Employer of Record (EOR) providers in the Caucasus region: Comparing the top 5 companies
- Gegidze • გეგიძე | Marketing
- Jun 3
- 17 min read
Table of contents:
Introduction: You’re ready to hire in the Caucasus, but are you legally ready?
Here’s what no one says out loud:
You’re late.
While you’ve been stuck in HR limbo or passing over “maybe later” devs in Georgia,
Your competitors? They’ve been hiring quietly, legally, and effectively.
They figured out how to access top-tier tech talent in Tbilisi, Yerevan, and Baku.
Without setting up a local entity;
Without dodgy freelancer contracts;
Without asking their finance team to “just wire it and we’ll fix it later.”
They’re using EORs.
And maybe you are too.
Or maybe you’re about to.
But unless you’ve looked past the polished dashboards and buzzwords, you have no idea what you’re walking into.
This isn’t about picking a provider.
This is about avoiding the one that blows up your IP rights, payroll compliance, or onboarding timeline in three different legal systems.
So we made you this guide.
It’s not nice.
It’s not neutral.
It’s not sponsored.
It’s a field manual for hiring in the Caucasus, cleanly, quickly, and without the usual screwups.
What you’ll get:
The 5 EOR providers that actually operate here
Who’s fast, who’s vague, and who’s just reselling someone else’s infrastructure
What does it cost without “talk to sales” blockers
Who’s right for your model, and who’ll slow you down
Read this, and you’ll know what to do.
Skim it, and you’ll be the company still “evaluating options” while someone else signs your talent.
What an EOR really does in the Caucasus (and what they don’t)
If you’re planning to build a remote team across Georgia, Armenia, or Azerbaijan, here’s the truth:
Your employment structure matters more than your tech stack.
Because no matter how talented your hire is, if the contract’s invalid, the taxes aren’t filed, or the IP isn’t enforceable under local law, you’re not scaling, you’re gambling.
That’s where an Employer of Record (EOR) comes in.
But let’s be clear:
Not every EOR is built for the Caucasus.
And not every EOR does what you think they do.
Let’s break it down, exactly what you’re getting when you hire through a real EOR in this region.
What an EOR actually does in the Caucasus Region
1. Legally employs your hire under a local entity
You don’t need to set up a company in Tbilisi, Yerevan, or Baku.
The EOR does it for you. Legally. On paper. Cleanly.
They become the official employer.
You manage the day-to-day.
You give the direction.
They handle the government filings.
This gives your employee a real job, not a freelancer workaround. And you get a full legal structure without a single trip to a local registry office.
2. Handles taxes, payroll, and mandatory benefits
Let’s be honest: you don’t want to figure out:
Georgia’s 20% flat income tax
Armenia’s tiered income tax + military stamp
Azerbaijan’s social insurance contributions for different employment types
Or any of the required pension payments, payslip formats, or monthly filings
A legit EOR takes all of that off your plate.
They:
Calculate gross-to-net
Deduct and pay taxes and contributions
Issue payslips
File reports with each country’s tax authority
Send you one clean invoice, monthly
3. Draft enforceable contracts in the right language
If your contract is in English only, good luck defending it in a Georgian labor court.
A real EOR provides:
Bilingual employment contracts (Georgian, Armenian, Azerbaijani + English)
IP ownership clauses that hold up under local law
Clear NDAs, confidentiality, and termination language that’s locally valid
Custom clauses that match how your company actually works
You don’t need to speak the language.
You just need to work with someone who does, and who gets it signed right.
4. Handles terminations, resignations, and severances legally
Each country in the Caucasus has its own rules on:
Notice periods
Grounds for termination
Severance
What happens when someone resigns
Final payments and deregistration
Mess this up, and you could be facing a wrongful dismissal claim—or worse, backdated compensation.
An EOR shields you from that.
They run the paperwork, handle the filings, and make sure it’s all done by the book.
What an EOR doesn’t do
Let’s keep expectations tight. A great EOR is a legal infrastructure partner, not your HR team.
They don’t:
Recruit candidates for you
Manage performance or give feedback
Train or onboard your hire into your company culture
Run your sprints, manage tasks, or monitor output
Replace internal HR or team leads
You still lead. You still manage.
The EOR just makes sure you’re not doing it from a legal black hole.
Before you pick a provider: 5 questions that actually matter
Every EOR says the same thing:
“We handle everything.”
But in the Caucasus region, where Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan each have different laws, tax structures, contract requirements, and employment risks, “everything” rarely means what you think it does.
Some EORs outsource to local firms.
Some onboard in six weeks.
Some won’t tell you their pricing until your second sales call.
So before you choose anyone, ask these five questions.
Because they’re the difference between clean, compliant hiring and legal chaos waiting to happen.
1. Do they have a legal setup in all three countries, or are they winging it?
This is non-negotiable.
If your EOR doesn't operate directly in Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, they're probably routing your hire through a third-party agency. Which means:
You don’t control the contract
You don’t know who’s liable
You can’t guarantee compliance
And if things go wrong, misclassification, benefit disputes, IP issues, you’ll be the one explaining it to investors or lawyers.
Ask:
“Do you have direct employment infrastructure in all three countries or do you work through local partners?”
If they dodge the question or say, “We cover the region,” you’ve got your answer.
2. What’s the real onboarding timeline?
Your new hire is ready now. Not in five weeks. Not “as soon as our legal team reviews your request.”
You want a provider that can move in days, not months.
Ask for specifics:
How long from contract approval to legal employment?
When will taxes and social contributions be registered?
What happens if the hire needs to start fast?
At Team Up, we average 7–14 days across all three countries. If a provider can’t give you a hard number, be prepared to wait.
3. Is the pricing flat and transparent, or salary-based and vague?
This one bites the hardest, because it’s usually buried.
Some EORs charge a percentage of your employee’s salary. That means the more you pay your team (which you should), the more you pay them.
Worse? It’s rarely mentioned upfront.
Ask directly:
“Do you charge a flat fee per employee, or does it scale with salary?”
If they say “it depends,” assume the worst.
Team Up charges a flat fee per country, no markups, no surprises.
4. Can they guarantee IP protection and contract enforceability locally?
A contract in English, signed by your HR team, might feel official.
But in Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, employment contracts need to meet local language and labor law standards to be enforceable.
And if your IP clause doesn’t hold up under local law?
You might not even own the work your employee builds.
Ask:
“Are your contracts bilingual and enforceable in local labor courts?”
“Can I review a sample IP clause that holds up under Georgian/Armenian/Azerbaijani law?”
No good answer = red flag.
5. What happens when you part ways with an employee?
Terminations aren’t just awkward, they’re regulated.
If your provider doesn’t know how to manage a compliant exit in each country, you’re risking:
Severance miscalculations
Wrongful dismissal claims
Backdated benefits or tax liabilities
Ask:
“What’s the exact offboarding process in Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan?”
“Who handles the documentation and final filings?”
If they don’t have a clear, country-specific answer, keep looking.
Top 5 EOR providers in the Caucasus region: Brutally honest comparison
Hiring in the Caucasus sounds like a smart move, until you try to actually do it.
Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan each have their own labor codes, tax systems, contract laws, and compliance risks. Most Employer of Record (EOR) providers group them under “Eastern Europe,” outsource the hard parts, and hope you don’t ask too many questions.
That’s how you end up with a misclassified dev, an unenforceable contract, or unpaid tax penalties you never saw coming.
Here’s the real breakdown: who’s actually operating in the region, who’s just passing you off to a partner, and who’s worth your money.
1. Team Up
The only provider built for this region
This isn’t a side product for us. It’s the core. We’re built for startups hiring in Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. No fake promises. No guessing.
What we do:
Operate legally across all three countries
Draft bilingual, locally compliant contracts
Handle onboarding in 7–14 days
Run payroll, tax filings, benefits, and terminations
Charge a flat monthly fee: €199
Offer fast, real human support, not forms and bots
Best for: Startups, scaleups, and product-first companies that want legal clarity, speed, and no corporate layers
2. Remote.com
Big brand. Big platform. But the Caucasus isn’t a priority
Remote looks good on the surface: modern UX, big-name clients, “global” coverage. But if you’re hiring in the Caucasus, expect long onboarding, generic contracts, and vague answers about legal responsibility.
Here’s the fine print:
Georgia is covered, Armenia and Azerbaijan may be routed through partners
Contracts are often generic templates
Support can be slow or automated
Pricing is hidden until you speak to sales; expect €500–€700 per hire
Best for: Larger companies already in their system who need a single vendor, not speed or regional nuance
3. Skuad
Looks modern, feels lightweight, and that’s the problem
Skuad’s platform is clean. The onboarding is simple. But when things get legally complex, localized IP, severance payouts, and Armenian labor disputes, it’s clear this isn’t their strong suit.
What to expect:
Georgia and Armenia are supported. Azerbaijan is not.
Onboarding takes 2–4 weeks
Contracts may lack legal customization
Pricing starts around $399/month
Support is not regionally specialized
Best for: Companies hiring a couple of roles who don’t need deep compliance or speed
4. Mercans
Corporate-compliant, but slow and stiff
Mercans has legal entities in Georgia and Azerbaijan and knows its way around compliance. But their systems feel built for procurement teams, not fast-moving companies. Onboarding feels like a government process.
Pros:
Real infrastructure, not just outsourcing
High legal accuracy
Good for long-term enterprise builds
Cons:
Complex workflows
Onboarding can take 3–6 weeks
Custom pricing that’s rarely startup-friendly
Best for: Enterprises hiring in bulk with legal and HR departments involved in every hire
5. Papaya Global
A global payroll platform that treats the Caucasus like a footnote
Papaya is trying to be the Shopify of global HR. And that works fine in core markets. In the Caucasus, not so much.
Here’s what you’re actually getting:
No clear local entities in Georgia, Armenia, or Azerbaijan
Partners do the backend. Papaya does the UI
You’ll pay €600–€900/month per hire
Onboarding is slow (4–6 weeks)
Contracts often require your legal team to review and fix
Best for: Companies hiring in 15+ countries who want centralized systems and can tolerate friction in fringe markets
Comparison table
Provider | GEO | ARM | AZE | Contracts | Avg. Onboarding | Pricing | Local Legal Depth | Best For |
Team Up | Yes | Yes | Yes | Bilingual | 7–14 days | €199–€299 | High | Startups, lean teams |
Yes | Partial | Partial | Semi-local | 2–4 weeks | €500–€700+ | Medium | Global ops, low urgency | |
Skuad | Yes | Yes | No | Basic | 2–3 weeks | $399+ | Low–Medium | Low-risk, single hires |
Mercans | Yes | No | Yes | Strong | 3–6 weeks | Premium | High | Enterprise, legal-first hiring |
Papaya Global | Partial | Partial | Partial | Partner-made | 4–6 weeks | €600–€900+ | Low | Compliance at scale |
EOR vs PEO vs Contractor in the Caucasus: What’s the Risk?
Here’s where most companies mess it up.
They find great talent in Georgia, Armenia, or Azerbaijan.
They want to move fast.
And instead of setting up legal employment, they go for a contractor agreement or try to share employment through a PEO without even checking the local law.
It works, until it really doesn’t.
The Caucasus is not the Wild West.
Each country has real labor codes, real penalties, and real consequences for getting it wrong.
Let’s break down what these three models really mean in this region, and why Employer of Record (EOR) in the Caucasus region is the only structure that actually works if you don’t have a local entity.
Option 1: Employer of Record (EOR)
This is what we do at Team Up.
You stay in control of the team.
We take on the legal responsibility on paper, in court, and with the government.
What it means:
You don’t need to open a local entity
We become the legal employer on paper
You manage the day-to-day work
We handle payroll, taxes, social contributions, contracts, and terminations
Everything is compliant, local, and enforceable
Country-by-country snapshot:
Georgia: 20% flat income tax, mandatory pension, IP protection must be in the local contract
Armenia: Tiered income tax, military stamp duty, contracts must be in Armenian to be valid
Azerbaijan: Distinct tax regime, strict classification rules, payroll filings in Azerbaijani
If you don’t have a local legal team in all three? EOR is the only way to stay out of trouble.
Option 2: PEO (Professional Employer Organization)
PEOs sound great, until you realize what they really require.
A PEO is a co-employment model.
That means you need your own local legal entity in Georgia, Armenia, or Azerbaijan.
You’re responsible for some of the compliance, they handle the rest.
If you don’t already have a company registered in the country?
You can’t use a PEO.
Even if you do, the downsides include:
Shared liability for payroll and legal issues
More admin for your internal team
Less speed, more complexity
Not built for lean teams or small-scale hiring
Unless you’re already registered and have in-country HR? Skip this route.
Option 3: Contractors
This is the most common shortcut and the most dangerous one.
If your team member:
Works only for you
Uses your tools
Reports to your manager
Joins your daily meetings
Takes your direction
They’re not a contractor under local law.
They’re an employee.
And when a contractor is treated like an employee?
You risk:
Tax violations and back payments
Social contribution claims
Invalid contracts
IP disputes (you might not own what they build)
Termination risk, especially if they file a claim
The worst part? You don’t even find out you’re in trouble until it’s too late.
Real-world risk breakdown
Model | Entity Required | Legal Employer | IP Protection | Tax & Payroll Compliance | Risk Level |
EOR | No | EOR | Strong | Fully managed | Low |
PEO | Yes | Shared | Strong | Shared burden | Medium–High |
Contractor | No | You (unofficially) | Weak | Unfiled, often noncompliant | High |
The Caucasus is one of the best regions in the world to build remote teams, if you do it right.
That means legal contracts, local tax filings, enforceable IP clauses, and fully compliant payroll.
Anything less is a liability.
If you’re not ready to set up legal entities across three countries, and you don’t want to gamble with contractor risk, there’s one model that actually works: EOR.
What does it cost to use an EOR in the Caucasus
Let’s get to what you actually care about:
What does it cost to hire someone in Georgia, Armenia, or Azerbaijan through an EOR, and what’s hidden behind that “contact sales” button most providers love so much?
Here’s the honest, breakdown-from-the-ground-up version. No vague ranges. No fake “global averages.” Just real numbers, by country, from someone who’s actually done this more than once.
First, what are you paying for?
When you hire through an EOR, you’re covering:
Your employee’s gross salary
The EOR service fee (monthly per employee)
Add-ons (optional): equipment, private health insurance, coworking space, stipends
That’s it. If your provider adds extra surprise fees, you’re with the wrong one.
1. Average Gross Salaries in the Caucasus Region (2025)
Let’s get clear on benchmarks. Here’s what you’re realistically paying for strong, mid-level talent, not juniors, not unicorns.
Role | Georgia (€) | Armenia (€) | Azerbaijan (€) |
Software Engineer | 1,500–2,200 | 1,200–1,800 | 1,600–2,400 |
Senior Backend Dev | 2,300–3,000 | 2,000–2,800 | 2,500–3,200 |
QA Engineer | 1,200–1,600 | 1,000–1,400 | 1,400–1,800 |
Product Manager | 1,800–2,500 | 1,600–2,300 | 2,000–2,700 |
UI/UX Designer | 1,400–2,000 | 1,200–1,700 | 1,500–2,200 |
Customer Support (EN) | 800–1,100 | 700–1,000 | 900–1,200 |
These numbers aren’t made up. They’re pulled from actual placements we’ve made and reviewed in the past year.
2. Team Up’s flat EOR fee
Let’s talk service fees, where most providers get quiet.
Here’s what Team Up charges:
Country | Monthly EOR Fee (Flat) |
Georgia | €199 |
Armenia | €199 |
Azerbaijan | €299 |
No salary-based percentages. No tiered upsells. No mystery charges.
Just a flat, transparent rate that gets you:
A fully legal, bilingual employment contract
Payroll processing and local tax filings
Social contribution and pension management
Sick leave, holidays, and terminations handled
Monthly payslips and reporting
One invoice, one line item
We don’t touch the salary. What you offer, they receive—clean and clear.
3. Add-ons (Optional, but often useful)
Service | Cost (Estimate) |
Laptop Procurement | €700–1,100 (one-time) |
Health Insurance | €50–100/month |
Coworking Desk | €100–150/month |
We can include any of these in payroll and handle it all from vendor coordination to documentation.
What the talent pool looks like in the Caucasus region
Let’s kill the myth:
The Caucasus isn’t some “emerging market.”
It’s emerged, and it’s already powering the backends, product stacks, and support teams of global startups and scaleups.
Georgia. Armenia. Azerbaijan.
Three different countries, one shared reality:
Skilled, English-speaking, remote-ready professionals at a fraction of what you'd pay in the EU or US.
Here’s what the talent pool really looks like when you cut through the fluff and look at what companies are actually hiring here.
Engineering & technical roles
You’re not getting bootcamp grads learning on your dime. You’re getting:
Mid-to-senior software engineers with experience in Python, Node.js, Java, .NET
Frontend developers strong in React, Angular, and Vue
Full-stack engineers who’ve built real products, not just cloned apps
Mobile devs with Flutter, iOS, and Android under their belts
QA engineers who can run automation suites, not just click buttons
DevOps pros fluent in CI/CD, Terraform, Docker, and AWS/GCP
And no, you won’t have to explain GitHub or async communication to them.
Product, design, and growth roles
There’s more to the region than dev talent. Companies are quietly building full cross-functional teams here:
Product managers with startup experience and real roadmap ownership
UX/UI designers with clean portfolios, Figma skills, and user-first thinking
Content marketers and copywriters fluent in English and tone
SEO and performance marketers running paid campaigns across Meta, Google, and LinkedIn
Customer support agents fluent in English, sometimes French, German, or Russian, too
They’re already supporting global brands. They just haven’t been overhired and underpaid yet.
Remote experience & communication
One of the biggest myths? That you’ll need to “teach” remote culture.
Reality:
These professionals are already working with teams across Europe, the UK, and the U.S.
Most have used Slack, Notion, ClickUp, GitHub, and Jira longer than your current intern
They’re fluent in written and spoken English
And yes, async is the default, not a training module
You’re not onboarding someone new to remote. You’re plugging in someone who knows how to work.
Work ethic & retention
The Caucasus doesn’t have the same churn culture you’ll find in major tech hubs.
Here’s what you get instead:
Loyalty: Employees are looking for stability and meaningful work, not a quick raise
Fair pay goes far: A €2,000/month salary in Tbilisi or Yerevan isn’t just competitive—it’s a serious career move
Professionalism: Punctuality, communication, documentation—it’s all there
Long-term mindset: If you offer structure, they stick
You’re not competing with FAANG offers. You’re competing with local agencies and outdated setups. Which, honestly, is a nice place to be.
Talent density by country
Georgia: Strong tech scene. Developers, QA, DevOps, product roles. High English fluency. Very remote-ready.
Armenia: Known for deep engineering talent. Big diaspora. Strong in data science, backend, and fintech.
Azerbaijan: More under-the-radar, but growing fast. Design, frontend, and support roles are strong. Great English speakers.
How we set up remote hires in Georgia, Armenia & Azerbaijan
Here’s the part where most companies stall:
You’ve found the right person. They’re in Tbilisi, Yerevan, or Baku. They’re excited, available, and ready to go.
But your legal structure? Still in “we’ll figure it out” mode.
That’s where Team Up steps in.
We don’t just help you hire.
We make hiring in the Caucasus actually work.
No DIY contracts. No local entity setup. No dragging your lawyer into tax meetings.
Just compliant onboarding in three countries, handled.
Here’s how we do it.
Step 1: You pick the person. We make it legal.
Once you’ve chosen your hire, we start with what matters most:
A fully compliant, bilingual employment contract.
What you get:
Contracts drafted in Georgian + English, Armenian + English, or Azerbaijani + English
Terms that follow local labor law
Enforceable IP, confidentiality, and termination clauses
Full review, signing, and storage—all tracked
You keep full control of your team.
We take care of the paperwork that makes it official.
Step 2: Payroll, taxes, and social contributions? Done.
Each country in the Caucasus comes with its own system.
We’ve built internal processes to handle every part of it.
We manage:
Payroll calculations and disbursement (net to employee, gross for you)
Income tax filings with the proper authorities
Social contributions and pension schemes (yes, they vary by country)
Payslip generation and documentation
Currency conversion, if you’re paying in EUR/USD
You get one invoice per month. Your team gets paid. Everything is filed, tracked, and logged.
Step 3: Onboarding that doesn’t lag
We don’t just sign the contract and disappear.
We prep your new hire for remote work, clean, fast, and ready.
Need us to:
Provide a laptop or home office stipend? Done.
Get them access to a coworking space in Tbilisi or Yerevan? Handled.
Set up private health insurance? We’ve got options.
We don’t slow you down with long forms or disconnected tools.
We get your hire from offer to “ready to work” in 7–14 days.
Step 4: Support for your hire. Clarity for your ops team.
Your employee won’t be chasing you with HR questions. They’ll come to us.
We handle:
Sick leave, holidays, and parental leave tracking
Payroll questions and documentation
Compliance questions in their local language
Contract changes, salary updates, and offboarding
Your ops team gets one point of contact.
Your hire gets answers from someone who knows the local law.
No guesswork. No escalation delays.
Step 5: Clean exits, no loose ends
If you need to offboard an employee, whether it’s a resignation, restructuring, or performance issue, we manage the entire process.
That includes:
Compliant termination documentation
Final payments and tax filings
Exit interviews and local legal filings
Government deregistration and closing the employment file
We make sure it’s respectful, legal, and clean. Every time.
Bottom line: Which EOR is best for your hiring strategy?
By now, you’ve seen it all.
The polished global platforms.
The vague pricing tiers.
The “we cover everywhere” claims with zero clarity about who actually runs payroll in Baku.
If you’re serious about hiring in the Caucasus, not just playing at global expansion, the choice isn’t complicated. It comes down to what you need most: speed, compliance, local expertise, or scale.
Here’s the real takeaway from the noise:
If you want to move fast and stay compliant across the Caucasus…
→ Go with Team Up.
Operates directly in Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan
Flat fees: €199–€299/month
Onboarding in 7–14 days
Local contracts in English + native language
Real IP protection, real support, no outsourced guesswork
Built specifically for startups, lean ops teams, and scaleups
We don’t do 50 countries.
We do three right.
If you’re already using Remote.com and hiring globally…
→ Stick with them, but manage your expectations.
Their UI is clean, but support in the Caucasus is minimal. Legal risk rises when you start improvising contracts.
If you want a basic setup and can live with surface-level compliance…
→ Skuad might work.
Just know the contracts may not be enforceable locally, and you’ll be doing more than you think on your side.
If you’re enterprise-scale and slow is fine…
→ Mercans or Papaya Global will check the boxes.
They’re heavy-duty, slow to onboard, and priced like you’re running payroll in 10 countries, because you probably are.
Final word
The Caucasus is ready. The talent is here. The structure to hire them, legally, cleanly, and without the chaos, is what most teams get wrong.
Team Up exists to get that part right.
Fast onboarding. Flat fees. Real contracts. Zero BS.
Want your first hire in Georgia, Armenia, or Azerbaijan to live within two weeks?
Frequently asked question
What is an employer of record in Caucasus Region?
An employer of record in Caucasus Region (EOR Caucasus Region) serves as the legal employer for your hires in Georgia, Armenia, or Azerbaijan. They handle contracts, payroll processing, and compliance so you can hire employees in Caucasus Region without entity setup.