Big Workforce, Right Skills: Finding the Best People for Your Team

Setting up a company abroad often means hiring local directors, a company secretary and staff.

Registering a company abroad sounds like paperwork: forms, fees and a name. In many places, though, the real challenge is people. Some jurisdictions expect foreign companies to employ local staff, especially if they want the tax benefits on offer, and that is why local staff recruitment often sits at the heart of an incorporation plan rather than at the end of it.

Directors Who Live There

Some jurisdictions with favourable tax regimes require local directors or shareholders before they will register a company. To count as a local resident, a person usually must be a citizen or hold a residence permit, whether temporary, permanent or a special one such as the Singapore EntrePass. There are also personal conditions: someone with a criminal record, or who is bankrupt at the time of registration, may not be eligible to serve as a director. Finding a suitable, eligible person in a country you do not know is exactly the kind of task that stalls a launch.

The Company Secretary Question

Another role that often has to be filled by a local resident is the company secretary. Rules fall into two common patterns. In some places the secretary may also be the sole director, so one local manager can cover both roles. In others the secretary cannot be the sole director, so you either hire two local people or hire one as director and secretary and add a second director, who can be a resident or a non-resident. Requirements for managing officers differ widely from one jurisdiction to another, and a company cannot be registered without them.

Beyond the Legal Minimum

Local recruitment is not only about managers the law requires. Hiring a local workforce can be part of the business case itself: Latvia, for instance, lists a low-cost skilled labour force among its main attractions, which makes hiring local staff a natural part of the incorporation strategy. In some residence permit investment programmes, foreign investors are asked to create new jobs on the local market, so recruitment can also support an investor’s residency plan.

Counting Heads Is Not Enough

The number of available workers usually tracks a country’s total population, so the biggest countries have the biggest labour pools. But size alone can mislead. Labour force participation rates matter, and so does the quality of the workforce: a large pool may still lack the specific skills your industry needs. When you compare destinations, look at how many people are available and how many of them are actually qualified for the roles you plan to fill.

A Local Partner Helps

With rules this different from one jurisdiction to the next, Confidus Solutions offers local staff recruitment through its international network of partners, covering the requirements of the most popular jurisdictions. Its experienced agents and lawyers can help you find eligible directors, a company secretary and local employees, and can incorporate a business in any jurisdiction worldwide, so the hiring and the registration move forward together. If you are planning a move abroad, a short consultation can show what your destination will ask of you before you spend a cent on filing.