer, with local benefits. It is a different market from remote work for overseas clients.
• The minimum wage. Metro Manila's minimum is ₱755 a day for non-agricultural work since 26 September 2026 (Wage Order NCR-28). It is a legal floor for local employees, not a benchmark for skilled remote work.

Pay for the skills you have tested and the hours you need, and put the amount, currency and pay day in writing. For a full comparison with other countries and hiring routes, see how much a virtual assistant costs.

Working hours for US, UK and Australian teams

Manila is on UTC+8 all year and has no daylight saving. Your clocks change; theirs don't. Here is a 9 am to 5 pm day in your office, in Manila time:

What that means in practice:

• US businesses either ask for a night shift in Manila or plan a few overlapping hours and hand over the rest in writing. A VA working 6 pm to 2 am Manila time overlaps your 9 am to 2 pm on the East Coast in summer (9 am to 1 pm in winter).
• Australian businesses get the easiest fit. Sydney's working day falls in Manila's morning and early afternoon: Manila is two hours behind Sydney, three during Australian daylight time.
• UK businesses get an evening shift in Manila. London's morning is Manila's late afternoon, so a VA working 3 pm to 11 pm Manila time covers most of your day.

Agree the hours before you hire, and say which time zone you're writing in. Daylight saving in the US, UK and Australia starts and ends on different dates, so the overlap moves twice a year.

What English level to ask for

The clearest shared scale for English is the CEFR, which runs from A1 to C2. The Council of Europe's global scale describes the two levels that matter most for remote work:

• B2: "Can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party."
• C1: "Can express him/herself fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Can use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes."

Our guidance, not a rule:

• B2 is enough for back-office work: data entry, research, scheduling, bookkeeping, where most communication is written and internal.
• C1 is the level to ask for when the VA writes to your customers, answers the phone, or represents you in meetings.

Don't rely on how a CV reads. Test it: a short written task and a short call tell you more than any self-rating. On StaffPick, every profile shows the person's tested CEFR band next to their typing speed and role-quiz score, like this:

English C1

82

Typing

64wpm

Virtual assistant quiz

91

Our guide to hiring a virtual assistant has the tests and the interview questions to use.

Where to find them, and what each route costs

OnlineJobs.ph is a job board for Filipino remote workers. Posting is free, but the free plan can't see applicants' contact details or message anyone; Pro costs $69 a month and Premium $99. You hire and pay the person directly. Read our OnlineJobs.ph comparison for what each plan includes.

Upwork is a worldwide marketplace where you can hire Filipino freelancers by the hour or by project. Upwork handles payment and adds a 5% marketplace fee on its Basic plan, plus a contract initiation fee.

Managed agencies recruit and manage the VA for you for a flat monthly price. Published examples: Wing, $999 a month for a full-time VA (160 hours) or $699 part-time (80 hours), both with free replacement; MyOutDesk, from $1,988 a month for a full-time person. Ask any agency where its staff are based and how much of your fee reaches the VA.

Placement services find the person and step away. Virtual Staff Finder charges $695 once per placement, then you pay the VA directly.

StaffPick tests everyone it lists. You can browse profiles for free, each with a CEFR band, typing speed, role-quiz score, ID check and the person's own rate, or see who is available on the Philippines VA page. Hire Direct costs $79 a month to request intros and hire people directly. Done For You costs the worker's pay plus $399 a month: we pay them for you and handle the paperwork, and replacement is free.

Contractor or employee, and the 13th-month question

Hiring from abroad, you can engage a Filipino VA as an independent contractor, or as an employee through a local company or an employer of record. The label in your contract doesn't settle it. Philippine courts use a four-fold test: who selected and engaged the worker, who pays the wages, who can dismiss them, and who controls how the work is done. Control is the factor that usually decides it.

The 13th-month question comes up in every hiring thread. Under Presidential Decree 851, as extended by Memorandum Order 28, employers must give rank-and-file employees who worked at least a month a 13th-month pay of at least one twelfth of the year's basic salary, by 24 December. It is an employer's duty to employees, so it generally doesn't apply to independent contractors. If you want to pay a year-end bonus anyway, say so in the contract.

The VA's own taxes are theirs to handle. Freelancers in the Philippines must register with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (on Form 1901 or through its online registration system, ORUS), and can choose an 8% income tax on gross receipts above ₱250,000 a year instead of the graduated rates, as long as their receipts stay under the ₱3 million VAT threshold.

Paying them

Agree four things before the first payday: the amount and currency (US dollars or pesos), the pay day, how invoices or timesheets work, and who covers transfer fees. Then pick a route:

• Bank transfer or an international payment service. Cheapest for a direct hire. Fees and exchange-rate margins vary, so compare two or three before you commit.
• Through a marketplace. Upwork pays the freelancer and charges you its fee; you get a record of hours and payments in one place.
• Through an agency or Done For You. You pay one invoice and someone else pays the VA.

Pay on time, every time. It's the simplest way to keep a good VA. For the US, UK and Australian paperwork on your side, see how to pay overseas contractors.

First-week checklist

1. Access, not passwords. Set up a password manager and delegated access to email and calendars, so you can remove access in one step later.
2. Hours and channels. Confirm the working hours in both time zones, and how to reach each other for urgent and non-urgent things.
3. Three written tasks. Write down three recurring tasks with an example of the finished result. Short screen recordings work well.
4. Start low-risk. Begin with work you can check easily before you hand over anything customer-facing or financial.
5. A daily wrap-up. Ask for a short end-of-day note: what's done, what's blocked, what's next.
6. Pay details. Confirm the amount, currency, pay day and invoice format in writing.
7. A Friday review. Spend 20 minutes on what went well and what to change. Unclear instructions are cheap to fix in week one.

Questions people ask

How much should I pay a Filipino virtual assistant?

For full-time general VA work, OnlineJobs.ph's April 2026 salary guide reports $480 to $900 a month for beginners, $800 to $1,100 with one to five years' experience, and $1,200 to $2,000 for experts. Specialists have their own ranges, for example $600 to $2,000 a month for accountants. Pay for the skills you test and the hours you need.

What is the best VA agency in the Philippines?

No single agency suits everyone. Compare the published price, what it includes (replacement, payroll, an account manager), how candidates are tested and whether you can see their scores. Published examples as of October 2026: Wing charges $999 a month for a full-time VA with free replacement, and MyOutDesk starts at $1,988 a month. BELAY and Hire With Near don't publish prices.

What is the time difference between the US and the Philippines?

Manila is on UTC+8 all year, with no daylight saving. It is 13 hours ahead of New York in winter (EST) and 12 hours ahead in summer (EDT), so a 9 am to 5 pm New York day is 10 pm to 6 am in Manila in winter and 9 pm to 5 am in summer.

Do I have to pay 13th-month pay to a Filipino contractor?

Generally no. Philippine law (Presidential Decree 851, as extended by Memorandum Order 28) makes 13th-month pay an employer's duty to rank-and-file employees. An independent contractor generally isn't covered. If you want to pay a December bonus anyway, write it into the contract. This is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

Each figure in this guide comes from one of these pages, checked on 27 Oct 2026. Prices and rules change, so open the source before you rely on a number.

1. 1Philstar: IT-BPM revenues breach the $40 billion mark (29 Jan 2026)philstar.com
2. 2IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP)ibpap.org
3. 3EF English Proficiency Index 2025: Philippinesef.com
4. 4EF English Proficiency Index 2025 (123 countries and regions)ef.com
5. 5OnlineJobs.ph: virtual assistant salaries in the Philippines (salary guide, last updated April 2026)blog.onlinejobs.ph
6. 6Upwork: hire virtual assistants in the Philippines (typical VA rates and median)upwork.com
7. 7Indeed Philippines: virtual assistant salaries (local job postings)ph.indeed.com
8. 8National Wages and Productivity Commission: NCR minimum wage ratesnwpc.dole.gov.ph
9. 9IANA time zone database (Asia/Manila, America/New_York, Europe/London, Australia/Sydney)github.com
10. 10Council of Europe: CEFR common reference levels, global scalecoe.int
11. 11OnlineJobs.ph: employer pricingonlinejobs.ph
12. 12Upwork: client pricing and feesupwork.com
13. 13Wing Assistant: pricingwingassistant.com
14. 14MyOutDesk: pricingmyoutdesk.com
15. 15Virtual Staff Finder: checkoutvirtualstafffinder.com
16. 16Presidential Decree No. 851 (13th-month pay)lawphil.net
17. 17Memorandum Order No. 28 (1986), extending 13th-month paylawphil.net
18. 18Bureau of Internal Revenue: Revenue Memorandum Order No. 23-2018 (8% income tax option)bir-cdn.bir.gov.ph
19. 19Supreme Court of the Philippines E-Library: the four-fold test of employmentelibrary.judiciary.gov.ph