Offshore Virtual Assistant Australia from A$1,900

The role

What an offshore virtual assistant does

An offshore virtual assistant is a full-time administrative professional based in the Philippines who works only for your business. Unlike a freelance VA who bills by the hour and serves several clients, an Offshored virtual assistant is a dedicated member of your team: same person every day, same start time, your email address, your calendar and your procedures.

The role is deliberately broad. In a trades business the assistant chases quotes and schedules jobs; in a professional services firm they prepare documents and onboard clients; in an online store they process orders and answer customer emails. What stays constant is that you set the priorities each morning, they work through them in your systems, and you see the result in the tools you already use. If one person in the business is the bottleneck rather than a set of processes, read the executive assistant section below.

They work inside your accounts with the access you grant, so nothing moves off your platforms and you can change or remove that access at any time. Confidentiality and assignment of work product to your business are written into their employment contract.

Task list

Tasks you can hand to an offshore virtual assistant

Start with the first column and add the second as trust builds. Your team member follows your procedures and your approval limits, documented during onboarding.

Inbox and calendar management triaging your email, drafting replies for approval, booking meetings, confirming appointments and keeping your day free of double bookings
Quotes, invoices and follow-ups preparing quotes from your templates, raising invoices in Xero or MYOB, sending statements and politely chasing overdue accounts
CRM and pipeline hygiene logging calls and emails, updating deal stages, removing duplicate contacts and running the follow-up sequences your salespeople never get to
Job scheduling and supplier coordination booking jobs in ServiceM8, simPRO, AroFlo or Tradify, confirming with customers, ordering materials and keeping suppliers to their dates
Document preparation proposals, reports, presentations, procedures, onboarding packs and contracts from your templates, formatted and proofread

Data entry and reporting keeping spreadsheets, dashboards and registers current, and producing the weekly numbers you want on your desk every Monday
Customer and client communication answering routine enquiries by email or chat in your brand voice, sending appointment reminders and collecting Google reviews after a job is done
Research and list building prospect lists, supplier comparisons, competitor pricing and any research task that needs an hour of careful work rather than a decision from you
Bookings, travel and events travel, accommodation, venue and catering bookings, staff rosters in Deputy or Tanda, and the logistics behind client events
Personal administration for the owner the renewals, appointments and errands that only get done when someone owns them

Systems

Tools an offshore virtual assistant typically uses

Google Workspace (Gmail, Calendar, Drive)Microsoft 365 (Outlook, Teams, SharePoint)XeroMYOBQuickBooks OnlineZoho CRMPipedriveGoHighLevelSalesforceServiceM8, simPRO, AroFlo and TradifyAsana, Trello, ClickUp and monday.comCanvaDocuSignCalendly and ZoomDeputy, Tanda and Employment HeroWhatsApp Business

Australian small businesses run on Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 with Xero or MYOB underneath, and most add a CRM and, for trades, a job management platform such as ServiceM8, simPRO, AroFlo or Tradify. Offshored shortlists candidates who already use the systems you name on the first call; where your setup is unusual, you train them the way you would a local hire.

Monthly cost

How much an offshore virtual assistant costs per month

An offshore virtual assistant from Offshored costs A$1,900 to A$2,400 per month. That is one flat, all-inclusive fee per full-time team member, invoiced monthly in advance, in the administration and support band on our pricing page.

Item	Offshore virtual assistant
Monthly fee	A$1,900 to A$2,400 per month
Where in the band	Lower end for a general administrative assistant working from your procedures; upper end for an assistant with several years of experience who runs the inbox, quoting and CRM without supervision. Executive and personal assistants who support one owner or director are priced at A$2,100 to A$2,800
What is included	Everything: recruitment and vetting, employment in the Philippines by Australian Pathways OPC, salary, Philippine income tax and statutory contributions (SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG), 13th month pay, paid leave, HMO health insurance, payroll, timekeeping, HR and performance management, office space and equipment for office based team members, and replacement at our cost if the person leaves
What is not included	Seats in your own software and phone systems, hours outside the agreed eight-hour day, and your own time managing the work day to day, as with any employee

For a sourced comparison with the full cost of a local hire, including superannuation, leave, payroll tax and recruitment, read the 2026 offshore staff cost guide. Every band is listed on the pricing page.

Who you get

Qualifications and experience

What Offshored looks for when shortlisting an offshore virtual assistant for an Australian business:

Degree a bachelor's degree, typically in business administration, office management, communication or a related field
Experience two or more years in an administrative or executive support role, usually with an Australian, US or UK client, so the pace and expectations of a Western small business are familiar
Written and spoken English strong in both; the assistant drafts emails and documents that go out under your name, so we screen for writing first

Software fluency in Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, plus at least one accounting, CRM or job management platform from the list above
Judgement the habit of asking once, documenting the answer and not asking again, which is what makes an assistant save you time rather than cost it
Vetting a pre-screening interview with Offshored's recruitment team in BGC, Manila and an NBI clearance (the Philippine police check) before any candidate is presented to you

You interview the shortlisted candidates yourself and make the final decision. We suggest a short written task, such as drafting a reply to a real customer email, so you can see their writing before you choose.

Working hours

Working hours and overlap with Australian time zones

Your offshore virtual assistant works a full eight-hour day, Monday to Friday, at the times you set in your Australian time zone. Manila is two hours behind Sydney for most of the year, so the overlap is complete: they are online when you are, from your first coffee to close of business.

Your office	Manila is behind by	Your 9am to 5pm day in Manila time
Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Hobart	2 hours (3 hours in daylight saving, October to April)	7:00am to 3:00pm (6:00am to 2:00pm in daylight saving)
Brisbane and Queensland	2 hours, all year	7:00am to 3:00pm
Adelaide	1.5 hours (2.5 hours in daylight saving)	7:30am to 3:30pm (6:30am to 2:30pm in daylight saving)
Darwin	1.5 hours, all year	7:30am to 3:30pm
Perth	No difference, same time as Manila	9:00am to 5:00pm

Team members work Australian public holidays unless the day is also a Philippine holiday, and Offshored gives you two business days' notice of any Philippine holiday that affects your team member's schedule. Every shift is logged on our timekeeping platform. See the FAQ on the Sydney to Manila time difference.

Virtual assistant or executive assistant

Offshore executive assistant: when you need more than a virtual assistant

An offshore executive assistant supports one owner, director or executive rather than a team. The work is the same family of tasks, but the assistant owns them end to end: they run your calendar and travel without asking, prepare board and management papers, handle sensitive correspondence, take minutes and actions from meetings, and keep your commitments moving while you are in front of clients. The role calls for more experience, more discretion and more judgement, which is why Offshored prices executive and personal assistants at A$2,100 to A$2,800 a month rather than A$1,900 to A$2,400.

Choose a virtual assistant when the work is a set of recurring processes that several people in the business can hand over: quotes, scheduling, CRM updates, invoicing, customer replies. Choose an executive assistant when one person is the bottleneck and needs a trusted right hand who works ahead of them. A common path is to start with a virtual assistant and, as the business grows, add a second team member or move the first into the executive assistant seat.

Both roles work your hours, in your systems, with confidentiality written into their employment contract with Australian Pathways OPC. On a free 20-minute call we will tell you which one fits the brief you have. If you are still weighing a freelance VA against a dedicated team member, our comparison of offshoring, outsourcing and virtual assistants sets out the trade-offs.

Three questions

What Australian owners ask before hiring an offshore virtual assistant

How much does an offshore virtual assistant cost in Australia?

An offshore virtual assistant costs A$1,900 to A$2,400 a month through Offshored, and an executive or personal assistant A$2,100 to A$2,800, for one full-time person dedicated to your business. The fee is all-inclusive: recruitment, employment by Australian Pathways OPC, salary, 13th month pay, payroll, HMO health insurance, equipment, and replacement at Offshored's cost if the person leaves. There is no recruitment fee and no lock-in contract.

Can an offshore virtual assistant work Australian business hours?

Yes. Offshored virtual assistants work a standard Monday to Friday, eight-hour day at the times you set, matched to your Australian time zone. A 9am Sydney start is 7am in Manila during Australian Eastern Standard Time and 6am during daylight saving; Perth is on the same time as Manila. They work Australian public holidays unless the day is also a Philippine holiday.

What is the difference between an offshore virtual assistant and an executive assistant?

A virtual assistant runs recurring processes that several people in the business can hand over: quotes, scheduling, CRM updates, invoicing and customer replies. An executive assistant supports one owner or director end to end, running their calendar, travel, correspondence and meeting actions ahead of them, which calls for more experience and discretion. Offshored prices executive and personal assistants at A$2,100 to A$2,800 a month and virtual assistants at A$1,900 to A$2,400.

Ready to talk about hiring an offshore virtual assistant? Book a free 20-minute call.

Pick a time and William Smith, Offshored's co-founder, phones you. We scope the role, give you the monthly cost band and tell you honestly whether offshore staff will work for your business. No lock-in, no obligation.

Book a 20-minute call Call +61 437 228 350

Prefer to type? Message us on WhatsApp or send the enquiry form. We reply within one business hour, 8am to 6pm AEST, Monday to Friday.