How to Join Medium Partner Program from anywhere 2021 ✔

Jethro Magaji

Published in

An Idea (by Ingenious Piece)

6 min readMar 30, 2021

A guide on how to create a Medium Partner Program account

A hero image on how to join medium partner program — Image by Author Jethro Magaji

If you have been trying to join the Medium Partner Program in 2021, then this article is a solution for you.

As a writer, joining the Medium Partner Program hasn't been easy for those who don't live in 43 countries supported by Stripe. Medium started using Stripe as a means of payment for writers, since then it hasn't been easy for writers living in Stripe unsupported countries.

Prerequisites

A GitHub account and the student developer pack
A Twilio account
A Payoneer account
A Stripe account
A Medium account
Your country’s Tax ID
Last, a VPN if you stay in an internet-restricted country.

GitHub student developer pack

First, you need to get a GitHub account here if you don't have one before you can register for the student developer pack here 🎁. Although you must have to be a student to apply because you will need a student email or ID.

The major reason you’re going to use the student developer pack is that it provides waived transaction fees on the first $1000 in revenue processed on Stripe, and it's easy to set up Stripe using this method.

Note: The student developer pack application approval can take between 1 to 3 weeks or lesser depending on the documents you provide for the application.

An image of GitHub student developer pack — Screenshot by Author

Twilio account

You will need a Twilio account so that you can get a US phone number to verify your Stripe account. Get a Twilio account with free $10 🎁 worth of credits for voice and SMS.

Next login to your Twilio console.

An image of twilio console — Screenshot by Author

You can use the Twilio trial phone number or buy a US phone number for $1, but it’s recommended you buy a phone number.

An image of list of US phone numbers on Twilio — Screenshot by Author

Payoneer account

Sign up for a Payoneer account here and earn $25 🎁. With Payoneer, you can create a virtual bank account in USD, EUR, GBP, etc to link it up with your Stripe account and withdraw your earnings directly to your local bank.

Next login to your dashboard, move your cursor to “receive” and then click on “Global Payments Service” from the drop-down menu, then set up a USA account, you will need these details later for the stripe registration.

An image of payoneer bank details — Screenshot by Author

Stripe account

Using the student developer pack benefit, you can sign up for Stripe.

Go to this link to begin the sign-up process

Am image of stripe student developer benefit — Screenshot by Author

Click on “unique link”, it will redirect you to the Stripe website for registration.

You will need the following details to complete the Stripe registration;

Your legal name
Date of Birth
Social security number (SSN)
Business details
Your Twilio phone number for 2FA 🔗 (2 Factor Authentication)

Note, check the Twilio debugger to see the confirmation code sent by Stripe to confirm the phone number.

An image of Twilio debugger — Screenshot by Author

6. Your Payoneer US bank account details

Medium account

You will need a Medium account if you don't have one already.

Login to your Medium account and click on the “profile icon”, then on the drop-down options click on “Medium Partner Program”.

An image of medium partner program — Screenshot by Author

Click on “Join the Medium Partner Program”

An image of medium partner program setup — Screenshot by Author

Next click on “Set up payout on Stripe”, to connect it with your registered Stripe account.

An image of enrolled medium partner program — Screenshot by Author

🎉 Congratulations! you have now enrolled into the Partner Program.

Next “submit your tax forms”, includes 3 steps.

📌Note: Please enter your contact details as they appear on your Payoneer bank records, use the bank address as your own address.

An image medium partner program tax form — Screenshot by Author

Select “W-8BEN” in this form.

An image of medium tax form — Screenshot by Author

Fill this form 🖌

An image of medium partner tax form — Screenshot by Author

📌Quick advice when filling the tax form don't spend too much time on it because the page session time would log you out which may lead to loss of previous details filled.

Next, claim the tax treaty.

Starting in 2020, Medium Partner Program payments are subject to international tax withholding of 30% based on the taxpayer information. This means that if the country you are using for the tax form doesn't have a tax treaty with the United States, 30% of your earnings would be held by Medium for tax settlement.

An image of Medium tax treaty — The screenshot was taken by Jalal Mansoori

The next form requires an explanation for non-US address and submitting a valid means of identification for your countries such as an international passport, voter's card, or driver's license.

Finally, accept the terms and conditions for the certification by checking all the check boxes ✔, then type in your name and email address to sign the document and submit the form when you have completed all the steps.

An image of medium tax form terms — The screenshot was taken by Jalal Mansoori

An image of medium compete tax form — The screenshot was taken by Jalal Mansoori

Within 24 hours, you should receive a congratulatory email like this 👇if everything turns out well, and hopefully you will get an email like this.

Congratulations🎉 and success in enrolling in the Medium Partner Program.

Conclusion

Joining the Partner Program gives writers the opportunity to gain value for their work. Once you have been accepted into the program, you can then earn and withdraw your earnings, for more info click here.

You can reach me on 😎 Twitter or email me at 📭 jemagaji38@gmail.com for more info.