Hire international employees

Advertised prices, verified

How hiring an international employee through an EOR works

1. Choose the country and confirm the route fits. You recruit the candidate and confirm the basics before offer: right to work in their country, whether the role needs any local licence, and whether the country places limits on EOR arrangements. The provider's country coverage should be evidenced, not asserted.
2. The provider employs them through its local entity. The EOR issues an employment contract compliant with the hire's local labour law, in the local language where required, and becomes the legal employer. Statutory notice, leave and probation come from that law, not from your UK contract templates.
3. Payroll and statutory contributions run locally. Each month the provider pays the employee in local currency, withholds taxes, makes employer social contributions and administers statutory benefits. You receive one invoice: total local employment cost plus the provider's fee, typically a flat monthly amount per employee.
4. You manage the work; exits run through the provider. Day-to-day management stays with you. Dismissals, redundancies and disputes are executed by the provider under local law, which is the risk you are paying it to carry; probe its exit process and costs before onboarding anyone.

The three routes compared

Opening a local entity gives full control and the lowest per-head running cost at scale, but it front-loads incorporation, payroll registration, local accounting and, in many countries, months of lead time, all of which are sunk if the market does not work out. It suits a settled plan for a real local presence, not a first hire.

Engaging contractors is fast and cheap until it is neither: a full-time worker under your direction is an employee in substance in most jurisdictions, and reclassification brings back taxes, penalties and employment claims to the buyer. It fits genuinely independent, project-based work.

An employer of record sits between the two: real employment for the worker with statutory protections and benefits, no entity for you, at a flat monthly fee per employee. The vendors priced in this index publish fees with a median of $499, and the fee sits on top of salary and the employer-side social contributions of the hire's country, which vary widely between markets.

What a UK buyer should check before the first hire

Cost first: ask for a full-cost illustration for the actual country and salary, showing gross pay, employer social contributions, any thirteenth-salary or severance accruals local law requires, currency conversion assumptions and the fee. Two countries at the same gross salary can differ substantially in total cost once employer contributions are counted, and a quote that shows only salary plus fee is incomplete.

Risk second: confirm which entity employs the worker and whether the provider owns it or uses an in-country partner, ask how intellectual property created by the employee is assigned through the employment chain to you, and understand that a senior hire working abroad on your behalf can raise questions about corporate tax presence in that country, which is a matter for your accountants rather than the EOR. Finally, check the exit: what notice and severance the local law imposes, and what the provider charges to run a termination properly.

Common questions

Can a UK company employ someone abroad directly without an entity?

In most countries, not lawfully for standard employment: local payroll registration or an entity is required. The practical routes are a local entity, a genuinely self-employed contractor arrangement, or an employer of record.

What does hiring through an EOR cost?

A flat monthly fee per employee, with a median of $499 across the priced vendors in this index, on top of gross salary and the employer-side statutory contributions of the hire's country. Each figure in the table links to the vendor's own pricing page.

Whose employment law applies to an international hire?

The law of the country where the person works. Statutory notice, leave, severance and benefits come from that law and bind the legal employer, which under the EOR route is the provider.

Is the contractor route safe if the person agrees to it?

Agreement does not settle classification. Most jurisdictions judge the substance of the relationship, and a full-time worker under your direction is likely an employee whatever the contract says, with reclassification costs landing on the buyer.

Coverage by country

• Employer of record vendors covering Singapore
• Employer of record vendors covering Mexico
• Employer of record vendors covering Spain
• Employer of record vendors covering Colombia
• Employer of record vendors covering United Kingdom
• Employer of record vendors covering France
• Employer of record vendors covering Hungary
• Employer of record vendors covering New Zealand