Top 5 reasons companies choose an Employer of Record (EOR) in Georgia
- Valerian Gegidze
- Aug 19
- 11 min read
Table of contents:
Intro
Georgia is quietly becoming the hiring market that smart companies can’t stop talking about.
Not because it’s trendy. Not because someone slapped “next big thing” on a LinkedIn carousel.
Because it delivers what most markets can’t: compliant, cost-effective hiring in a region stacked with talent.
Now, you could go the “official” route, set up a Georgian entity, register with the Revenue Service, hire a local accountant, learn the labor code, and hope you didn’t miss the part about mandatory pension contributions.
Or… you could skip the red tape and use an Employer of Record.
An EOR is the fastest way to hire in Georgia without building a legal back office from scratch.
It’s how global teams go from “we’d like to hire here” to “they start Monday” without needing an in-house compliance department.
If you’ve read our complete hiring guide, you know exactly how the model works.
This article is about why the smartest founders and HR leads keep choosing it.
Five very good reasons.
The kind that saves you time, money, and the occasional panic call to a Georgian tax lawyer.
1. Highly skilled professionals without the high price tag in Georgia
If you think “budget-friendly” talent pool means cheap labour, let me stop you right there.
Georgia is a country full of high-caliber professionals, developers, designers, marketers, and managers, at rates that let you scale smart. Salaries are a fraction of what you’d pay in the US or Western Europe, but the skills, experience, and language fluency are fully on par.
This is why more startups, scaleups, and even Fortune 500s are beginning to build their teams in Tbilisi, Batumi, and beyond.
The salary comparison speaks for itself
Role | United States | Europe | Georgia |
Software Developer | $110,000 | $75,000 | $36,000 |
QA Engineer | $90,000 | $70,000 | $21,600 |
Data Scientist | $72,000 | $54,000 | $26,400 |
Graphic Designer | $50,000 | $42,000 | $18,000 |
Digital Marketer | $66,000 | $52,000 | $21,600 |
Content Writer | $55,000 | $45,000 | $15,000 |
Social Media Manager | $60,000 | $55,000 | $18,000 |
Project Manager | $84,000 | $66,000 | $20,400 |
HR Specialist | $70,000 | $62,000 | $16,800 |
Customer Support Specialist | $40,000 | $33,000 | $12,000 |
Remote hiring in Georgia means saving 50–70% on salaries without sacrificing expertise. That cost efficiency doesn’t just improve margins, it gives you the freedom to build bigger, stronger teams.
Why the quality matches the numbers
Georgia’s talent pool isn’t just affordable, it’s globally competitive. Many professionals are trained in STEM-heavy universities, speak fluent English, and already work remotely with European and US companies. Add in the country’s growing tech parks and startup ecosystem, and you’re looking at a workforce that understands international standards, not just local ones.
2. Direct access to Georgia’s skilled talent pool
Already hiring here.
And fast.
Why? Because Georgia has the one thing that makes EOR worth using in the first place: great people.
So, who’s actually available in Georgia?
Let’s break it down.
Georgia’s strongest hiring categories right now:
Tech & Engineering: Full-stack developers, mobile app engineers, DevOps, QA, and data analysts
Product & Project Management: Agile PMs, Scrum masters, tech leads
Multilingual Roles: English, Russian, Turkish, and German-speaking support, ops, and marketing specialists
This isn’t just junior talent either. Georgia has a deep bench of mid-level and senior professionals who’ve worked with US and EU-based companies, know how to handle async collaboration, and won’t ghost you mid-sprint.
But how do you reach this talent without a legal entity?
That’s where the Employer of Record (EOR) model shines.
An EOR like Team Up acts as your hiring bridge, giving you immediate access to local talent without needing to open a Georgian office, learn local employment law, or negotiate pension contributions.
You focus on picking the right person, and we handle everything else.
That means:
No legal bottlenecks
No contract delays
No compliance anxiety
And yes, we’ve got local recruiters too. So if you need help sourcing, not just signing, we’re here for that.
Remote? Hybrid? Full office setup? Georgia’s talent says yes.
Georgian professionals are used to working remote-first. Many were doing it long before remote was cool.
But for the right team, you can also build a hybrid or in-office setup, especially in hubs like Tbilisi and Batumi, where coworking spaces, design talent, and community meetups are thriving.
We’ve hired:
Remote-first teams with async workflows and Slack huddles
Hybrid setups using coworking spaces in Tbilisi
Small office pods for product and engineering teams
You choose the model. We make it legal, fast, and reliable.
Benefits matter. Don’t lowball your offer.
Even in a cost-effective market like Georgia, salary isn’t everything.
Want to hire (and keep) top-tier talent? You’ll need to offer benefits like:
Private health insurance
Gym or wellness stipends
Remote work equipment
Coworking space access
Paid leave that aligns with expectations—not just the bare minimum
The good news is:
We handle all of this, including employee benefits, insurance & workspace, as part of our EOR service. You don’t have to figure out what’s “standard” here; we already know.
3. Rapid market entry without a local entity
Let’s start with the elephant in the room:
“Can I hire in Georgia without opening a company?”
Yes. You can. And smart companies do it every day.
But not alone.
That’s where the Employer of Record (EOR) model flips the script on global hiring.
What’s stopping you from hiring in Georgia?
For most teams, it’s not the lack of talent. It’s the logistics.
And the question: EOR VS setting up a local entity in Georgia.
Here’s what it takes to hire an employee legally without an EOR:
Register a legal entity in Georgia
Appoint a local director
Set up a corporate bank account
Learn local payroll and labor laws
Draft bilingual contracts
Register for taxes, pension, and revenue service filings
Stay compliant with immigration law if the hire isn’t a Georgian national
Oh, and you’d better not mess up.
One wrong line in a contract? One late payroll filing? Welcome to audits, penalties, and a world of pain.
Unless, of course, you hand it off to someone who’s done it a hundred times.
How does an EOR let you hire without an entity?
An Employer of Record (EOR) becomes your legal employer in Georgia, on paper.
They:
Sign the employment contract with your hire
Run local payroll
File taxes and pension contributions
Stay on top of legal compliance
Sponsor immigration if needed
Handle contracts, terminations, and benefits
Meanwhile, you still manage the employee day-to-day. They’re in your Slack. They report to your team. You just don’t have to deal with local bureaucracy.
It’s the same outcome as opening a branch, without the legal baggage.
How fast is it really?
Pretty fast.
At Team Up, our onboarding process in Georgia typically looks like this:
You pick the candidate: Whether you sourced them or we did, we don’t care. You stay in control of the hire.
We draft a compliant Georgian employment contract: Dual language. Customized by role and aligned with Georgian labor law.
The employee signs: We register them with the tax and pension authorities.
Payroll starts: Salary gets paid in GEL, taxes get withheld at source, and everything’s filed correctly.
Average time from offer acceptance to legal onboarding? 3–5 business days.
Compare that to entity setup, which can take 4–8 weeks if you know what you’re doing.
That’s a month of lost productivity and possibly losing the candidate to someone faster.
What if the employee is relocating to Georgia?
Here’s where it gets even easier.
Georgia offers one of the world’s most flexible visa-free entry policies, 365 days with just a passport for 90+ countries.
So yes, your new hire can fly in tomorrow and start working. But if they’re staying longer or signing a Georgian employment contract, they’ll need a residence permit.
Good news: the EOR handles work permits, visas & immigration in Georgia, too.
They manage the application, file the paperwork, and keep things legal from day one.
Want the full immigration breakdown? Here’s how it works when relocating talent via EOR.
Why do companies choose this route?
Let’s recap. You get to:
Hire in Georgia without registering a local entity
Onboard fast with full legal protection
Stay fully compliant with zero legal guesswork
Focus on building a product, not battling bureaucracy
All while giving your new hire the stability of a legal job, paid in local currency, with real protections and benefits.
4. Lower overheads and transparent costs
Let’s get one thing straight:
Hiring in Georgia isn’t just “cheaper.” It’s smarter when done right.
But do it wrong, and that cost advantage disappears faster than your Series A runway after a bad hiring spree.
Flat-rate pricing vs. percentage pricing: why it matters
Some EORs use a % of salary model. Sounds simple, until you’re paying €400 a month just to legally employ your senior dev.
Others (like us) charge a flat monthly fee no matter who you hire.
Let’s break down how much it costs to use EOR in Georgia.
Role | Monthly Gross Salary | % EOR Fee (10%) | Team Up Flat Fee |
Junior Dev | €1,500 | €150 | €199 |
Senior Backend | €4,000 | €400 | €199 |
PM or Tech Lead | €5,000 | €500 | €199 |
If you're building a team, that percentage fee adds up fast.
You're not getting more service, you’re just getting taxed for hiring better people.
With Team Up’s flat fee, you get:
Predictable budgeting
No penalties for seniority
Real cost savings at scale
Georgia’s tax structure is your hidden hiring superpower
Let’s talk numbers:
20% flat income tax, withheld monthly
2% pension from the employer, 2% from the employee
No employer-paid social security or health contributions
No VAT on salaries
No surprise fees tucked into bank statements
Compared to EU markets where employer social costs hit 25–40%, Georgia is refreshingly… founder-friendly.
Here’s what that means in real life:
Hiring a mid-level backend developer at $2,000/month?
Your total cost with us, including salary, pension, tax filings, and EOR fee, is around $2,253/month.
That’s it.
We handle currency exchange, salary disbursement, tax compliance, and yes, the Georgian Revenue Service’s favorite filing portal.
No conversion losses. No late penalties. No “where did that GEL 200 go?” Slack messages from confused employees.
No fine print, no surprise add-ons, no FX drama
Other EORs love to bury costs in:
Exchange rate markups
Mid-transfer bank fees
“Regulatory adjustment” surcharges
Vague “platform” fees they can't explain
We don’t.
With Team Up, your invoice is:
One line
One currency (EUR or USD)
One clear number
And every month, your team gets paid on time, in full, in GEL with no drama.
5. Full compliance with labor & tax laws
Hiring in Georgia isn’t hard.
Hiring legally in Georgia? That’s where things get interesting.
If you think you can skirt the rules by calling your full-time engineer a “contractor,” wiring them cash, and hoping no one notices, Georgia’s tax authorities have entered the chat.
Spoiler: They notice.
What happens if you misclassify an employee?
A lot more than just awkward emails.
Let’s say you onboard someone in Tbilisi, assign them a company laptop, manage their hours, and invite them to stand-ups. But you don’t issue a legal employment contract. You pay them through Wise or PayPal, tell yourself it’s just “freelance,” and move on.
Until the Georgian Revenue Service decides otherwise.
Here’s what can follow:
Backdated income taxes (with interest)
Retroactive social contributions
Invalid contract disputes
IP ownership risk (yes, your code could legally belong to them)
Audit-triggering red flags across multiple jurisdictions
One startup we know spent months cleaning up a “contractor” mess and lost their Series A investor over it.
Here’s the full compliance checklist we use to avoid this exact disaster.
How does an EOR solve all of this?
Simple. They become the legal buffer between you and the bureaucracy.
Team Up acts as the official employer on paper, handling every legal requirement, while you stay focused on you know, running your company.
Here’s what we cover:
Employment Contracts (the real kind)
Drafted in Georgian and English
Aligned with the Labor Code of Georgia
Includes: gross salary in GEL, probation terms, benefits, and IP protection
Fully enforceable, so your IP stays yours, not in legal limbo
Payroll + Taxes
Income tax? 20% flat, withheld, and filed
Pension fund? 2% employer + 2% employee, filed on time
Monthly declarations to the Georgian Revenue Service
Payslip generation (no Excel hacks here)
Benefits & Leave
24+ days of paid annual leave (mandatory)
Maternity/paternity leave (state-covered but must be structured right)
Sick leave policies that keep you competitive
Public holidays (15 per year, paid)
Terminations (no HR horror stories)
Legal notice periods (usually 30 days)
Documentation for cause or mutual agreement
Accrued leave payouts
No shortcuts, no lawsuits later
We don’t just run payroll.
We run it legally, file everything, and stay ahead of labor code changes, so you’re never caught off guard by a tax inspector, or worse, a funding round due diligence request.
Georgia might be founder-friendly, but it’s not a free-for-all
Yes, the country wants you to hire here.
But no, that doesn’t mean they’ll look the other way if you cut corners.
And here’s the kicker: most EOR compliance issues don’t show up until it’s too late. When your bank flags a payment, your dev gets a visit from the Revenue Service, or your investor asks for HR docs you don’t have.
An Employer of Record prevents all of this from happening.
And Team Up does it with local expertise, not a copy-paste contract from a “global” platform.
Bonus: Workforce flexibility & scalability
In business, headcount decisions shouldn’t feel like marriage vows.
Markets shift. Funding rounds stall. New opportunities pop up in places you didn’t even have on your roadmap six months ago.
If you’re locked into the cost and complexity of a local entity, scaling your team up or down gets expensive fast.
Scale up without waiting on paperwork
With an Employer of Record, you can add a new hire in Georgia in days, not months.
There’s no entity setup, no office lease, and no tax registration to slow you down.
Need three developers for a product launch? We’ll draft contracts, register them for payroll, and have them shipping code before your next sprint review.
Scale down without entity closure costs
When you no longer need a role, offboarding is just as fast and fully compliant.
We handle:
Notice periods
Contract terminations
Accrued leave payouts
All the paperwork that the Georgian Revenue Service expects
No lawyers on retainer. No months-long entity closure process. No paying rent on an empty office just to keep a registration active.
Test a market without committing long-term
Not sure if Georgia is your next growth hub?
An EOR is perfect for trial markets and short-term projects.
You can:
Hire one or two people to validate the market
Run a 6-month expansion pilot
Build a hybrid local-remote team to see what sticks
If it works, keep scaling. If it doesn’t, you can exit without leaving legal loose ends.
Keep HR lean, focus on operations
Every hire you make through an EOR is one less payroll system to manage, one less labor law to memorize, and one less compliance risk to track.
You stay focused on building product, closing deals, and hitting targets, while we keep the legal, payroll, and benefits side running.
How to Choose the Right EOR Partner in Georgia
The wrong EOR will slow you down, cost you more, and make hiring in Georgia harder than it needs to be.
The right one will have you compliant, onboarding fast, and keeping talent happy.
Here’s what to look for.
Local expertise that’s actually local
Some EORs brag about “global coverage” but outsource the hard work to third-party firms you’ll never meet.
That’s a problem, because when the Georgian Revenue Service sends a question, you want your EOR answering directly, not relaying messages through three intermediaries.
Ask them:
Who drafts the contracts?
Who runs payroll and submits filings?
Who steps in if there’s a dispute?
At Team Up, we hire through our own Georgian entity. We know the law, the process, and the people because we do it ourselves.
Transparent fees you can actually budget for
Percentage-based pricing looks harmless until you realise you’re paying hundreds more every month just because you hired a senior developer.
Look for:
Flat monthly fees
No hidden FX markups
Clear breakdown of what’s included
We keep it simple: one fixed rate per employee. Your costs stay predictable no matter how senior your hires are.
Benefits management that attracts and keeps talent
In Georgia, salary gets attention, but benefits close the deal. A good EOR should:
Provide private health insurance options
Offer equipment and workspace solutions
Manage leave and pension contributions properly
It’s not just about compliance, it’s about making your offer competitive.
Ready to Hire in Georgia Without the Headaches?
Georgia has the talent, the cost advantages, and the business-friendly environment.
An Employer of Record makes it possible to tap into all of that without spending months (and thousands) setting up a local entity.
With Team Up, you get:
Fast, compliant onboarding in days, not months
Flat, transparent pricing
Local expertise that keeps you safe and competitive
Benefits management that attracts top talent
We’ve already helped companies across the US, UK, and EU hire in Georgia with zero setup stress and full compliance from day one.
Your next great hire in Georgia could be starting next week.
Let’s make it happen.
