Employer of Record in Latvia: 17 Providers Compared (2026)

Employing someone in Latvia: key facts

Latvia sets one national minimum wage and one employer social insurance rate of 23.59%. Working time, leave and dismissal follow the Labour Law. Everything below is statutory unless marked otherwise.

Minimum wage

One national rate, no regional or sector statutory rates. The hourly minimum is calculated from the monthly amount by a formula in the Cabinet regulation (lm.gov.lv, checked 2026-10-07).

A 2027 rate of EUR 820 or 835 appears only as a proposal in the Ministry of Welfare’s material of 2026-04-29; we found no decision, so it is not in the table or the chart.

Employer contributions

The employer pays one state social insurance contribution (VSAOI) and a small fixed fee. The employee’s 10.50% is withheld from gross (likumi.lv, checked 2026-10-07).

• At the cap the employer VSAOI is EUR 24,840.27 a year (our arithmetic: 23.59% x 105,300). Pay above the cap is not subject to VSAOI and falls in the solidarity-tax base; we did not read who pays that tax.
• VSAOI and the risk fee are paid by the 23rd of the following month (vid.gov.lv, checked 2026-10-07).
• The rate was 23.59% and the fee EUR 0.36 in every year 2021-2026, so there is no history chart. The cap was EUR 62,800 in 2021, EUR 78,100 in 2022-2024 and EUR 105,300 in 2025-2027 (Grant Thornton Latvia, vid.gov.lv, checked 2026-10-07).

Working hours and overtime

• Regular working time: at most 8 hours a day and 40 a week; 7 and 35 for work with special risk (at least 50% of the time). The day is one hour shorter before public holidays unless set otherwise (Labour Law arts. 131, 135) (likumi.lv, checked 2026-10-07).
• Overtime needs the employee’s written agreement, except urgent public need, force majeure or urgent unexpected work. It may not exceed 8 hours on average in a seven-day period, averaged over up to 4 months (art. 136).
• Supplement of at least 100% of the hourly or daily rate for overtime and for work on a public holiday (art. 68(1)). A sector-wide general agreement with a sector minimum wage at least 50% above the state minimum may lower the supplement, but not below 50%.

Annual leave and public holidays

• Annual leave: at least four calendar weeks of paid leave, public holidays not counted (art. 149(1)). Leave may be split if one part is at least two uninterrupted calendar weeks. Leave for the first year can be requested after six continuous months (art. 150(3)). Leave pay is average earnings; unused leave is paid out only on termination (likumi.lv, checked 2026-10-07).
• Public holidays: 1 Jan; Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Easter Monday; 1 May; 4 May and 18 November (moved to the next working day if on a weekend); Pentecost; 23 and 24 June; the final day of the Nationwide Latvian Song and Dance Celebration when held; 24, 25, 26 and 31 December (likumi.lv, checked 2026-10-07).
• We did not compute the 2026 holiday count or the conversion of four calendar weeks to working days.

Probation

• Up to 3 months; 6 months only if a collective agreement with a trade union allows it. In a fixed-term contract of up to 6 months, at most 1 month; up to 1 year, at most 2 months. No probation for under-18s; incapacity and other justified absence do not count (art. 46, 47(1)) (likumi.lv, checked 2026-10-07).
• During probation either side may terminate with 3 days’ written notice, and the employer need not give a reason.

Notice and severance

The employer may dismiss only on the grounds in art. 101. Employer notice depends on the ground (likumi.lv, checked 2026-10-07):

• Employee notice: one month unless the contract or a collective agreement sets less (art. 100). Periods are minimums. Grounds 1-5 need the employee’s written explanation first. Collective redundancy rules were not read.
• Statutory severance applies to dismissal for lack of competence, health, reinstatement of a previous employee, staff reduction or liquidation (art. 112(1)): 1 month of average earnings under 5 years with the employer, 2 months for 5-10 years, 3 months for 10-20 years, 4 months over 20 years. Larger amounts may be set by contract. No severance for dismissal for misconduct.

13th salary and bonuses

Not mandatory. We found no 13th-month payment in the Labour Law sections read, and no source states this either way; bonuses are paid by contract, collective agreement or practice (likumi.lv, checked 2026-10-07).

Mandatory benefits

• No private-insurance mandate in the law sections read. Statutory cover runs through VSAOI.
• Sick leave: the State Social Insurance Agency (VSAA) pays sickness benefit starting from the 10th day of illness; the employer pays for the first nine days. We did not confirm the percentages for days 2-9 from a current official source (vsaa.gov.lv, checked 2026-10-07).
• The employer funds mandatory health examinations (art. 28(4)).

Work permits

• EU, EEA and Swiss citizens and their family need no work permit; the employer registers the employee with the State Revenue Service (nva.gov.lv, checked 2026-10-07).
• Non-EU nationals need a visa or residence permit with the right to work for a specific employer, issued by the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs. Since 2025-01-01 the employer first needs an NVA opinion on the vacancy, published on the NVA portal for at least two months, and must pay at least the average gross wage of the sector (nva.gov.lv, checked 2026-10-07).
• The invitation is made by a Latvian-registered employer. Whether a foreign EOR without a Latvian entity can sponsor is not stated in the sources we read.
• The new Immigration Law, in force from 2026-09-15, refuses an invitation or residence-permit sponsorship from a labour supply provider that is an inactive taxpayer, was founded in the last six months or has tax violations in the State Revenue Service rating (arts. 21(1)(8), 26(1)(16)) (likumi.lv, checked 2026-10-07).
• Employment-based temporary residence permits match the ID card: local hire up to 1 year, EU Blue Card up to 2 years. Cobalt adds that Russian citizens cannot request a visa with the right to work (art. 18(3)) (cobalt.legal, checked 2026-10-07).
• We found no current official page for the 2026 salary threshold or the Blue Card threshold, nor for exceptions to the NVA opinion.

Currency and payroll

EUR. Wages are paid at least twice a month unless employee and employer agree on once a month; if the payday falls on a rest day or holiday, pay comes before it (art. 69) (likumi.lv, checked 2026-10-07). Reference rate on 2026-10-06: 1 EUR = 1.1269 USD (ecb.europa.eu, checked 2026-10-07).

Is Employer of Record legal in Latvia?

Allowed with limits. Latvia has no EOR statute. It regulates the model through work placement services of the labour supply type (darbaspēka nodrošināšana): the provider is the employer and sends the employee for a specified time to a person under whose management the work is done (Labour Law art. 4(2); Support for Unemployed Persons and Persons Seeking Employment Law art. 17(1)-(2)) (likumi.lv, checked 2026-10-07). Whether a permanent EOR arrangement, with an open-ended contract and a long placement with one foreign client, counts as such a service, no statute, NVA page or law-firm text we found says. Only Cobalt’s 2026 immigration article names EOR providers as labour supply providers, and only for immigration rules. The translations we read may not include the latest amendments. See also the Employer of Record glossary entry.

The rules that matter to a client:

• Licence. Only merchants with an NVA licence may provide work placement services, including securing a workforce. The licence names countries and types of services and is issued for an unspecified period under the regulation text we read (Cabinet Regulation No. 458, a translation valid to 2024-04-29); the NVA list shows end dates for current entries, which we couldn’t reconcile (likumi.lv, checked 2026-10-07).
• Licence conditions. Registered under commercial law; no tax debt over EUR 150; no labour, labour-protection, consumer-protection or unfair-practice offences in the last year (warnings excepted); no insolvency or liquidation; no listed convictions of board members. State fee EUR 142.29, in a text that may be outdated. A labour supply applicant attaches a draft employment contract and a sample contract with the user (paras 9, 11).
• Licence-holder duties. Written contracts with the user and the worker; pay not worse than in the job offer; no fee taken from the worker; an annual report to the NVA by 25 January; the NVA notified within 10 working days of changes and each new partner contract; licence number stated in advertising (para 24, 26).
• Foreign EU providers. A provider registered in another EU state with the right to provide the service there must notify the NVA in writing before starting in Latvia, with a copy of the home authority’s document. When it posts an employee to Latvia it must also notify the State Labour Inspectorate beforehand (Support Law art. 17(4); Labour Law art. 14) (likumi.lv, checked 2026-10-07). A provider with no Latvian entity and no home-state licence regime was not analysed.
• Employer is the provider. The contract states that the employer is the work placement provider and that the employee also follows the user’s working procedures and orders insofar as they don’t contradict the employer’s. The provider tells the employee in writing, before placement, who the user is (art. 4(2), 40(8)) (likumi.lv, checked 2026-10-07).
• Equal treatment. The provider ensures the same working time, rest time, pay, protection of pregnant women, recent mothers and young workers, and equal rights as if the employee were employed directly by the user (art. 7(4)-(5)).
• Duration. A fixed-term contract needs a ground in art. 44 and may not exceed five years including extensions; otherwise the contract is open-ended. We found no ground or time limit specific to agency work (arts. 43-45).
• Immigration. See work permits above: new tax-status and age conditions for labour supply providers from 2026-09-15, plus the NVA opinion.

Risks the client carries:

• Working conditions and damage. The user owes the placed employee safe and harmless working conditions (except mandatory health examinations) and answers for losses it causes; the employee answers to the user for losses caused (art. 28(4)-(6)). The user must also inform the employee of free positions and give access to its facilities and transport on the same terms as its own staff (art. 96.1) (likumi.lv, checked 2026-10-07).
• No-hire clauses are void. Agreements that prohibit or limit the provider’s employee from establishing an employment relationship directly with the user are void. The provider may claim only reasonable compensation for placement, recruitment and training costs if the employee moves (Support Law art. 17(7)-(8); Labour Law art. 96.1(3)) (likumi.lv, checked 2026-10-07).
• Disclosure of your conditions. Equal-treatment duties fall on the provider but depend on the client’s conditions, so you must disclose pay and working conditions to it. Unpaid wages or contributions are the provider’s liability; we found no joint liability of the client for them in the texts read.
• Unlicensed provider. A provider without a licence, or one whose licence is cancelled, cannot lawfully provide the service; a contract with it risks the placement being treated as illegal and the relationship challenged (likumi.lv, checked 2026-10-07). We did not confirm any fine amount, or whether a fine could fall on the client.

See also co-employment.

Who actually employs your hire in Latvia

We compared the 17 providers that operate in Latvia with two public sources, by name and by company ID of each Latvian company we found. The first is the NVA’s list of licensed work placement providers (a Latvian-language file, updated 2026-10-02, about 410 entries) and its register of cancelled licences (nva.gov.lv, checked 2026-10-07). The second is the open data of the Latvian company register, Uzņēmumu reģistrs (data.gov.lv): names, registration numbers and company participants. We did not request beneficial owners. “Not found by name or company ID” is not non-compliance: a vendor may use a differently named entity or a partner.

All checked 2026-10-07. “Own entity (in NVA list)” means the Latvian company holds an NVA licence; “Own entity (registry)” means a Latvian SIA is registered and its sole participant is a company of the brand; “Own entity (vendor says; registry)” adds the vendor’s own statement. Six providers are not in the table because no source confirms an EOR offer in Latvia: Papaya Global (site unreadable at check), Rippling (no Latvia page), Rise (a Latvian company, Rise Works Latvia SIA, was registered on 2026-04-17, but the vendor states no EOR offer in Latvia), Kleos and Remozo (Latvia not mentioned on their pages) and Boundless (its Latvia guide says “Content coming soon”).

Ten of the 17 don’t name their Latvian employer. Three match entries in the current NVA list (Remote, Justworks’ similarly named company, Safeguard Global’s Global PEO Services Latvia), and one entry, G-P’s, sits in the cancelled-licence register. That matters because the NVA licence is the one public sign we found of the regime Latvian law applies to labour supply, and no source says that it applies to a permanent EOR hire. Before signing, ask: “Which Latvian company signs my employee’s contract, what is its NVA licence number or home-state notification, and does it cover a permanent hire with us?”

How to choose an EOR in Latvia

Want a visible licence? Remote is the one provider whose own terms name the Latvian employer, call it a temporary employment agency under Article 17, and match an NVA entry. Justworks and Safeguard Global match entries too, with the links described in the table. Ask whichever you shortlist for the licence number and for what the licence covers, because we read the list as of 2026-10-02 only.

Hiring a non-EU national who needs a work visa? Three conditions apply: an NVA opinion on the vacancy, a wage at least the sector average, and, from 2026-09-15, a provider that is an active taxpayer, over six months old and clear of tax violations. The link between that rule and EOR is Cobalt’s reading. Ask the provider in writing which Latvian company would invite the person and how its tax record stands.

Expect a long hire? We found no statutory time limit on agency work and no ground required for an open-ended contract, but the law describes placement “for a specified time”, and no source says how that applies to a permanent EOR hire. A fixed-term contract needs a ground and ends at five years including extensions. Ask the provider in writing how it structures a hire of several years, or weigh your own entity. Your protection is that a no-hire clause is void.

Price against completeness? Among prices on a Latvia page, Playroll is lowest at $399 per month, then Deel, G-P and Justworks at $599. Of the three licence matches, Justworks shows $599 on its Latvia page and Remote lists $699 globally; Safeguard Global publishes none. Price tells you nothing about the legal basis; compare it after you have the answer to the question above.

What it costs to employ someone in Latvia through an EOR

The EOR is a large-payroll employer in Latvia. Gross pay is EUR 3,700 and EUR 7,400 a month (EUR 44,400 and EUR 88,800 a year), about USD 50,000 and USD 100,000 at the ECB reference rate of 1 EUR = 1.1269 USD on 2026-10-06 (ecb.europa.eu, checked 2026-10-07). Both salaries are below the EUR 105,300 contribution cap, and the EUR 780 minimum wage is below both.

The employer rate and the fee were unchanged in every year 2021-2026, and the cap rose from EUR 62,800 to EUR 105,300 without touching either salary, so a history chart would show a flat line.

Not included: employer-paid sick pay for the first nine days of illness, mandatory health examinations, annual leave pay (part of pay), any employer pension or private insurance, and the EOR fee. Accident-at-work cover is inside VSAOI. There is no mandatory 13th salary to add.

The EOR’s own fee comes on top. Prices are in USD per employee per month. Four vendors show a price on a Latvia page: Playroll from $399, and Deel (management fee), G-P and Justworks at $599. Starting prices elsewhere in the table are global and run from $99 (Native Teams) to $699 (Remote, Oyster); RemoFirst shows a second tier from $599 up to $1,200. Safeguard Global, Remote People and Papaya Global publish none that we could find. Per-vendor figures are in the table above.

Hidden costs, where published:

• Oyster says it “does not add extra charges for essentials like setup and onboarding, talking to HR experts, or processing terminations”, and requires a refundable deposit of an unpublished amount (global statements, oysterhr.com, checked 2026-10-07).
• Playroll lists setup cost as none and no long-term obligation (playroll.com, checked 2026-10-07).
• Deel’s page lists an “Employer Liability Cost”, an administrative fee of 0.60%, and estimates employer cost at 24.19% of salary (23.59% contribution, EUR 5 health and safety training and the EUR 0.36 fee) (deel.com, checked 2026-10-07).
• For every other vendor, setup fee, deposit, minimum term and termination fee are not published for Latvia. Treat a blank as unpublished, not zero.

When you don’t need an EOR

• A genuinely independent contractor. If the person sets their own hours and tools and can serve other clients, a contract is closer to the real relationship. See how to pay contractors in Latvia and our hiring guide. A contract that hides employment risks the label being challenged; see contractor misclassification.
• Your own Latvian entity. The route to weigh when the hire is long-term and you want to be the employer on the contract. Vendor estimates for the cost of setting one up differ: Playroll’s page puts incorporation at 15 to 25 business days and EUR 2,000 to EUR 4,000 (playroll.com), Remote People’s at 2 to 4 months and $3,000 to $8,000 upfront (remotepeople.com), checked 2026-10-07. These are vendor figures, not ours.
• A non-EU hire. The invitation is made by a Latvian-registered employer, so the sources we read don’t confirm that a foreign company without a Latvian entity can sponsor the person. This is a reason to ask the provider before choosing, not a reason to skip one.

What changed in 2026

• 2026-01-01: the national minimum wage rose from EUR 740 to EUR 780 a month; the Ministry says employer labour costs rise for staff paid EUR 740 or less (lm.gov.lv, checked 2026-10-07).
• 2026-01-01: the employer VSAOI rate stayed at 23.59%, the contribution cap at EUR 105,300 (2025-2027) and the business risk state fee at EUR 0.36 a month (Cabinet Regulation No. 651 of 4 November 2025) (vid.gov.lv, likumi.lv, checked 2026-10-07).
• 2026-06-07: the EU Pay Transparency Directive transposition deadline passed. Latvia’s draft act was still with the Cabinet and not adopted by the Saeima in the sources we read; the draft proposes pay in job advertisements, first reports by 2027-06-07 and fines up to EUR 14,000. We did not confirm adoption since (ela.law, lewissilkin.com, checked 2026-10-07).
• 2026-09-15: the new Immigration Law replaced the 2002 law (adopted 2026-08-20). Invitations for employment are refused if the inviting labour supply provider is an inactive taxpayer, founded in the last six months or has tax violations; employment-based temporary residence permits follow the ID card, local hire up to 1 year and Blue Card up to 2. One secondary source mentions 2027 for parts of the law, which we did not resolve (likumi.lv, checked 2026-10-07).
• 2026-10-02: the date of the NVA licence list used on this page (nva.gov.lv, checked 2026-10-07).

Numbers vendors haven’t updated

• Minimum wage. The rate in force is EUR 780 from 2026-01-01. RemoFirst’s Latvia page gives EUR 500, and Borderless AI’s gives EUR 700 “as of 2024”. Multiplier’s page states the minimum in USD, 778 a month. Remote and Skuad give EUR 780. Remote’s and Deel’s pages also list EUR 820 for 2027, while the Ministry’s material of 2026-04-29 only proposes EUR 820 or 835 (remofirst.com, hireborderless.com, usemultiplier.com, remote.com, skuad.io, deel.com, checked 2026-10-07).
• Employer cost. The statute gives VSAOI 23.59% plus EUR 0.36 a month. Deel’s page estimates 24.19% of salary and adds a 0.60% administrative fee; Multiplier gives 23.59%; Native Teams and Playroll work from 23.59% in their examples, Playroll adding EUR 15 for occupational health (deel.com, usemultiplier.com, nativeteams.com, playroll.com, checked 2026-10-07).
• Sick pay. VSAA’s page says benefit starts from the 10th day of illness, so the employer covers the first nine. Oyster’s and G-P’s pages say the employer pays 10 days, with 75% on days 2-3 and 80% on days 4-10; Remote’s says 75% for 2 days and 80% up to day 10. We could not confirm these percentages from an official source (vsaa.gov.lv, oysterhr.com, globalization-partners.com, remote.com, checked 2026-10-07).
• Public holidays. Remote’s page gives 12 public holidays in the text and 14 in its payroll block. We did not compute the 2026 count (remote.com, checked 2026-10-07).

How we built this page

Facts were collected and checked on 2026-10-07 against Latvian legislation (likumi.lv), the Ministry of Welfare, the State Revenue Service, VSAA, the NVA and law-firm material; several laws were read in English translations that may not include the latest amendments. We checked the NVA licence list (updated 2026-10-02) and its cancelled-licence register for each vendor by name and company ID, and used the open data of the Latvian company register for company details; where a vendor operates through a differently named entity or a partner, our search cannot see it. Vendors are ordered with confirmed and stated own entities first, then those that do not disclose; no vendor pays for placement.