PLEASE just don't criticize a whole country when you only interviewed few, I'm from US but I don't like to see people referring by others as Indians, or whatever .... I know you didn't mean it but there are a large numbers of people from India here. I have tried my luck with VA, its not about the country, VA is someone who don't really have much experience otherwise they would have found a better job, they are in a process to learn and add more experience. So your job is: to set hours per day for few weeks to train, train, train ... to no end. You need to interview 100s to find the right one. Yes I do agree that each country have their own ways of communications and for them to take instructions and follow through, don't just change the country, change the way how you communicate with them and how you transfer your ideas and what you want to them.
Don't expect to get C level person when you are paying a foreign type of pay for the VA (meaning if you will pay a person what they get paid in India or Philippine ...) then don't expect them to be a C level executive working on your pay range.
Just to make it clear, I was like you years back when I was looking for people to help me do things, then I tried a different way to get what I wanted without "pulling my hair" and then I was surprised to find so much talents in each person that years later I somehow feel lucky to find these amazing people who worked for me.
