Employer of Record in Armenia: 13 Providers Compared (2026)

Employing someone in Armenia: key facts

Armenia has one national minimum wage and no employer-paid social contributions on top of gross pay. The figures below come from the Labour Code text read to its 2023-10-25 edition and from PwC tax summaries; vendor and law-firm sources are marked.

Minimum wage

One national rate. The Labour Code says the minimum monthly and hourly salary are set by law and exclude taxes, mandatory payments, bonuses and additional payments (art. 179) (Labour Code, English text, checked 2026-10-10).

• A rise to AMD 85,000 appears in the government programme according to secondary sources; we found no enacted increase as of 2026-10-10, and we did not read the Law on Minimum Monthly Wage.
• We did not find the hourly rate.

Employer contributions

The employer-borne statutory cost is nil in the private sector. Income tax, the funded pension, stamp duty and the health insurance contribution are all withheld from the employee’s gross salary; the employer only withholds and remits them (pwc.com, checked 2026-10-10).

• Employer-borne total: 0% of gross, so the budget figure is the gross salary.
• Sources differ on the lower stamp-duty band (one calculator shows AMD 1,500); we use PwC’s AMD 1,000. Whether foreign employees on Armenian contracts pay the health contribution was not found: PwC’s text says “Armenian citizens”.
• No history chart: the employer-borne total was nil throughout, so there is nothing to compare year on year.

Working hours and overtime

• Standard week: 40 hours, 8 a day; with overtime up to 12 hours a day including breaks and 48 hours a week (art. 139). Saturday and Sunday are the usual rest days (art. 155).
• Overtime carries at least 50% extra per hour (art. 184); night work at least 30% extra. Overtime is limited to 4 hours over two successive days and 180 hours a year in the standard cases (art. 146).
• Consented work on a rest day or non-working holiday: at least double the hourly rate, or another paid rest day within a month (art. 185) (Labour Code, checked 2026-10-10).

Annual leave and public holidays

• At least 20 working days a year on a five-day week (24 on a six-day week); 25 working days for categories the Government lists (arts. 159-160). Unused leave is granted at the employee’s request before the dismissal date (art. 168) (Labour Code, checked 2026-10-10).
• Non-working holidays are set by a separate law (art. 156). We did not read it, so we give no list.

Probation

• Up to 3 months, or 12 months where legislation provides (art. 92). During probation either side can end the contract with 3 days’ written notice (art. 93). No probation for under-18s, elected office holders and internal transfers (art. 91) (Labour Code, checked 2026-10-10).

Notice and severance

Dismissal benefit is paid on top of notice, not instead of it.

• The employee resigns on 30 days’ written notice. Dismissal is prohibited during sick leave, leave and pregnancy, among other cases (arts. 112-115, 129). Mass dismissal (over 10% of staff and at least 10 employees in two months) needs 2 months’ notice to the employment authority (art. 116).
• A foreigner’s contract ends with 3 days’ notice if the residence status is revoked. Text read to the 2023-10-25 edition (Labour Code, checked 2026-10-10); Concern Dialog’s Chambers 2026 guide gives matching figures (Chambers, checked 2026-10-10).

13th salary and bonuses

Not mandatory. The Labour Code has no 13th-salary or statutory annual bonus provision; bonuses appear only as contract terms (Labour Code, checked 2026-10-10).

Mandatory benefits

• The employer pays the first five working days of sick leave at 80% of average pay; social insurance pays the rest. This is from a law-firm blog and was not checked against the law (armenian-lawyer.com, checked 2026-10-10).
• No employer-funded private health or life cover is mandatory. The pension and health contributions are in the table above.

Work permits

• A foreigner from outside the EAEU needs employment-based temporary residence. The local employer applies on workpermit.am after the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs consents; the card is issued within 30 days of the application, the state fee is AMD 105,000, and the employment contract must be signed within 15 working days of the status being granted (Migration and Citizenship Service, checked 2026-10-10).
• EAEU citizens (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan) need no permit but must register online.
• The applicant is the employer, which under art. 18 must be an Armenian legal person, a registered subdivision of a foreign organisation or an individual entrepreneur. A local EOR entity can apply; a foreign company with no Armenian registration cannot.
• A fixed-term contract with a foreigner runs for the permit period (art. 95); that rule does not apply to foreigners working remotely for the employer from outside Armenia (art. 106.1). New quotas and a work entry visa start on 2026-11-01; see “What changed in 2026”.

Currency and payroll

• AMD. Salary must be paid in AMD (art. 192). The Central Bank’s official rate dated 2026-10-09 is 1 USD = 361.93 AMD (cba.am, checked 2026-10-10).
• Pay at least once a month, on a working day, by the 15th of the following month. Late payment carries a fine of 0.15% of the amount due per day, capped at the amount due (arts. 192, 198) (Labour Code, checked 2026-10-10).

Is Employer of Record legal in Armenia?

Grey area. Armenian law has no EOR category. The Labour Code has no agency-work, labour-leasing, co-employment or employer-licence provisions, and the employer can be any legal person registered in Armenia (art. 18) (Labour Code, checked 2026-10-10). An EOR can therefore employ on an ordinary Armenian contract. Nothing in the law recognises the split between the employer on paper and the client that directs the work. See the Employer of Record glossary entry.

We found no law-firm, Big4 or regulator commentary on EOR, employee leasing or outstaffing in Armenia. Concern Dialog’s guide in Chambers Employment 2026 has no section on it and says new forms of work are not regulated, with no legislative initiative expected (Chambers, checked 2026-10-10). That silence is not a statement that EOR is lawful. We read the Code in the 2023-10-25 edition; the February 2026 amendments are known only from Concern Dialog.

• Employer by statute. Only indefinite and fixed-term contracts exist (arts. 94-95); a “temporary employment contract” means a contract of up to two months (art. 101), not agency work.
• Vendor statement. Vardanyan & Partners, an Armenian law firm, says it offers an Armenian EOR through its own wholly owned Armenian entities (armenian-lawyer.com, checked 2026-10-10). It is a statement about its own service, not commentary on legality.
• Foreign employers. Labour law does not cover employment between a foreign employer and an employee who does not live permanently in Armenia (art. 7(5)); where a foreign employer hires an Armenian-resident person, Armenian labour law applies (art. 7(4)). The text is an English translation and part 4 reads oddly, so treat this as our reading.

Risks for the client:

• Reclassification. Work without a written employment contract is illegal employment; the employee can ask a court to establish the relationship from the actual start date and up to one year after it ends (art. 102). A court can apply labour law to a contract styled as civil-law (art. 7(6)). That also matters if you engage a contractor who works like staff.
• Tax presence. PwC says a non-resident creates a permanent establishment by providing services through employees or other hired personnel for 183 days or more in a tax year within one project. Whether EOR workers count as the client’s hired personnel is not addressed in the sources we found (pwc.com, checked 2026-10-10). See permanent establishment.
• Foreign hires. A law-firm source says employing a foreigner without the required permit or outside the electronic platform carries employer fines; we did not find the amounts. From 2026-11-01 a contract with a foreigner may be signed only after an electronic confirmation.
• Exit cost. Two months’ notice plus one month’s salary for redundancy, graduated notice and 10-44 days’ pay for unsuitability or incapacity, and a dismissal ban during sick leave, leave and pregnancy. The EOR passes these on to you.
• Late salary. 0.15% of the sum due per day, up to the sum due.

Who actually employs your hire in Armenia

We searched the Armenian company register (e-register.moj.am) by brand name on 2026-10-10. The open record shows the number, date, tax ID and address but not the founders, so no provider’s ownership could be checked there. “Own entity” below means a provider’s own statement or document, backed here by a matching register number for Remote only.

Prices checked 2026-10-10 for Remote and Deel, 2026-10-07 for the rest. “None found by name” is a limit of a name search, not a finding of non-compliance. Not counted: Oyster, Papaya Global, Rippling (contractors page only), RemotePass, Rise, Kleos, Remozo, Boundless, Atlas HXM and Justworks, for which we could not confirm EOR in Armenia.

One of the 13 says which Armenian company employs your hire; four have a company with their name in the register but don’t claim it, and eight name none. It matters because that company signs the contract, withholds the 20% tax and applies for any permit. Before signing, ask: “Which Armenian company signs my employee’s contract, and what is its registration number?”

How to choose an EOR in Armenia

Want a named employer? Remote says it owns its Armenian entity and its Local Terms carry a number that matches a register entry. For the other 12, ask for the company name and number in writing; where the register shows a company with a provider’s name, ask whether that is the one.

Hiring a non-EAEU foreigner? Only an Armenian employer can apply, so you need an EOR with an Armenian entity or your own. From 2026-11-01 quotas replace the labour-market test and a contract may follow only after an electronic confirmation. Ask who files, how quotas affect the timeline and who carries the AMD 105,000 state fee in the price.

Is speed the priority? Deel says a hire can start in as little as 3 days, Playroll 1-5 working days (plus up to 3 for right-to-work checks), Rivermate, Remote People and Safeguard Global 1-2 weeks. All are vendor claims.

Price against completeness? On an Armenian page Deel shows from $599 and Remote $699; the rest show global prices or none, from $99 at Native Teams. Compare after you have the entity answer, and ask what exit costs: the statutory dismissal benefit above is the floor.

What it costs to employ someone in Armenia through an EOR

The statutory cost on top of gross pay is zero, so the figure to budget is the gross salary. The employer is a large-payroll EOR entity in Yerevan with a tax-resident office or IT employee born after 1973, on an indefinite contract. Gross pay is AMD 18,000,000 and AMD 36,000,000 a year (AMD 1,500,000 and AMD 3,000,000 a month), about USD 49,733 and USD 99,467 at 1 USD = AMD 361.93, the Central Bank’s official rate dated 2026-10-09 (cba.am, checked 2026-10-10).

Not included: employer-paid sick pay for the first five working days (law-firm source, not checked against the law), leave pay, severance, any EOR-specific insurance and the AMD 105,000 state fee for a foreigner’s residence card. The 10% income tax rate for certified high-tech companies is not applied, since an EOR is not one.

The EOR’s own fee comes on top. On an Armenian page Deel shows a management fee from $599 a month and Remote $699 per employee a month. Global list prices for the others run from $99 (Native Teams) to $639 a month (top of Rivermate’s range); Safeguard Global publishes none. Deel’s Armenia page also lists an employer liability cost of 0.60%, described as an administration fee.

Hidden costs: none published. No provider we checked publishes a setup fee, deposit, minimum term or termination fee for Armenia. Treat a blank as unpublished, not zero.

When you don’t need an EOR

• A genuinely independent contractor. A freelancer invoicing a foreign client usually registers as an individual entrepreneur; the turnover-tax regime for services is 10% of turnover, open to those under AMD 115,000,000 a year (pwc.com, checked 2026-10-10). See how to pay contractors in Armenia and our hiring guide. The risk is on the contractor side too: where a court finds an employment relationship under a civil-law contract, labour legislation applies (art. 7(6)). See contractor misclassification and EOR vs PEO.
• Your own entity. The route if you want to be the Armenian employer on a work permit yourself. A vendor guide says registering a company takes 2-3 working days through the register (playroll.com, checked 2026-10-10).
• Employing without any entity. Labour law does not cover a foreign employer’s relationship with an employee who does not live permanently in Armenia (art. 7(5)), but applies where the employee is Armenian-resident (art. 7(4)). Whether a foreign client can employ an Armenian-resident person directly without registration, and the tax-agent consequences, we did not analyse; see permanent establishment.

What changed in 2026

• 2025-12-25: the employee health insurance contribution becomes mandatory above AMD 200,000 gross a month (AMD 4,800 up to AMD 500,000, AMD 10,800 above); stamp duty is cut to AMD 1,000 up to AMD 1,000,000 and AMD 15,000 above, from December 2025 salary (pwc.com, checked 2026-10-10). The universal health insurance system itself entered into force on 2026-01-01 (Schneider Group, checked 2026-10-10).
• 2026-01-01: individual entrepreneurs pay AMD 129,600 a year of mandatory health insurance if 2025 turnover exceeded AMD 2,400,000, and stamp duty falls to AMD 12,000 a year up to AMD 12,000,000 of turnover (easylife.am, checked 2026-10-10).
• 2026-01-01: the minimum wage stays at AMD 75,000; no rise to AMD 85,000 has been enacted that we found.
• February 2026: Labour Code amendments move hiring, changes and termination of employment to a centralised digital system from 2027-07-01, with paper contracts kept in a few cases, such as a person outside Armenia working outside Armenia (Chambers, checked 2026-10-10). Dates differ across sources: Vardanyan & Partners says 2026-01-01; we use Concern Dialog’s date and did not read the law.
• 2026-11-01: amendments to the Law on Foreigners and the Law on State Duty take effect. Annual government quotas replace the labour-market test; a Work Entry Visa lasts up to 120 days, once per calendar year; a contract with a foreigner may be signed only after an electronic confirmation on the unified platform; exemptions narrow; residence may be revoked if no new contract is registered within 15 working days after dismissal; new fees apply. This is from EY’s alert and law-firm summaries; we did not read the law (EY, checked 2026-10-10).

Numbers vendors haven’t updated

• Minimum wage. In force: AMD 75,000 gross a month since 2023-01-01. Deel’s Armenia page names AMD 68,000; Remote People’s guide gives AMD 85,000 from 2026, citing ARKA; Remote’s, Multiplier’s and Skuad’s pages give AMD 75,000 (deel.com, remotepeople.com, checked 2026-10-10).
• Income tax. Deel’s page says “flat 21% in 2022” and 20% from 2023; the rate in our sources is 20% (deel.com, pwc.com, checked 2026-10-10).
• Employer contributions. Borderless AI’s guide notes that “one source indicates 0% employer contributions, while another states 21%”; our sources show none borne by the employer (hireborderless.com, checked 2026-10-10).
• Overtime. G-P’s page says night and overtime work is paid double; the Labour Code sets at least 50% extra for overtime and 30% for night work, and double for consented work on rest days and holidays (globalization-partners.com, Labour Code, checked 2026-10-10).
• Work permits. G-P’s page says foreigners need no work permit; the Migration and Citizenship Service describes employment-based residence for foreigners outside the EAEU (globalization-partners.com, Migration Service, checked 2026-10-10).
• Public holidays. G-P’s page gives 10 and Playroll’s lists 15. We did not confirm the list from the law, so we don’t say which is right.

How we built this page

Data was collected and checked on 2026-10-10 against the Labour Code in the English consolidated text current to 2023-10-25, PwC tax summaries, the Migration and Citizenship Service and law-firm material; amendments after the Code edition are known only from Concern Dialog and law firms. Provider entities were searched in the Armenian company register by name where possible, and the open record doesn’t show founders, so otherwise entity claims rest on the providers’ own pages. Providers are ordered with the one that states its own entity first, then the rest by how much Armenia-specific information and price they publish. No provider pays for placement.