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Are you thinking of hiring foreign employees? There may be a number of advantages to hiring workers at the international level. 

If you’re opening a branch of your business in another country, workers who live in that country will be familiar with the area, as well as fluent in the language and culture. In some cases, you might also be able to save money on wages when you hire foreign workers, who will also add value and diversity to your company. 

But where do you begin? How do you find employees who live in another country when you’re here? Here’s how to hire international workers. 

Use a Global Professional Employment Organization

A global professional employment organization, or global PEO, can be one of the best solutions for anyone interested in hiring foreign workers. These companies will assist in the process of hiring and onboarding. And it doesn’t end there. A PEO will also take care of payroll, employee benefits, and other human resources tasks on behalf of your company. These things can be tricky if you don’t understand foreign laws and regulations involving foreign employment. This saves you the hassle and allows you to focus on other aspects of your company’s international expansion. 

Another one of the benefits of using a PEO service is you won’t need to set up a legal entity in the country, which you would need to do in most foreign employment circumstances. This allows you to start hiring international workers right away. There’s also less risk to you and your company since the PEO will be the “Employer of Record” (which ultimately means it’s their responsibility to take care of things on the legal end). 

Hire Foreign Employees Directly 

Although this process is a lot more complicated, it can be done. It will, however, require more research and work from you. You will need to learn about the laws and regulations involving foreign employment, as well as other employment laws in the country. 

On the downside, language barriers may make it difficult to hire foreign workers directly. You will also need to create a local legal entity in order to legally hire employees directly, which can take up to a year — so be sure to plan ahead.

Consider a Local Recruitment Agency 

Using a local recruitment agency can be an ideal option to bypass the language barriers involved with hiring international workers. This takes some of the hassle out of finding and onboarding foreign employees.

That being said, there are some downfalls involved with using local recruitment agencies. Although they will understand the laws in their local area, they might not be familiar with all of the laws involved with hiring from abroad.

You will also still need to start a local legal entity if you’re planning to go this route.

Use an International Recruitment Agency

Rather than using a recruitment agency that’s local to the country you’re hiring in, consider using an international recruitment agency. These companies specialize in recruiting employees in foreign countries, which can lead to quicker turnaround times when it comes to onboarding workers.

Additionally, international recruitment agencies tend to be familiar with foreign laws and regulations that govern your ability to hire workers at the global level. You can rest assured that your company will be doing things the legal way. 

As you can see, using a Global Professional Employment Organization is generally the most ideal solution when it comes to finding and hiring employees who live in another country. Although there are other routes you can take to hire global employees, they tend to be much more complicated and involve more work and research from the employer.