Employer of Record in Pakistan: 19 Providers Compared (2026)

Employing someone in Pakistan: key facts

Labour law in Pakistan is provincial, so the rules below are Punjab’s (Lahore); Sindh appears only where we have its figures. We read the Punjab Labour Code 2026 in full text from a CLR copy; the Punjab Labour Department site didn’t open, so wage notifications come from press and advisory copies.

Minimum wage

The rate is set per province by its Minimum Wages Board, for unskilled workers; skilled categories are higher.

• No 2026-27 Punjab notification was found as of 2026-10-01; the Punjab rate is unchanged per Mercans.
• The date and gazette of the 2025 Punjab notification come from pakera.pk, a secondary page. An office or IT employee is paid far above this floor; it matters mostly as the base for EOBI and PESSI.

Employer contributions

The employer pays two statutory contributions, and both are charged on the minimum wage, not on actual pay. In Punjab that makes them a fixed amount.

• Total employer cost: about PKR 52,800 a year, whatever the salary. There is no employer pension or health premium on actual pay and no 13th salary.
• PESSI ceiling not confirmed. Secondary sources put the wage limit above which a worker leaves PESSI at PKR 30,000-37,000 for 2024 and conflict. If an office salary falls outside it, the true figure is PKR 24,000 (EOBI only).
• EOBI base. Mercans says EOBI and provincial social security use the minimum wage of the province of employment; for a Punjab hire we use PKR 40,000. Islamabad’s PKR 40,700 would give PKR 2,035 a month.
• Sindh: EOBI on PKR 43,000 from July 2026, employer PKR 2,150 a month; SESSI 6% up to a wage limit we didn’t analyse.
• Profit-based items. The Punjab Code sets a profit bonus (s.253) and a 5% Workers’ Participation Fund (s.255); both depend on company profit and are not in our cost examples.
• Pending. An EOBI Bill 2026 would raise total contributions from 6% to 10% over five years; its passage wasn’t confirmed (CLR, checked 2026-10-10).

Working hours and overtime

• Normal hours are 8 a day and 48 a week (s.176); seasonal establishments 9 and 50, continuous processes 56 a week. A five-day week may run up to 10 hours a day without overtime if the week stays within 48 and the Chief Inspector approves (s.179(1)(c)).
• Overtime needs the employee’s agreement, up to 2 hours a day and 8 a week. Pay is 2x the normal hourly rate for ordinary and rest-day overtime (or a substitute rest day within 3 days) and 3x on a public holiday (s.179). Supervisory and managerial staff can be exempted by rules (s.186) (Code, checked 2026-10-10).

Annual leave and public holidays

• 18 calendar days of paid annual leave after 12 months of continuous service; the leave year runs 1 January to 31 December, pro rata for part years (s.192). Under the repealed Shops and Establishments Ordinance it was 14 days.
• Paid sick leave is 8 days a year, accumulating up to 16 (s.193); paid casual leave 10 days (s.195).
• Public holidays: the Code fixes no number. The employer gives paid leave on every day the Government declares a holiday (s.183). We didn’t find the 2026 Punjab list (Code, checked 2026-10-10).

Probation

• Up to 3 months; either party may end the contract at any time during probation without notice. A probation that expires without notice counts as passed and as part of service (s.144).
• On a fixed-term contract, probation is proportionate to the term (Code, checked 2026-10-10).

Notice and severance

• Notice: 30 days in writing, or 30 days’ last-drawn pay in lieu, unless gross misconduct; the same for resignation. A micro-enterprise with under 10 employees owes 14 days (s.150).
• During notice the employee gets one extra paid day off a week to look for work. Dues are payable within 2 working days of termination (s.165(12)).
• Gratuity is 30 days’ pay for every year of service after the first (over 6 months in the last year counts as a full year), payable on termination by either side except gross misconduct, in establishments with 20 or more workers (s.159). No gratuity is due for years covered by an employer provident fund that matches the employee’s contribution (s.161).

Source: Code, checked 2026-10-10. We read the table from extracted text, and the wording for the two upper bands is ambiguous; check it against the gazette before relying on it. Both salaries in our cost examples sit in the top band.

13th salary and bonuses

• Not mandatory: the Code has no 13th-month pay. Eid and similar bonuses exist by contract or custom only.
• A profit bonus (s.253) applies to employers with 20 or more employees that make a profit: 15%-30% of profit, split 70/30 between lower- and higher-paid staff. It is profit-based, not a fixed salary (Code, checked 2026-10-10).

Mandatory benefits

• EOBI pension for employers with 5 or more workers (a secondary source; the statutory threshold wasn’t confirmed against the Act) and PESSI health and cash benefits for covered workers (PESSI, checked 2026-10-10).
• Paid maternity leave of 6 weeks before and 8 weeks after delivery (s.197).
• A 5% Workers’ Participation Fund and a profit bonus where the company qualifies. No mandatory private health or life insurance.

Work permits

• A foreign employee needs a work visa, applied for by the employer on the NADRA e-visa portal and handled by the Board of Investment. Documents: passport, photo, an employment letter from an SECP-registered company showing salary and duration (or a sponsorship letter); company profile, SECP certificate and FBR NTN certificate on request.
• The entry or extension visa is valid 2 years, multiple entry. Processing takes 4 weeks and issuance is at the Government’s discretion. We found no published salary threshold.
• The holder must be sponsored by a Pakistani company, so a foreign client without a Pakistani entity cannot sponsor directly. Whether an EOR can act as sponsor is not stated by the Board of Investment, and we don’t say either way (BOI, NADRA, checked 2026-10-10).

Currency and payroll

• Pakistani rupee (PKR). 1 USD = 277.004 PKR, the State Bank of Pakistan revaluation rate for 2026-10-09 (SBP).
• Pay is due daily, weekly, fortnightly or monthly, before the seventh day of the following month (s.165(11)); monthly is universal practice (Code, checked 2026-10-10).
• Employee income tax is withheld from pay and is not an employer cost. The Finance Act 2026 slabs for tax year 2027 apply from 2026-07-01, and the 9% surcharge on salary above PKR 10 million is abolished. There is no provincial or municipal income tax on salary.

Source: PwC, last reviewed by PwC 2026-08-24, checked 2026-10-10. Fixed amounts are the cumulative form used by the tax authority; zakat, education and charity deductions are not applied.

Is Employer of Record legal in Pakistan?

Grey area. No Pakistani statute names, licenses or bans an Employer of Record, and we found no Pakistani law-firm or Big Four publication on EOR. An EOR is a contract structure built on ordinary employment law, tested against the rules on contractors and agencies. The Punjab Labour Code 2026 (Act IX of 2026) applies to work done from home or by ICT within Punjab (s.12). Its deemed-employer tests include control over how the work is done, which describes a normal EOR client. That risk is real and, as far as we found, untested in court for foreign-client EOR set-ups.

• Contractor test (s.7(4)). A principal that engages a worker through a contractor is deemed the employer if (a) the arrangement is a device to deprive the worker of employee rights, (b) the contractor supplies the principal’s core operations, or (c) the principal retains control over the means and method of the work.
• Employment agencies (s.205-210). An agency is a company that supplies workers and is their employer. No permanent engagement through an agency for the principal’s core operations (s.205); the supply contract must be in writing, with a copy to the area Inspector within two weeks (s.206). Workers are deemed employees of the principal if supplied in breach of s.205 or if they work for it for more than three months (s.209), with equal pay and conditions to comparable direct employees (s.210).
• Facts over labels (s.132-133). A person engaged is an employee unless the employer shows the worker is free of its control, works outside its usual business and is customarily independently established. Calling an employee a contractor is prohibited.
• Own presence. A foreign company can open a branch or liaison office under the Companies Act 2017 (ss.434-443) and the SECP Foreign Companies Regulations 2018; per law-firm summaries the Board of Investment’s permission is required for both (Mughal Barristers, checked 2026-10-10). That is outside the EOR model. SECP registration is also what lets an employer sponsor foreign staff.
• Dates and caveats. The Code was enacted on 2026-02-10 and reported in force from 2026-05-29 by The Nation and Dunya News; we didn’t see the gazette notification, and the rules under it were still being drafted in early 2026. We read the s.7(3)-(4) numbering from the CLR copy, and the clause may be numbered differently in the gazette. Sindh has not enacted its Labour Code (a bill), so Sindh employment sits under older laws and an EOR set-up differs by province (CLR, checked 2026-10-10). Whether s.7(4) and s.205 reach a foreign client with no Pakistani establishment is a question for a Pakistani law firm.

Risks for you as the client:

• Deemed employer. Under s.7(4) and s.209, if you direct the worker’s daily work or the worker is on your core operations, labour authorities may treat you as the employer, with the Code’s rights (gratuity, leave, notice, union rights) running against you (Code, checked 2026-10-10).
• Courts look through contractor arrangements. On 2024-04-04 the Supreme Court dismissed IFFCO’s petitions and upheld declarations that contractor-supplied workers were the company’s permanent employees; in February 2026 the Sindh High Court repeated that workers on permanent duties cannot be denied rights through a contractor (Josh and Mak, Dawn, checked 2026-10-10).
• Permanent establishment. The Income Tax Ordinance (s.105) taxes a non-resident’s Pakistani permanent establishment on its profits, and the definition covers a fixed place of business including an office. Whether an EOR-employed worker creates one for you depends on whether they habitually conclude contracts or run a fixed place for you; we found no Pakistani ruling on EOR and permanent establishment (FBR, checked 2026-10-10).
• Misclassification. Treating someone as a freelancer while the work looks like employment is presumed employment under s.132 and prohibited by s.133.

Background: Employer of Record, co-employment, permanent establishment, contractor misclassification.

Who actually employs your hire in Pakistan

Most vendors describe their entity model globally. Here we separate what a vendor says about Pakistan from anything we could verify. The SECP company search needs an interactive session and didn’t open for us, so no entity below is checked against a register, and no vendor gives a registration number. A vendor statement is a claim, not proof of who employs your hire.

Sixteen of these 19 providers don’t say which company employs your hire in Pakistan, and the three that do name none. We couldn’t check any entity against the SECP register. Before signing, ask: “Which Pakistani company, with which SECP registration number, will employ my hire, and will it register my hire with EOBI and PESSI?”

How to choose an EOR in Pakistan

Which province is your hire in? Everything above is Punjab, under the Labour Code 2026. Sindh has no labour code yet and keeps older laws, and its minimum wage is PKR 43,000. Ask each vendor which provincial law and social-security body it applies to your hire’s location; Remote People’s page gives the Sindh social-security rate as both 6% and 7%.

How much will you direct the work? The Code’s deemed-employer tests turn on control over how the work is done and on three months of work through an agency. Ask each vendor in writing how its Pakistan structure addresses s.7(4), s.205 and s.209, and whether it holds a Pakistani legal opinion. We found no law-firm view on EOR to point to.

Does your hire need a work visa? A Pakistani company must sponsor, and the Board of Investment doesn’t say whether an EOR can. Get written confirmation that the vendor’s entity will sponsor. Remote People says its price depends on whether a visa is sponsored (Remote People, checked 2026-10-10).

Is a named employer or a Pakistan price the priority? Remote, Borderless AI and Atlas say they own an entity, but none names it. Pakistan-page prices are Remote People $199-499, Skuad $249, Playroll $399, Borderless AI $579 and Justworks $599 a month; the rest are global or unpublished. The statutory contributions are the same for every provider.

What it costs to employ someone in Pakistan through an EOR

Statutory employer cost in Pakistan is a fixed amount: EOBI 5% and PESSI 6%, both charged on the PKR 40,000 Punjab minimum wage, not on salary. The two examples use PKR 13,850,000 (about USD 50,000) and PKR 27,700,000 (about USD 100,000) a year at 1 USD = 277.004 PKR (State Bank of Pakistan, 2026-10-09). Employee income tax and the employee’s 1% EOBI are withheld from pay and are not an extra cost for the client.

Source: EOBI, PESSI, Vialto, checked 2026-10-10.

The EOR’s own fee is on top of the above. Per month, five vendors show a figure on a Pakistan page: Remote People $199-499, Skuad $249, Playroll $399, Borderless AI $579 and Justworks $599. Everything else is a global list price or absent: Native Teams from $99, RemoFirst from $199, RemotePass from $349 billed annually, Rivermate $319-639, Pebl $399, Atlas from $599, Deel from $599, Remote $699 and Oyster $699. Rippling and Safeguard Global are quote-based; Multiplier, G-P and Papaya Global are unconfirmed.

Hidden costs, where published: no vendor publishes a setup fee for Pakistan. Playroll’s global FAQ lists a fully refundable security deposit equal to one month’s salary per onboarded employee and no offboarding fee (Playroll, checked 2026-10-10). Skuad shows a lower rate with a 12-month commitment and a monthly plan without one. Oyster says its flat pricing has no hidden fees and no termination charges (Oyster, checked 2026-10-10).

Basis: an EOR with a large payroll in Punjab (Lahore) employing an IT or office employee; 2026 rules, PKR.

When you don’t need an EOR

• A genuinely independent contractor. Someone who serves their own clients and isn’t under your direction. See how to pay contractors in Pakistan and our hiring guide. The Code presumes employment until the worker shows they are free of your control, work outside your usual business and are independently established (s.132-133), so an exclusive full-time “freelancer” may be recharacterised; that is contractor misclassification. The tax side: an IT exporter registered with the Pakistan Software Export Board pays a final 0.25% on export proceeds, withheld by the bank (extended to tax year 2029), or 1% without registration. No social contributions are charged on freelancer income (PwC, checked 2026-10-10). Registration needs an NTN, a CNIC and proof of IT export, and payments must come through banking channels.
• Your own Pakistani presence. A branch or liaison office under the Companies Act 2017, with Board of Investment permission per law-firm summaries; SECP registration is also what lets you sponsor foreign staff. Playroll puts a local company at 8-14 weeks and $4,000-8,000 for SECP and legal costs, and Oyster puts entity setup at 6-8 weeks; both are vendor estimates (Playroll, Oyster, checked 2026-10-10).

What changed in 2026

• 2026 (no exact date) - EOBI Bill 2026, a proposal: the Government would pay contributions, the total rate would rise from 6% to 10% over five years, the base would be tied to the Islamabad unskilled minimum wage and coverage would start at 5 workers. Passage not confirmed (CLR).
• 2026-02-10 - Punjab Labour Code 2026 (Act IX of 2026) assented to by the Governor, after the Provincial Assembly passed it on 2026-02-04. It consolidates more than two dozen laws and repeals, among others, the Shops and Establishments Ordinance 1969, the Standing Orders Ordinance 1968, the Payment of Wages Act 1936, the Punjab Industrial Relations Act 2010 and the Punjab Minimum Wages Act 2019 (s.435). New or changed for employers: 18 days of annual leave, 30-day notice both ways, a 3-month probation cap, gratuity of 30 days per year with pay-based caps, restricted non-compete clauses (s.163), a ban on pay secrecy (s.162) and the deemed-employer rules (CLR).
• 2026-02-22 - The Sindh High Court (Dawn) dismisses State Bank of Pakistan petitions and repeats that workers on permanent duties cannot be denied employee rights through a contractor (Dawn).
• 2026-05-29 - Punjab notifies the Code as in force across the province, including contract, gig, home-based and digital workers, as reported by The Nation and Dunya News; we didn’t see the gazette notification.
• 2026-06-12 - The federal budget 2026-27 raises the minimum wage and gross salary floor for civil employees from PKR 37,000 to PKR 40,700 from 2026-07-01 (Daily Pakistan).
• 2026-07-01 - Finance Act 2026: new salaried income tax slabs for tax year 2027 (eight bands from 0% to 35%; the 20%, 25%, 29% and 32% bands are new, and the top rate starts at PKR 7,000,000); the 9% surcharge on salary above PKR 10 million is abolished; the zero band stays at PKR 600,000 (PwC).
• 2026-07-01 - The 0.25% final tax rate for PSEB-registered IT exporters is extended from tax year 2026 to tax year 2029; otherwise 1% applies (PwC).
• 2026-07-01 - Minimum wage for 2026-27: Islamabad PKR 40,700 (notified 2026-08-19) and Sindh PKR 43,000 (notified 2026-08-17), with arrears for July and August. No Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or Balochistan notification was found, so those rates are unchanged (Mercans).

All checked 2026-10-10.

Numbers vendors haven’t updated

• Minimum wage. Deel, Remote, Multiplier and RemotePass show PKR 37,000 on their Pakistan pages; Deel’s page also mentions PKR 40,000 in a social-security footnote. RemoFirst’s guide gives PKR 32,000 and PKR 44,000 “for 2024”. The Punjab rate has been PKR 40,000 since 2025-07-01 (The Nation, checked 2026-10-10). Remote People gives PKR 40,000 for Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad from 2025-07-01; Sindh is PKR 43,000 from 2026-07-01.
• Annual leave. Remote, Rippling, Skuad and G-P give 14 days. The Punjab Code sets 18 days (s.192; the repealed Ordinance had 14) (Code, checked 2026-10-10).
• Sick leave. Rippling, Skuad and G-P give 16 days at half pay; the Code gives 8 paid days a year, accumulating up to 16 (s.193).
• Hours and overtime. RemoFirst uses a 45-hour week; Rippling says up to 9 hours a day and overtime capped at 12 hours a week. The Code sets 48 hours a week and overtime of up to 2 hours a day and 8 a week (s.176, s.179).
• Maternity. Remote gives 18 weeks with contributions for 180 days, Multiplier 180, 120 or 90 days and Skuad 180 days under a 2023 federal law against 12 weeks in Punjab. The Punjab Code gives 6 weeks before and 8 weeks after delivery (s.197); we didn’t resolve how the federal and provincial rules fit.
• Gratuity source. Skuad cites Standing Order 12(6); the Standing Orders Ordinance 1968 was repealed by the Code (s.435), which sets gratuity in s.159.
• Social-security ceiling. RemoFirst puts SESSI 6% up to PKR 37,000 and Remote People a ceiling of PKR 40,000; the PESSI wage limit isn’t confirmed, and Remote People’s page gives Sindh as 6% in one place and 7% in another.
• Employer cost. Deel’s calculator estimates employer cost at 23.26% of salary, and Oyster cites 30-35% on top of gross as a general estimate, mentioning Eid bonuses twice a year. The statutory contributions above are PKR 52,800 a year, 0.38% of a PKR 13,850,000 salary; the vendors’ estimates may include items we don’t count.

How we built this page

Country rules and vendor data were collected and checked on 2026-10-10, from the Punjab Labour Code 2026, EOBI and PESSI pages, State Bank of Pakistan rates, PwC, law-firm and advisory summaries, and vendor pages. Several sites didn’t open directly and were read through text copies, and the Punjab Labour Department site didn’t open at all, so wage notifications rest on press and advisory copies. We couldn’t use the SECP company search, so no entity is verified in a register: where a vendor says it has its own entity we report it as its statement, and the rest are recorded as not disclosed. The order puts vendors that say they own an entity first, then the rest by how much Pakistan-specific detail they publish. Nobody pays for placement on this page.