# How to Equip a Remote Employee in Latin America | Raal Blog > Four ways to get a laptop to a remote hire in Brazil, Mexico or Colombia, what each leaves out, and a seven-step local process from hire to day one. Source: https://raal.io/blog/equip-remote-employee-latin-america --- # How to Equip a Remote Employee in Brazil, Mexico or Colombia Without Shipping Across Borders Andres KõivaNovember 3, 2026 12 MIN READ Latin America ![How to Equip a Remote Employee in Brazil, Mexico or Colombia Without Shipping Across Borders](/blog-images/0af0e547d60a.png) **TL;DR** There are four ways to equip a remote hire in Latin America: ship from your home country, have the employee buy and expense it, use a local contact or employer of record, or use a provider that works locally. Shipping crosses a border with customs, buying skips enrollment and your device record, and local contacts depend on what the arrangement covers. A good process buys the device locally, enrolls it in your management before it ships, delivers it to the person, records it automatically, and plans the return from the start. Raal runs this from local warehouses in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Peru and more, with a quote within 48 hours. Used devices stay in the country. A contract is signed, a start date is set, and then someone asks the question nobody planned for: who is getting this person a laptop? When the new hire is in Brazil, Mexico or Colombia and your team is in Europe or North America, the answer is rarely obvious. The usual options each work once, and each leaves a gap you find later. This article compares the four ways companies equip remote employees in Latin America, what each one leaves out, and what a good local process looks like. We make one of the options, Raal, so we will say where it fits and where it does not. ## Why Latin America Is Different From Equipping a Hire at Home At home, a new laptop is a purchase and a courier. Across a border it becomes three separate problems that tend to show up together. ### Getting the device there Shipping hardware into another country involves customs clearance, and import duties and taxes may apply. The rules differ by country and change over time, so a process that worked for one hire may not work for the next. The delay is also hard to predict, which matters when the start date is fixed. ### Making it a managed device A laptop that arrives in a box is not yet ready to work. It needs to be enrolled in your device management so it gets your security settings, disk encryption and software before the person logs in. Done remotely, that often means the employee follows a setup guide on their own on the first morning. ### Knowing where it is afterwards The device should appear in your record with a holder, a location and a date. If it does not, you discover the gap at an audit, at offboarding or when someone asks for a count of devices in the region. ## The Four Ways Companies Do It ### 1\. Ship it from your home country You buy the laptop where you always do, set it up in your usual way and send it by courier. This gives you the most control, because the device is exactly what your IT team configured. **What it leaves out:** time and paperwork at the border, possible duties and taxes, and a return trip across the border when the person leaves. A laptop bought in Europe also arrives with a European keyboard layout and power plug, which a local employee may find inconvenient. The return trip is the part most teams skip, so devices stay with former employees. ### 2\. The employee buys it and you reimburse The simplest option when time is short. The employee buys a laptop locally and you repay them. **What it leaves out:** control. The device is bought to the employee's own taste and budget, is not enrolled in your management before they start, and is unlikely to be in your record. Whether it belongs to the company or the person can also become unclear when they leave, and the tax treatment of reimbursement varies by country, so check it with your advisers. ### 3\. A local contact or your employer of record Many companies hire in Latin America through an employer of record, or have a colleague in the region who can help. A local contact can buy and hand over a laptop quickly. **What it leaves out:** this depends entirely on what the arrangement covers. Ask your provider directly whether they supply equipment, who owns it, who enrolls it, and what happens at the end. A favour from a colleague works once but does not scale to the third hire in a month. ### 4\. A provider that works locally A local provider buys the device in the country, prepares it, delivers it, and takes it back when the person leaves. This is what Raal does in Latin America, and the rest of this article describes how. ## The Four Options Side by Side | Question | Ship from home | Employee buys | Local contact or EOR | Local provider | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Crosses a border | Yes, with customs | No | No | No | | Enrolled in your MDM before day one | Yes, you do it | Rarely | Depends | Yes | | In your device record | If you add it | Rarely | Depends | Yes, in your portal | | Local keyboard and plug | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Return when the person leaves | Across the border | Often not | Depends | Collected locally | | Scales to many hires | Slowly | Poorly | Depends on the contact | Yes | ## What a Good Local Process Looks Like Whichever route you choose, a good process covers the same seven steps. Use this as a checklist, including when you evaluate us. **The seven steps from hire to day one** 1. **Say what you need.** The country, the number of devices and the date. Nothing else is needed to start. 2. **Get a quote before you commit.** You should know the amount before the device is bought. Raal confirms each order with a quote within 48 hours. 3. **Buy locally from an authorized reseller.** The device comes with the manufacturer warranty, in the country it will be used. 4. **Enroll it in your management first.** Apple Business Manager or your MDM, with your security settings, before it ships. 5. **Deliver it to the person.** With insurance included for the delivery. 6. **Record it.** The device, its holder, its location and the date appear in your register without anyone typing them in. 7. **Plan the end now.** Decide how the device comes back, what happens to the data, and where it goes next. Steps one to six get a person started. Step seven is the one that decides whether you have a fleet or a collection of untracked laptops, which brings us to the end of the lifecycle. ## The Part Most Teams Plan Too Late: When Someone Leaves When a team member leaves in Latin America, the usual outcomes are a laptop that stays with them, a box sent back across a border, or a device in a drawer that your record still lists as in use. Each leaves company data on a machine you no longer control. A local process handles it the same way it handles the start. The device is collected from the person, its status is updated and it gets a general inspection. It then goes to a local warehouse, where it is wiped and formatted with a data destruction certificate. From there it can be stored for the next hire, handed to someone else in the same country, or bought back if it still has value. There is one point worth knowing before you plan. A used device stays in the country for storage, buyback or secure destruction, and the next person is equipped locally at the destination. If you were hoping to ship returned devices home, this is not the model. ## How Raal Handles It Raal runs device operations in Latin America from local warehouses, managed in the same portal that holds the rest of your devices. This is what the service covers: - **New devices** bought locally from authorized resellers with the manufacturer warranty, from Apple, Lenovo, HP, ASUS and other major brands, and enrolled in your MDM before they ship. New hardware is quoted per order. - **Onboarding and offboarding:** delivery to the person, collection when they leave, with a status update and a general inspection. Insurance is included in every delivery and retrieval. - **Storage and redeployment** in a local warehouse until the next person needs the device. - **End of life:** data wipe with a destruction certificate, health checks and a buyback offer. - **One record:** every device is tracked in your Raal portal alongside the rest of your fleet. The service covers Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Peru and other countries in the region, with Bolivia and Venezuela on request. In the main cities of the larger countries, in-stock devices are typically delivered within one to four business days. You can use it as pay as you go, with a price for each service, or on a subscription plan if you have regular work in the region. ## Where This Is Not the Right Fit We would rather say this up front. - **One hire, once.** If you hire a single person in the region and never expect another, asking a local colleague or having the employee buy a device may be enough. The overhead of a process pays back when hires or leavers repeat. - **Returning devices home.** Used devices stay in the country. If you need them back at your office, you need a different arrangement. - **Large batches of retrievals.** Five or more units retrieved at once are quoted separately. - **It is for physical devices.** It does not manage your software licences or replace your device management. It works with the MDM you have. ## Five Questions to Ask Any Provider **Ask before you choose** 1. **Where is the device bought?** Locally, from an authorized reseller, with the manufacturer warranty? 2. **Is it enrolled before it ships?** Or does the employee do it on day one? 3. **Will it appear in our record?** With holder, location and date, without manual entry? 4. **How does it come back?** And what proof of data destruction do we get? 5. **What do we know before we commit?** A quote, a delivery time for in-stock devices and what is insured. ## Getting Started If you have a hire or a leaver coming up in Latin America, send us the country and the number of devices and we will confirm with a quote within 48 hours. You do not need a plan or a minimum to ask. [Device operations in Latin America with Raal](/latam) [See Raal's plans and pay as you go](/pricing) [Related: How Raal's IT asset register works](/blog/how-raal-asset-register-works) ## Sources and where to check the numbers - [Raal: Device operations in Latin America](/latam) - [Raal pricing page](/pricing) - [How Raal's IT asset register works](/blog/how-raal-asset-register-works) Pricing last verified on 11 October 2026 against raal.io/pricing and the Raal Help Center. Plans and OPS prices can change, so treat the pricing page as the source of truth. ## FAQ **How do I get a laptop to a new employee in Brazil, Mexico or Colombia?** You can ship one from your home country, have the employee buy one and reimburse them, ask a local contact or your employer of record, or use a provider that works locally. Shipping across a border involves customs, and the employee-buys route usually skips enrollment and your device record. A local provider buys the device in the country, enrolls it before it ships and delivers it to the person. **Does a laptop shipped from Europe to Latin America go through customs?** Yes, hardware crossing a border goes through customs clearance, and import duties and taxes may apply. The rules differ by country and change, so check the current requirements for the country before you ship. **Can an employee just buy their own laptop and expense it?** It is the quickest route, but the device is usually not enrolled in your management before they start, may not appear in your device record, and ownership can become unclear when they leave. Reimbursement can also be taxed differently by country, so check with your advisers. **What happens to a company laptop when a remote employee leaves?** It should be collected, inspected, wiped with proof of data destruction, and then stored, redeployed or sold. With Raal in Latin America the device is collected from the person, wiped with a destruction certificate in a local warehouse, and stored for the next hire, handed on in the same country, or bought back if it still has value. **Which countries does Raal cover in Latin America?** Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Peru and other countries in the region, including parts of Central America and the Caribbean. Bolivia and Venezuela are on request. In the main cities of the larger countries, in-stock devices are typically delivered within one to four business days. **Can I send returned devices back to Europe?** Not under this model. Used devices stay in the country for storage, buyback or secure destruction, and the next person is equipped locally. **How do I get a quote?** Send the country and the number of devices. Raal confirms each order with a quote within 48 hours, and you can order on a pay as you go basis or on a subscription plan. * * * **About the author:** Andres Kõiva is the founder of Raal. He has run Raal's device logistics since the first shipment and answers many pricing questions personally. [Connect on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreskoiva/). **About Raal:** Raal is the IT device lifecycle platform for distributed teams: shipping, returns, customs, insurance and a live asset register in one place. [See pricing](/pricing). #### Table of Contents #### Need help with cross-border device logistics? Let Raal handle the complexity of global shipping and customs clearance for you. [Get an Estimate](/estimate) ### Andres Kõiva Four ways to get a laptop to a remote hire in Brazil, Mexico or Colombia, what each leaves out, and a seven-step local process from hire to day one. ## Keep Reading [![Spreadsheet or ITAM Tool? 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