Best Employer of Record · AsiaBest EOR for Asia: 17 countries priced

Seventeen Asian ledgers, one rule

The country table prices one employee at each country’s example salary through the three picks. The statutory part is what differs, and it differs by a factor of more than thirty across these seventeen countries. A ceiling is the reason most of them are low. Thailand’s social security is 5% of a base capped at THB 17,500 a month, so the employer pays at most THB 875 and the on-cost is 1.1% at $30,000. Hong Kong’s MPF is 5% up to HKD 30,000 of monthly relevant income, capping the employer at HKD 1,500: 3.1% at $75,000, and falling as pay rises. India’s EPF is charged on a capped basic wage, so its on-cost is at least 3.8% at $30,000. Japan reaches 14.1% and then stops, every branch capped, so a senior hire costs proportionally less. The Philippines caps SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG but adds a mandatory 13th month, reaching 14.2% at $20,000. Indonesia lands at 14.4% with its BPJS pension and health ceilings, and its religious holiday bonus carries no BPJS at all. Singapore’s CPF is 17% of ordinary wages up to a ceiling for citizens and permanent residents, 17.2% at $70,000 with the levy. South Korea reaches 19.5%, where the largest line is not a social insurance branch but the statutory severance accrual. Malaysia sits at 14.2%, almost all of it the 12% EPF, and its 1% HRD Corp training levy is one of the charges on this site that gets worse because you hired through a provider: it falls on employers with ten or more Malaysian staff, which every provider is and a small entity of your own would not be; Denmark’s AUB and France’s Fnal behave the same way. China runs highest here at 32.9% in Shanghai, and its rates are set city by city rather than nationally, so the city on the contract changes the number.

Six more ledgers joined in September 2026, and three of them show the ceiling doing something more extreme than capping. Pakistan is the clearest case on the whole site: both employer contributions are assessed on the notified minimum wage rather than on the salary paid, so the employer owes roughly the same fixed amount whatever the engineer earns, and the charge lands at 1.0% at $20,000 — a rate table alone would suggest about 11%. Bangladesh reaches 12.5%, and its own Labour Rules put an obligation on the provider that most comparisons miss: rule 17(2) requires any organisation supplying workers to other establishments — which is what an employer of record is — to bank one month of basic salary per year of service and pay it out by cheque when the worker leaves. Sri Lanka is the opposite shape, 15.0% with no ceiling at all: 12% to the Employees’ Provident Fund and 3% to the Employees’ Trust Fund on total monthly earnings, which is why its figure is written as a floor. Taiwan lands at 14.3% across five separate insurances, Kazakhstan at 14.7% across five charges that each run on their own base, and Vietnam at 23.5% — a figure that includes the 2% trade-union fee under article 29 of the Law on Trade Unions, in force since 1 July 2025 and absent from most provider estimates, which is what separates 23.5% from the 21.5% usually quoted.

Myanmar joined on 24 September 2026 at +0.2%, a ceiling that has not moved since 2014: the Social Security Board charges the employer 2% and 1% on wages up to MMK 300,000 a month, so at the basic rates the employer owes MMK 9,000 a month whatever the salary. Two other things decide a Myanmar hire. The first is the exchange rate the provider funds payroll at: the Central Bank of Myanmar publishes a reference rate of MMK 2,100 and a market trading rate of MMK 3,660, this site converts at the European Commission’s 3,985, and a kyat salary funded at 2,100 costs about 90% more in dollars. The second is coverage: Deel, Oyster, Remote, Rippling and Rivermate publish no Myanmar page, so the Myanmar row shows Rivermate, one of this page’s three picks, as not available.

Every line is sourced on the Myanmar, Pakistan, Thailand, Hong Kong, India, Bangladesh, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Singapore, South Korea, Vietnam and China pages, each one taken from the national authority: the Social Security Rules 2014 for Myanmar, the EOBI and the Sindh social security act for Pakistan, the Social Security Office for Thailand, the MPFA for Hong Kong, the EPFO for India, the Labour Rules 2015 for Bangladesh, Kyokai Kenpo and the MHLW for Japan, the KWSP, PERKESO and HRD Corp for Malaysia, the SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG for the Philippines, the Bureau of Labor Insurance for Taiwan, BPJS Ketenagakerjaan for Indonesia, the Social Code for Kazakhstan, the Central Bank’s Employees’ Provident Fund and the Employees’ Trust Fund Board for Sri Lanka, the CPF Board for Singapore, the National Pension Service and the Ministry of Health and Welfare for South Korea, Vietnam Social Security for Vietnam and the Shanghai human resources bureau for China.

Why the fee matters most here

In a country where the state adds at least 3.8%, a $500 fee gap between RemoFirst and Oyster is 18% of the Indian invoice. The same $500 is 6% of a German one. Asia is therefore one of the regions where shopping the fee pays most, and where ‘from’ prices deserve a written country-specific quote: RemoFirst and Rivermate both say their price varies by country.

Contractors are the starting point for many Asian teams

RemoFirst ($25), Remote ($29), G-P ($39), Multiplier ($40), Deel ($49) and Papaya Global (from $5) publish contractor prices next to their EOR fee. The contractor conversion ranking prices the switch to employment in the Philippines; set India or Singapore in the EOR vs contractor instrument for your own case.