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Service · Set up and operate
Hiring, paying and moving people across borders. Led by a WONE Global Partner where one is named. Elsewhere, WONE Global confirms on request whether a vetted Associate firm can act.
Professional knowledge centre
Employing people across borders means working with a separate set of rules in every country on who counts as an employee, how long they may work, what it costs to end the job, what the employer pays on top of salary and who may be employed at all. The same role can carry a fixed end-of-service payment in the Gulf, an age-banded redundancy formula in the UK and no statutory severance at all in Germany unless a specific route is used. Several rules have moved recently: India's four labour codes took effect on 21 November 2025, the UK is phasing in the Employment Rights Act 2025 with the unfair dismissal qualifying period falling to six months from 1 January 2027, and the EU platform work presumption of employment reaches existing relationships from 2 December 2026. For a business, the practical questions are which hiring model to use, what the full employer cost is, how quickly and expensively a role can be ended, and how to keep staff who move between countries in a single social security system.
Source-checked research100% of statements checked against a source64 checked against an official source8 checked against a secondary sourceChecked 2026-10-19Not yet professionally reviewed
Employment law is mostly national and, in federal or devolved systems, partly local. The United States sets a federal floor (minimum wage, social security and unemployment taxes) and leaves much of dismissal law, paid leave and state unemployment tax to the states. The UAE applies one federal labour law on the mainland and in most free zones, while the DIFC and ADGM have their own employment laws. India's labour codes are central laws, but each state notifies its own rules, so the detail varies by state. In the EU, directives on working time, posting of workers and platform work set minimum standards that each Member State transposes.
Cross-border staffing adds a second layer: which country's social security applies to someone who works in more than one place. Inside the EU a posted worker can stay in the home system for up to 24 months with an A1 certificate. Outside it, bilateral totalisation agreements do the same job, but coverage is patchy. The US has no agreement with India, the UAE, Saudi Arabia or Singapore, and India's agreements cover mainly European countries, Canada, Australia, Japan and Korea. The modules below compare the rules in India, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the UK, the US, Germany and France. Each figure is a claim with a source, and points we could not confirm are listed as gaps.
A business can employ through its own local entity, through a third party that employs the person on its behalf (an employer of record or staffing provider), or by engaging independent contractors. Each model shifts who carries employment, tax and social security duties, and each country tests the real relationship rather than the label. Misclassifying an employee as a contractor can leave the business liable for back employment taxes, and in Germany a provider that places its employees under a client's direction may need a temporary agency work permit.
Questions on this topic
12 statements on hiring models: own entity, employer of record and contractors
The form of the contract and the basic working-time limits differ more than many employers expect. The UAE requires fixed-term contracts and Saudi Arabia requires them for non-Saudi workers, while India now requires an appointment letter for every worker and France requires writing for fixed-term and part-time contracts. Most markets cap normal hours at around 48 a week, but France uses a 35-hour legal week and Germany limits the working day to eight hours unless averaged.
Questions on this topic
13 statements on employment contracts and working time
Ending employment costs very different amounts in different countries. The Gulf states pay a formula-based end-of-service award to almost every leaver, the UK pays an age-banded statutory redundancy payment after two years, France pays a statutory severance after eight months, and Germany has no general statutory severance but strict protection against unjustified dismissal. Notice periods and the risk of a challenge must be priced together with the payment.
Questions on this topic
13 statements on termination, notice and severance
The cost of an employee is salary plus employer contributions, and those contributions range from almost nothing for expatriates in the Gulf to a large share of pay in France and Germany. Several systems cover only nationals or residents, so the nationality of the hire changes the cost. Employers also act as tax collectors: France withholds income tax through the monthly social declaration, while Saudi Arabia has no personal income tax on salaries.
Questions on this topic
13 statements on payroll, employer contributions and withholding
Every market studied requires a foreign hire to have permission to work before starting, and most tie that permission to salary floors, advertising duties or national employment targets. Singapore and the UK set minimum salaries for their main skilled routes, Germany and France link Blue Card thresholds to national pay benchmarks, and the UAE and Saudi Arabia combine work permits with policies to increase employment of nationals.
Questions on this topic
11 statements on work permits, visas and localisation quotas
When an employee works temporarily in another country, the employer must decide which country's social security applies, which host employment rules apply and whether the home system can be kept. Inside the EU, a posted worker can stay in the home system for up to 24 months with an A1 certificate, but after 12 to 18 months almost all host employment terms apply. Outside the EU, bilateral totalisation agreements do the same job, but the US and India have no agreements with the Gulf states or Singapore, so double contributions are common on those routes.
Questions on this topic
10 statements on secondments, posted workers and social security agreements
Worked example, from official sources
What minimum notice and statutory payment apply when an employer ends the employment of a mid-level employee with three full years' service in the UAE, the UK and Germany?
| Market | Minimum notice | Statutory payment rule | Payment after three years | Official source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UAE (mainland) | 30 days (up to 90 by contract) | Gratuity: 21 days' basic wage per year for the first five years | 63 days' basic wage | Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, Articles 43 and 51 |
| United Kingdom | 3 weeks (one week per full year from 2 to 12 years) | Redundancy pay: one week's pay per full year aged 22 to 40, week capped at GBP 751 | 3 weeks' capped pay: GBP 2,253 | GOV.UK redundancy guidance |
| Germany | One month (statutory, after two years) | No general statutory severance; section 1a offer of 0.5 month per year if the employee does not sue | None, or 1.5 months' earnings via section 1a | BGB s622; KSchG ss1 and 1a |
Result on these facts
On these facts the statutory cash cost is highest in the UAE, where 63 days' basic wage is due, and lowest in the UK, where statutory redundancy pay is capped at GBP 2,253 for three years. Germany has no statutory payment at all, but its dismissal protection means the real cost is negotiated: the section 1a route prices it at 1.5 months' earnings in exchange for no court challenge. Notice is shortest in the UK (three weeks) and longest by default in Germany (one month) unless a UAE contract sets more than 30 days.
Confirm the contract and any collective agreement, which often improve on statutory terms; the employee's age and exact pay; whether German dismissal protection applies to the establishment; and whether the UAE employee is in a free zone with its own employment law. Settlement agreements and the risk of claims usually drive the final cost in the UK and Germany.
Each statement is numbered to the source it was checked against. We use official sources where we can, and each statement says whether it was checked against an official or a secondary source. Sources last checked on 19 October 2026. None of it has been professionally reviewed yet: it is research checked against official and secondary sources by WONE Global, not legal or tax advice.
The notice period for terminating an employment contract must be at least 30 days and no more than 90 days. Mainland private sector.
Reused from market guide claim ae-people-006.
A foreign worker's end-of-service gratuity is 21 days' wage for each of the first five years of service and 30 days' wage for each further year, capped at two years' wage in total. Mainland private sector. The two-year cap is stated for foreign workers. The wage basis for the calculation and the treatment of UAE nationals were not reviewed here.
Reused from market guide claim ae-people-007.
A foreign full-time worker in the UAE becomes entitled to end-of-service gratuity after completing one or more years of continuous service, and the gratuity is calculated on the basic wage. Mainland private sector under Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021. DIFC and ADGM have their own employment laws.
Read from the text published on the UAE Legislation Portal; the portal records later amendments, which were not reviewed for this point.
An employer must give at least one week's notice to an employee employed for between one month and 2 years, one week for each full year of service between 2 and 12 years, and 12 weeks after 12 years or more. Statutory minimum notice. A contract may provide longer notice but not shorter.
An employee with at least 2 years' service who is made redundant is entitled to statutory redundancy pay of half a week's pay for each full year under age 22, one week's pay for each full year aged 22 to 40, and one and a half weeks' pay for each full year aged 41 or older. Length of service counted is capped at 20 years.
For redundancies on or after 6 April 2026, weekly pay for statutory redundancy pay is capped at GBP 751 and the maximum statutory redundancy payment is GBP 22,530. Lower caps apply to redundancies before 6 April 2026.
The basic statutory notice period for an employment relationship is four weeks to the 15th or the end of a calendar month, and the employer's notice period lengthens with service, for example to one month after two years and two months after five years, up to seven months after 20 years. Statutory minimums under the Civil Code; collective agreements may differ.
Intermediate tiers: three months after 8 years, four after 10, five after 12, six after 15, each to the end of a calendar month. Reused from market guide claim de-people-003.
Under the German Protection against Dismissal Act, a dismissal of an employee whose employment has lasted more than six months without interruption in the same establishment or company is invalid if it is socially unjustified. Section 1(1) KSchG. Under section 23 the protection generally does not apply in establishments with ten or fewer employees for staff hired after 31 December 2003.
The small-establishment rule in the scope was read.
Where an employer in Germany dismisses for urgent operational reasons and states in the notice that the employee can claim severance by letting the deadline for a court challenge pass, the employee is entitled to severance of half a month's earnings for each year of employment. Section 1a KSchG. Periods of more than six months are rounded up to a full year. There is no general statutory severance entitlement outside this route, a court award or an agreement.
The statement that there is no general statutory severance outside these routes is an inference from the structure of the Act and should be confirmed by a German employment lawyer.
A party that does not observe the notice period must pay the other party a notice allowance equal to the worker's wage for the full notice period or for the part not served. Mainland private sector under Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021.
Employees in England, Scotland and Wales usually need 2 years' service to claim unfair dismissal; for dismissals from 1 January 2027 this falls to 6 months for most employees. Northern Ireland, where employment law is devolved, usually requires 1 year; GOV.UK does not say whether the 2027 change applies there. Automatically unfair reasons need no qualifying period.
Reused from market guide claim gb-people-008.
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A named WONE Global lead in 7 markets today. In every other featured market, WONE Global arranges qualified local expertise on request and tells you who it is before work begins.
ArgentinaLed by Dr. Esteban Lucio Maccari
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Buenos Aires · ArgentinaWONE Global Partner · Argentina
He is a lawyer with a degree from the University of Buenos Aires and a degree in Spanish Law. He completed postgraduate studies in Strategic Business Management at the Polytechnic University of Madrid and the Glocoll at…
Brunswick · AustraliaWONE Global Partner · Australia
Founder | CEO | Legal Strategist | Entrepreneur Founder of Katsaros & Associates, one of Australia’s fastest-growing immigration and global mobility law firms. Backed by over 15 years of experience, I’ve built a reputat…
Vienna · Austria
Nairobi · Kenya
Pretoria · South AfricaWONE Global Partner · South Africa
Zürich · Switzerland
Ho Chi Minh City · VietnamWONE Global Partner · Vietnam
Over 20 years of experience specializing in legal matters and practical operations for Japanese businesses in Vietnam (investment law, corporate law, labor, commerce, intellectual property, and tax).
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