[Employer] What is Remote Expense Card?
Remote Expense Card is a company-issued virtual expense card for EOR team members. Learn who can use it, how it works and how spending limits work. Instead of paying for approved business expenses out of pocket and waiting for reimbursement, team members pay directly with their Remote Expense Card. Every transaction is automatically recorded as an expense in Remote, helping companies control spending in advance and reduce administrative work.
Note: Remote Expense Card is currently available as a virtual card only.
Remote Expense Card is available for Employer of Record (EOR) team members.
It is not available for:
- Contractors
- Contractor of Record users
- Payroll employees
- PEO employees
Remote Expense Card is available in all countries. What matters is the Remote entity the team member is employed under, not their physical location. That entity determines the currency of their card:
- US entity → USD
- UK entity → GBP
- Canada entity → CAD
- EEA/SEPA entities → EUR
- Rest of the world → USD
Your company has one primary currency, used for its spending limit and invoices, and can also hold other currencies. Spending in another currency counts toward your limit after conversion to your primary currency, at the exchange rate on the day the transaction clears.
Remote Expense Card is activated for your company by Remote. To get started, contact your Remote account team or, if you don’t have one, Remote Support.
Company admins create a card program in Remote: a reusable template with the approved spending categories, a spending limit and a limit renewal period. Once the program is ready, admins assign cards to eligible team members, or issue new cards on an existing program. Each team member receives an activation notification. After the card is issued and used, each transaction is automatically recorded as an expense in Remote.
See also:
Once a card is assigned, team members receive an email and a platform notification inviting them to activate it in the Remote mobile app. They accept the cardholder terms and complete a verification step. Activation is usually instant and can take up to 1 business day.
Once activated, the virtual card can be added to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, and the card details can be used for online purchases.
Each transaction automatically creates an expense record in the team member’s account. Team members have 45 days to upload a receipt. If no valid receipt is added within that time, the expense becomes a personal expense and the team member repays it.
Team members can review their transactions and spending activity in the Remote mobile app.
See also:
- [Employee] How to activate your Remote expense Card
- [Employee]: How to use and manage your Remote expense Card
Admins configure spending controls through card programs, including:
- Approved spending categories
- Spending limits (per card or per transaction)
- Limit renewal periods
- Eligible cardholders
If a purchase falls outside the approved categories, the transaction is declined.
Admins can also freeze a card (temporary and reversible) or cancel it (permanent). Admins can’t block an individual expense or transaction. A card can be blocked by the card issuer for security reasons, for example if fraud is suspected. Neither admins nor team members can set or remove that block.
When a team member leaves the company, an admin needs to cancel their card. Remote is working on cancelling cards automatically on offboarding, expected during October.
Companies receive a default company spending limit of 2,500 per calendar month, in USD, EUR, GBP or CAD. No deposit or reserve payment is required at this level.
If your team needs to spend more, a company-wide admin (Super Admin, Owner or a custom role) can request a higher limit of up to 50,000 per month directly from the Cards dashboard. Any limit above the default requires a security reserve of 50% of the requested limit. The reserve is a deposit, not a fee. For amounts above 50,000, contact your Remote account team or, if you don’t have one, Remote Support.
For the full steps, see [Employer] Request or change a higher spending limit.
- Virtual cards only. Physical cards are not available.
- Card management for team members is available in the Remote mobile app only.
- Until automatic cancellation is available, admins cancel a team member’s card when they leave.
Can contractors receive a Remote Expense Card?
No. Remote Expense Card is available only for EOR team members.
Can team members share cards?
No. Each card is assigned to an individual team member.
Are physical cards available?
No. Remote Expense Card is currently available as a virtual card only.
Can an admin block a transaction?
No. Admins can freeze or cancel a card. A card can be blocked only by the card issuer, for security reasons.
How do I request a higher spending limit?
Company-wide admins (Super Admins, Owners or custom roles) can request it from the Cards dashboard. See [Employer] Request or change a higher spending limit.
