N2B2:


Time after time, freelancers have gotten their accounts permanently banned over preventable rule violations, especially old-timers and big earners. In many of these cases, the freelancers didn't read the rule book; they just applied "common sense."

Upwork's rules are there to prevent guesswork. There are grey areas in the rulebook, but circumvention is not one of them. Upwork (which is known to be lenient to its clients) doesn't care how old the client is, how much the client has spent, or whether the client is about to give you your big break.

I can't tell you how to interact with your clients, but I can point out what IMHO are rule violations — and that's what I'm doing.

It's not fun to be a stickler for rules. But, when these rules are from the platform where one earns their daily bread — or a substantial part of their income — then it's wise to be cautious and rule-abiding.

Here's an Upwork article that highlights actions that can get a freelancer banned. You can check what no.1 is: https://www.upwork.com/resources/leading-voices/getting-banned-on-upwork

This will be my last message about this - Again, I am in agreement with you, and I am wrong but not totally wrong, so I will say this, please don't share your contact information like skype or phone number before the contract starts if the reason why you are sharing it is to communicate off upwork, but if the client is requesting to send documents or information to your email for the sole purpose of kickstarting the contract, please provide your email and don't lose the job like that OP did. The links and screenshot below shows the common sense I was talking about, It is not in the policy but you can see various moderators confirming that in specific situations, you can share your contact information like email

Also, upwork added these exceptions in an article here: https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/360051749534-Contact-Information-Sharing

https://community.upwork.com/t5/New-to-Upwork/Client-shared-their-contact-information-before-the-contract-has/m-p/969569

N2B2:


Communicating with clients outside Upwork before a contract is in place is against Upwork's Terms of Service. Upwork can permanently ban you for it.

You can read about the violation (which Upworks deems "circumvention" ) here: https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/360052511133

From the article:

- The person you’ve met on Upwork may not realize that contact information sharing isn’t always allowed. You can tell them our Terms of Service prohibits you from sharing your contact information before a contract is in place.

- Breaking our Terms of Service by circumventing forces us to permanently close your Upwork account, meaning you can no longer use Upwork for any work.

Communicating strictly on Upwork before a contract is in place can help you if you ever find yourself in mediation over a dispute with a client.

And about that last point — which company will share highly confidential documents with (or give access to CMS or other internal systems to) a freelancer whom they don't have a contract with (or who has not signed an NDA)?

Again, that's because Upwork isn't onto you yet. However, what you're doing in that screenshot is a violation of their circumvention policy. If they catch you, they will look into you; and if you're a repeat offender, you could be banned. Is it worth the risk?

You are absolutely right; it's in their policy, and I wouldn't advise anyone here to violate Upwork's policy. What I will say is that sometimes it might be appropriate to use common sense.

The client in the screenshot below secured me the highest hourly paying job I've had on Upwork. As you can see from the screenshot, her response to my proposal was to arrange a Zoom call. Am I going to say this is against Upwork's policy? Absolutely not. Why?

She has spent more than $1.2 million on Upwork.
Her hire rate is 90%.
She has hired over 200 freelancers.
She has been using Upwork since 2009.

It's highly likely that she has sent Zoom links to everyone she has hired recently. Did Upwork ban them? I don't think so. Will Upwork ban me because I didn't point out this issue to a top-tier client who has been using the platform since 2009 long before I even joined ? I don't believe so. Perhaps I would have lost this job if I had prolonged the conversation, insisting on using Upwork's call feature.

In conclusion, common sense is important. If your account is new and you have a history of always initiating calls off Upwork, then you might be at a greater risk of being banned.

Regarding NDAs, this same client sent me an NDA and other documents via the email I provided her during the Zoom call we had (as seen in the second screenshot).

N2B2:


Clients can also send documents on Upwork. You can politely guide them into doing it.

The bolded will get you in trouble if you're, infact, communicating with clients outside Upwork (via email, Skype, WhatsApp, etc.) about the project before a contract is awarded. Repeat offenders are frequently blessed with permanent bans.

The most important thing is to not lose your account over minor rule violations that could have been avoided.

You will never loose your account over communicating off upwork, if your account is under review it is because they suspect that you took the job off upwork, its not because you are communicating off upwork. The reason why they suggest that you do all communication on upwork is because they know it can lead to you taking the job off upwork.


Regarding sharing document on upwork, there are specific confidential documents client might not be comfortable sharing with you on upwork.

Below is me telling a client ( before being hired) that I prefer to use google meet over upwork call. I have done this over and over again and never have my account been suspended.

Jaycobbs:


It's been a minute on this great platform.

Got messaged by a client. He has an Upwork history and a 100% hire rate. To do the job, he was asking for my email to send me some documents. I told him Upwork prohibits communication outside Upwork.

He didn't reply again, and when I checked again, he'd cancelled the job.

I dey reason message the guy again, but it's risky.

MY QUESTION: If one were to take a risk and share their emails on Upwork, is there anything that can be done to make sure the bots don't get you? Cos it seems Upwork has revamped their bots in recent times.

Like on Fiverr, they put spacing between the email address

I want to see if I can tease the client back if I give him the email.

There is nothing wrong with sharing your email to receive documents, infact, I share not just my email but my skype information everytime and nothing happens, the most important thing is that when it comes to time of the client hiring you, it happens on upwork.

Optimisticprim:
Congratulations 🎊. I am happy for you, I can imagine the joy. Looking forward to my baby meeting her father in person too. Please can you release the BAV number you dialed?

thank you, yours is coming soon. here is the number +49 221 75850858

Mopricelezz:
Congratulations to you and yours. Please which state in Germany is yours?

Berlin Brandenburg (close to the airport)

Hi House, my wife and baby finally joined me in Germany yesterday. Here is our timeline:
I booked a family reunion appointment on June 28th, 2022, thinking that once I arrived in Germany and obtained a Blue Card, the embassy would be compassionate (knowing my wife was pregnant) and fast-track her appointment, but this did not happen.
In November, we decided to try our luck by booking another appointment for her under the Skilled Immigration Act visa category. She went for the appointment but was turned away by Mr. [you know who].
I made several attempts to see if her appointment could be fast-tracked, but the embassy told me point-blank that it was not going to happen. We accepted our fate and decided to wait. After my wife gave birth, we got our little guy his passport and emailed the embassy. They confirmed that they had added him to my wife's appointment.
On August 28th, 2023, my wife and baby finally got an appointment for September 20th, 2023.
oOn October 23rd, I received an email from ABH asking me to submit documents (prior to this, I had called BVA to inquire about the stage of my family's application).
I submitted the documents via email two days later, on October 25th. The next day, October 26th, I received a response saying they had agreed to issue my family's visa and that it was now up to the embassy in Nigeria to approve it (I forwarded this email to the embassy in Nigeria).
On October 31st, the embassy in Nigeria asked us to submit passports and a travel date. They did this the next day and received their stamped visas on November 6th.

I noticed post-appointment, our timeline was a bit fast, this is because lawyer verification was skipped since I am on blue card, Also, I was asked to submit documents via email, if it were to be through post, it could have take an extra week or two for the document submission request mail to get to me and maybe another one or two weeks for them to receive back the documents. It also seems that the office responsible for my application is a bit fast, I think this is because I stay in the outskirt of Berlin and maybe they don’t get much application or they don’t have much workload there.

I hope and pray that everyone waiting on this journey receives good news soon because it is not easy.

Liza214:

Thank you very much for the response. I am applying with my daughter, so I will probably hold 150,000 in my hand to be safe. What worries me is the verification money. I hear blue card holders do not pay for verification but I'm not sure how true this is.

Any experienced hands here?

It is true, blue card holders don’t pay for verification

Babbbbbbbbby:
MY TIMELINE FOR GERMAN FAMILY REUNION VISA (sorry it late been really busy)
My spouse was a blue card holder who became eligible for permanent residency just before my interview. Before my interview, my husband already submitted his documents to ABH and I got my first pre-approval with hopes that it will make things move faster but it didn’t.
1.Booked on the 21st August 2021.
2.Appointment email came on 16th Sept.2022
3.Interview was for 13th Oct.2022
4.I submitted my A1 result on 14th Dec.2022 (strategically delayed to avoid expiration before visa completion.

Then ,there was a prolonged period of silence for 7 months +. Calls and emails went unanswered. In February we called Bundesverwaltungsamt and we were told that a second pre-approval was sent to the embassy on 5th Jan.2023 and the lawyers verification was the only thing left for my visa to be approved. We were advised to have patience and stop with the frequent calls.

5.We started working with a German immigration lawyer on 11th may 2023 and he contacted the embassy, they replied him saying that the verification center had promised to do the verification as soon as possible and the lawyer should contact them by the first week of July 2023 to know the result of the verification.
6.Lawyer called for verification on 24th May 2023 and he came on 25th May 2023 and he was done by 31th may 2023.
7.Verification complete email sent on 14th July 2023 and it also said they were waiting for final decision from alien office. We called ABH on 17th July but was told the man in charge of our case was not available and they were yet to find someone to replace and handle his work. We emailed our lawyer same day and forwarded the emails sent by the embassy and ABH. He wrote them and was told the approval I got had expired and he also sent an email to ABH asking them to treat as urgent. Urgent efforts were made for an approval to be sent. My spouse wasn’t asked for any document or informed of the approval when it was finally sent.
8.Email to send passport, travel date and travel insurance 15th August 2023
9.I sent documents on 17th August 2023 from Uyo via Dhl and it was delivered on August 21st , 2023 to the embassy.
10.Passport received with visa August 28th , 2023 via Fedex to Uyo

Key Takeaways:
**learned patience,importance of privacy and how to pray more.
** persistent communication through calls and emails is crucial,even if responses aren’t immediate.Someone is seeing your emails.
** Advisable to complete A1 requirements closer to the appointment to avoid expiration before visa completion.
**Lastly we all might be applying for FRV but our cases/situations /Cities/application officers are different.

‘’PS’’: The lawyer asked for old pictures of me in secondary school and in family events when he came. Asked my parent about me;previous marriages if any, children if any, my educational level, how I told them about my spouse etc…

Congrats to you, I can't help but say that Germany's Immigration process is a big mess, if your spouse had delayed transitioning from blue card to PR process a bit or opted in to keep his blue card ( because of its benefits ) while processing his PR ( They won't tell him this but it is possible ), you won't have gone through the lawyer verification process, which means you would have gotten your visa less than 3months after your interview.

Debbieeeeeee:

Don’t worry it’ll be okay.
I took computer based thrice and in all I kept getting listening 7.5 Reading 8 writing 8 speaking 8.5(it was like a static result) I spoke with someone who advised I took paper just to see, my first attempt at paper I got listening 8.5.
For me it wasn’t about practice because I practiced and got tired. So I’ll offer same advise, try paper based, the 10 minute transfer time after scribbling your answers on the sheet is extremely valuable.

Thank you very much, You are right, I did the written once in the past and had 8 in listening, the reason why I have been doing the cbt version apart from the fact that its the only version available in my country of residence is because of writing, I make a lot of typos while writing and with cbt it is easy to come back and correct.

My wife and baby finally got family reunion appointment today for 20th of september. we booked 28th of june 2022.

witgig:


What is usually your score in practice tests? You should aim to get 9 while practising

Do you try to read questions before listening to the audio? It is recommended to read and try to like guess what the answer might be and the validate with what you are able to get from the audio
Do you pay attention to the instructions, ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER etc.
You may want to know the different valid formats for writing things like time, date etc.

It is very likey you already know these but just in case..

Thanks for taking time to respond, I score 32 - 34 durinh practice, I read the instructions but I think I forgot to read the instructions the last time I took the test. Maybe I should just practice more, when I start scoring 38/40 in practice, I will take the exam again, thank you.

Listening is driving me crazy, I have written ielts 4 times in the past 45 days ( cbt ), and in all I had 7.5 in listening. I am unsure what to do again. House, For someone with ADHD, how can I get 8 in listening?

Donpre:
What does Upwork mean by my connects are expiring?

Is it now by force to make proposals

Don’t mind them, they have been telling me same thing for 2 years now but my 180 connects never expires.

Festaco:


We booked on the 6th of June, 2022 and we received the email for appointment on July 21, 2023.

Thank you

Is the anyone that booked for family reunion appointment after 5th of june last year and have gotten it?

slimim101:


This is the story of my life since April and still not resloved... Ive tried all means possible but no way, I even went to NIMC OFFICE at Alahusa every week, the issue hasn't been resolved as they told me there that my NIN has been verified and validated and truly I saw it at NIS office that it has been updated but on the side of NIS, it is yet to get updated.

It is called NIN DROPPING ISSUE. That was what the PCO told me. I do go there every week but til this moment no remedy yet. I'm already fed up and give up on this passport stuff. I'm totally tired.

Thank you for responding and sorry about this issue, I contacted someone on this thread and he asked me to to mtn office, that they know how to resolve it.

Hello guys, Because of marriage, my wife is changing her name on her passport. She has done the name change on nin and using nin mobile application , we see that my surname has reflected, but the person helping us at the immigration office is still saying that her nin is still yet to be linked, It has been a month now of back and forth without fruitful result. As anyone in the house experienced this issue ? what did you do to resolve it ? I will appreciate if someone can help me out on this as we need her passport out before mid of next month. Also to add, when I tracked the passport on immigrant portal, I see that it the nin verification has a red border, this confirms what the immigration officer was saying because initially, I thought she was lying and just didn’t want to help.

williams2600:
I am preparing to go for my interview I dey garther documents and funds I saw it on thier website about a change in verification from 150k to 250k I just wanted to ask if that only applies to family reunion or for all categories.

Only family reunion, for other categories just hold your visa fee

As anyone who applied for family reunion in june last year gotten appointment ?

Hello guys, After abandoning this journey for 2 years, I have decided to pick up from where I stopped but I have a question, I plan to update my profile at the end of this month and it will bring my score to 477- 483, my plan is to get ontario tech nomination but I am concerned about the possibility of adding my wife and baby pre-COPR or Post-COPR, she doesn’t have the time to prepare/write ietls, also, if i add her, my score might take a nose dive when. Has any one recently added their spouse later in the process? does this still work ?

I need a private driver for my mom in meiran / ekoro road/ abule egba lagos. Duty will be to take her to work ( which is also in abule egba ) during weekdays and sometimes drive her on saturdays to occasions.

Qualification: Valid Driver’s License and a guarantor

Pay is 60k for the right person

Send me a message on whatsapp +2347013715550

LikeAking:



Whats ya area of specialization?

Backend - PHP, Go

tensazangetsu20:


Things were still good that February. A lot of things started going bad from August ish.

It depends on how you look at it, companies are still recruiting people. my company have hired 3 Nigerians just after I joined, one of the guys starts next month. If you go search for jobs on linkendin you will still see a lot of open positions.

Last year February, I took relocating abroad seriously. After a lot of broken conversations with recruiters in the USA due to the fact that the companies they are recruiting for can’t sponsor H-1B visa, I decided to focus my energy on jobs in Germany.

Between Feb- March, I applied to about 8 - 10 jobs LinkedIn ( Germany).

4 - Ghosted me ( applied but no response)
1 - Got rejected after the home assessment
1 - Got rejected after the final stage
2 - Job Offers
2 - I Declined to move further because I had two offers.

If you are looking for a job and don’t mind Europe, look into Germany, there is scarcity of talent here. Also, use LinkedIn, but when you see a job posting don’t apply for the job on LinkedIn, search for the company on google and apply from their career page, This format worked for me all the time.

Also, update your linkedin profile and bio, At some point before I turned off “looking for job” I used to get at least 2 messages per day from recruiters ( mostly in US but the problem was always visa sponsorship).

The person you speak of is actually a friend, Will you ask if it is a bad idea if someone created a channel to help deaf people understand coding by using hand signs to explain? I don't think so. The targeted audience is low but the person is making an impact.

There are people who really love pidgin English and are more expressive or understand things really well when it is said in pidgin, these people are his targeted audience. Not you with the British accent

Djreloaded:
$5k project in the bag, by giving a client a swell time during the interview process!

Most freelancers make this mistake by being BORING and dry, and replying with one word liners when you're competing with tons of other freelancers?😶

I like the fact that even as you don’t have any tangible skill, you are still trying to get jobs and outsource them (Though, Not to forget that you have a notorious history of duping people you hire for these jobs ) but while at it, you don't need to come here to lie, How is $1k per 30,000 words equal to $5k ? why lie that the client is paying you $5k ? Also as advice, I will receive a proper offer from the client on upwork before coming here to post screenshots (FYI, In case you didn't check, The client posted the job twice and is interviewing 14 other freelancers in one. clients like that are not serious, If i were you, I will spend more time convincing the client to send me an offer instead of searching for the next picture to post here for clout ).

I could post your upwork profile link here for people who you have been managing to deceive to see the lies you have been telling but I won’t do that as I know some people who are not very happy with you here will be very eager to report your struggling account for impersonation and that will for sure get your account banned ( I learnt upwork doesn’t joke with reported accounts, especially when you claim to be who you are not).

Also as extra advice,
1) Work on yourself, you don’t need to always lie, The time you spend day-dreaming and thinking of the next lie to post can be better spent on something productive. Maybe you can finally use the time to machine learning ?

2) When you hire people, please pay them, they have families too.

3) It’s better to have an upwork account in your name and country, I know a lot of Nigerian Content writers on upwork doing well ( Top rated plus ).

P.S Before you think of quoting me talking about “10million naira”, “give away” or “go figure”, remember that If I report your struggling account, we both know in our heart that e don red for you be that, you will be left with only sportybet.

Godswilleee:
good evening, I will need to get your contact to guild me on how to get job easily on upwork

There is nothing new I will be able to share with you, Everything you need is on this thread, Read through the pages, you will find a lot of valuable informations.

qtguru:


Yes for entry-level people Upworks is good, but if you have experience LinkedIn is better, No Upwork gig is paying you 5000$ monthly.

Actually there are gigs that pays that much ( even more), jobs like that are not just much. My last upwork gig was *REDACTED* with 30hrs weekly limit ( but i was never able to work for 30hrs because i had 2 other full time jobs ). My problem with upwork/freelancing is that you have to work to get paid unlike a full time job where you can go days without working ( because there is no work), even take paid leave and at the end of the month, you get your full salary. It’s because of these reasons I haven’t used upwork in months and mainly focused on my full time job ( which i got on linkendin with relocation )

qtguru:


It does and that's not even something debatable, LinkedIn jobs offer relocation and more pay, if you don't know this, then you will be the only one not knowing then again I'm Tech so we might be an exception field.

In getting jobs with better pay, I agree with you that LinkedIn is better. Most clients on Upwork lowball freelancers because they know they can always get someone else to do the job for less, Only the "JJC" and enterprise clients pay freelancers really well. But IMO compared to Linkedin, Upwork still remains the best place for entry-levels to get a job, If they research and spend quality time experimenting with different proposals, bio, and portfolio formats.

francollimasso:
@Codedboy95
Followed your advice today,
Got my first Gig today
Completed my first Gig today

Congrats!

Samuell2019:
Hello bosses qtquru et. al

I got and completed my first upwork gig this week.

What method of payment is advisable for newbies like me

Dollar account if you can, if not open a payoneer account