When you need to employ team members for your overseas operations, you have the option of sending or recruiting an expatriate or hiring a local national. While there can be pros and cons to both options, expatriate hiring has a few advantages including established trust within the organization, qualified skills, and a proven record of success.
However, this can come with a cost. One item to consider is that expatriates typically cost two or three times as much as a local employee. As a result, it’s imperative to simplify the expatriate hiring process. Learn more about how you can streamline these needs so you can expand your business internationally in the most compliant and efficient manner.
Expatriate Hiring Process: The Visa and Work Permits
Before you can send your expat to the new country, you’ll need to arrange for work permits and visas. Without these documents, most countries will not let you do any sort of business work, or they will limit it to certain kinds of events like training or trade shows.
Most countries require a worker to have a job offer or contract before they issue a work visa or work permit. The sponsoring employer must often gather much of the documentation and submit the applications as well. This complicated process can be difficult to manage, and errors in document collection can delay deployment by weeks or months.
If you’re new at sending an employee overseas, it pays to consult with experts in global employment law. This can help you to better understand the process and prepare correct documentation to get your expat up and running as soon as possible.
Setting Up a Legal Entity
For an expatriate to get a visa and work permit, he or she needs a job offer. To do so, the expat must have an offer from a legal business in the country. Most of the time, this means establishing a branch office or foreign subsidiary. The process for both can be costly and time consuming, ranging from $5,000 to $35,000 to set up a business.
There are additional constraints outside of costs. It can be difficult and time-consuming to start a new business in a new country. While it takes only a few weeks in the United Kingdom, it can take as long as eight months or more in Brazil.
You can cut costs and save a lot of time by using a global Employer of Record solution. With this expansion method, your partner already has the legal infrastructure in place to hire someone in your target country. Using this service can reduce costs by 60% when compared to establishing your own subsidiary—and saves time by getting your employees up and running in a matter of days.
Plan to Support Your Expatriate
Don’t go through the work and expense of hiring an expatriate for an overseas assignment only to have the worker return home due to personal reasons. Overseas assignments can be stressful, and many find the transition difficult to handle. In addition to choosing the right candidate who can navigate the cross-cultural currents of the new job, you, the employer, should plan a comprehensive support system for your employee.
This should go beyond the standard financial supports like relocation costs, housing, and education stipends. When you plan to support your employee, think about how to simplify the transition. Plan for regular, open communication, and offer your expat a cross-cultural orientation or connect the worker with a host family for better adjustment. With some careful planning, you can make the assignment easier and get more out of your expatriate employee.
Hire Expats Efficiently with a Proven Partner
Sending an expatriate can be an expensive, time-consuming process, but the right candidate is worth it. Use these tips to simplify the expatriate hiring process so your money can go farther to develop your business successfully. Contact Velocity Global today to find out how we can guide your international expansion and help you hire top candidates in new markets.
