Guides & ebooks
Country entry playbook · EMEA edition

Hire across EMEA without the missteps.

UK, Germany, Portugal, Poland, United Arab Emirates. Visa pathways, employer costs, salary bands and the regulatory traps, in one place.

Profile

🇬🇧

United Kingdom

Europe's deepest English-speaking talent pool. Fast incorporation, mature labour law.

EOR or entity

Population

68M

GDP growth

+1.1%

Currency

GBP

Business lang

English

At a glance

Employer cost~15.05% (NI + pension auto-enrolment)
Notice period1 week per year worked, capped at 12
Probation3 to 6 months, customary not statutory
13th monthNot customary. Discretionary bonus instead.
Working week48 hours (opt-out available)
Minimum wage£12.21/hr (NLW from Apr 2025)
Social insuranceClass 1 NI 13.8% + 3% pension min
Visa pathwaySkilled Worker visa, sponsor licence required

Why hire here

  • Limited company set up at Companies House in under 24 hours
  • Common-law system, strong commercial courts, no FX controls
  • Deep capital markets, fintech, AI and creative industries clusters
  • Time-zone bridge between US East Coast and continental Europe

Watch-outs

  • Sponsor licence needed before any non-UK hire on Skilled Worker visa
  • Employer NI rose to 15% from April 2025, threshold dropped to £5,000
  • IR35 / off-payroll rules treat many contractors as employees for tax
  • Statutory holiday is 5.6 weeks including bank holidays, generous on sickness

Salary bands

Mid-level annual gross, in USD.

Indicative ranges for 3 to 6 years of experience. Total cash, excluding equity and end-of-service. Sourced from Robert Walters EMEA 2025, Hays MENA 2025, Cooper Fitch Gulf and our own placements. Treat as directional, not absolute.

Role
🇬🇧
🇩🇪
🇵🇹
🇵🇱
🇦🇪
Senior Software Engineer
$95 to $135K
$80 to $115K
$45 to $70K
$48 to $75K
$70 to $105K
Engineering Manager
$130 to $180K
$115 to $160K
$70 to $105K
$75 to $115K
$110 to $160K
Product Manager
$110 to $150K
$95 to $135K
$55 to $85K
$60 to $90K
$85 to $125K
Data Scientist
$100 to $140K
$85 to $120K
$48 to $75K
$52 to $80K
$75 to $110K
Sales / Account Director
$120 to $175K
$110 to $160K
$65 to $100K
$70 to $110K
$110 to $170K
Finance Controller
$105 to $150K
$95 to $140K
$55 to $85K
$60 to $90K
$95 to $140K
HR Business Partner
$80 to $115K
$70 to $100K
$42 to $65K
$45 to $70K
$70 to $105K

Hiring norms

The rules that catch teams out.

Working week

EU caps at 48 hrs (UK opt-out exists). DE, PT, PL standardise at 40 hrs. UAE typically 48 across free zones.

13th month & bonuses

Portugal mandates 13th and 14th month. PL and UK rely on discretionary bonus. UAE pays end-of-service gratuity instead.

Notice & probation

Probation 3 to 6 months across most. Notice scales with tenure in UK, DE, PT and PL. 30 to 90 days standard in UAE.

Termination

Germany has the strictest dismissal protection. PT requires just cause or collective procedure. UK is most flexible past 2 yrs.

Local quotas & rules

UAE Emiratisation drives 2%/yr local hires for 50+ staff. EU markets enforce works councils, collective bargaining and statutory benefits.

Visa pathways

UK Skilled Worker (sponsor licence), DE Blue Card / Chancenkarte, PT Tech Visa, PL Business Harbour, UAE free-zone employment visa.

Entity vs EOR

The honest call across EMEA.

For Germany, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, start on EOR and only convert past 20 to 25 hires. For the UK and UAE free zones, a direct entity can make sense from day 1 if you need to invoice locally, hold IP or unlock specific tax reliefs.

Dimension
EOR
Own entity
Time to first hire
24 to 72 hours typical
UK 1 to 2 wks. DE 4 to 8 wks. PT 3 to 5 wks. PL 2 to 4 wks. UAE 4 to 6 wks.
Upfront cost
No setup fee
$8K (UK / PL) to $30K+ (UAE mainland), plus capital where required
Local director
Not required
Required for UAE mainland. Optional but customary in DE, PT, PL.
Paid-up capital
None
GmbH €25K, Sp. z o.o. PLN 5K, Lda €1+, UAE free zones from AED 50K
Compliance risk
Sits with the EOR
Sits with you and your local director / sponsor
Sweet spot
1 to 20 hires per country
20+ hires, long horizon, local revenue or licensing needs
Wind-down
Offboard and stop
6 to 12 months in UAE, 3 to 6 months in UK, DE, PT and PL
Score your fit in 6 questionsCost out a hire

Talk to our EMEA team

We hire and pay across EMEA every day.

Tell us where you are headed. We will map the fastest compliant path, including visas, payroll cut-off, localisation quotas and conversion to entity if and when you outgrow EOR.

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