Can’t Sponsor a Visa? How an EOR Lets You Hire the Candidate Anyway

Great candidates live everywhere. The software engineer who could solve your scaling problems might be in Mumbai. The marketing genius you need could be based in Mexico City. The designer with the perfect portfolio might call Berlin home.

So what do you do? Traditional visa sponsorship seems like the obvious answer—bring the talent to you, right there to your home country. It’s how businesses have always accessed global talent pools and filled critical skill gaps that local hiring can’t meet.

But here’s where things get complicated fast. Setting up a legal entity in a foreign country isn’t easy. And it certainly isn’t fast or cheap. Immigration laws read like they were written in ancient code by lawyers who’ve never run a business. Lead times stretch so long that your perfect candidate might accept another offer while you’re still figuring out Form I-129 versus Form PERM.

What if there was another way? Enter the employer of record (EOR). Instead of wrestling with visa sponsorship yourself, an EOR becomes the legal employer in your target country and handles all the compliance complexity. Your dream hire gets their work authorization, and you get to focus on what you do best: running your business.

With an EOR, suddenly the world doesn’t seem quite so far away.

What does it mean to sponsor a work visa?

Work visa sponsorship is the legal process where an employer applies for government authorization to hire a foreign national in a specific country. The employer essentially vouches for the candidate and commits to following all immigration and employment laws. Think of it as the company putting their name on the line to bring someone across borders legally.

Different countries offer various visa categories depending on the role and candidate qualifications. Here are some of the most widely used options:

• H-1B Visa (U.S.). For specialty occupations requiring bachelor’s degree or higher
• Skilled Worker Visa (U.K.). For skilled jobs with approved sponsors
• EU Blue Card (EU). For highly qualified professionals across EU member states
• Temporary Skill Shortage Visa (Australia). For skilled workers in occupations facing shortages
• Intra-Company Transfer Visa (Canada). For employees transferring within multinational companies
• Work Permit (Germany). Various categories for different skill levels and job types

Regardless of which visa type you pursue, employers face a standard set of obligations that can quickly become overwhelming. These responsibilities include:

• Job offer confirmation. Provide detailed employment terms and salary information
• Legal entity registration. Maintain proper business registration in the target country
• Labor market compliance. Prove local talent shortage through required testing processes
• Immigration paperwork and fees. Complete complex applications and pay government processing costs

The reality is that each of these steps can take months to complete. Many companies find themselves caught between wanting to hire quickly and getting buried in bureaucratic requirements.

Challenges of direct work visa sponsorship

Here’s where the dream of hiring global talent hits some hard realities. Direct visa sponsorship sounds straightforward until you start digging into what it actually requires.

First, you need a local legal entity in the country where you want to hire. You can’t just decide to sponsor someone in Germany or Singapore without having an official business presence there. This means months of paperwork, legal fees, and ongoing compliance obligations in a jurisdiction you might know nothing about.

Immigration processes vary widely by country and change frequently. What works in Canada won’t work in Australia, and the rules that applied last year might be completely different today. Each jurisdiction has its own forms, timelines, and requirements that can stretch hiring processes from weeks to over a year.

The liability risk is real and personal. When you sponsor someone’s visa, you become legally responsible for their compliance with immigration laws. Miss a deadline or file incorrect paperwork, and your company faces fines, legal disputes, and potential bans on future sponsorships.

For instance, in the U.S., applying for the H-1B lottery is a hot commodity. “That final step was already uncertain. Now it comes with a $100,000 price tag,” says Aizada Marat, attorney, tech founder, and CEO at Alma. “The market is brutal right now. Convincing an employer to hire a recent graduate was never easy. Now you’re asking them to commit to a six-figure immigration fee,” she warns.

The administrative burden crushes HR and legal teams. Someone on your staff needs to become an expert in immigration law, track changing regulations, and manage ongoing compliance requirements. This pulls valuable resources away from core business activities and often requires hiring specialized legal counsel.

All of this assumes your perfect candidate is willing to wait through the entire process. Many talented professionals will simply take offers from companies that can move faster.

How an EOR can sponsor a work visa

This is where EORs change the game completely. An EOR acts as the legal employer in the host country where your candidate lives. Because they already have established legal entities and local registration, they can sponsor visas and hold work permits on behalf of your company.

Think of it like this: Instead of building your own house in every country where you want to hire, you rent a room in a house that already exists. The EOR has done all the heavy lifting of establishing a local presence, understanding immigration requirements, and building relationships with government authorities.

The EOR takes on the full spectrum of visa sponsorship responsibilities that would otherwise fall on your shoulders. They handle the complex administrative work while you maintain direct control over your employees’ day-to-day work and performance.

Here’s what an EOR manages throughout the entire visa process:

• Submitting visa applications to local authorities. Complete and file all required government forms on the correct timelines
• Ensuring documentation meets immigration standards. Verify that job descriptions, salary levels, and qualifications align with visa requirements
• Maintaining compliance with ongoing visa conditions. Track renewal dates, report employment changes, and manage any status modifications
• Handling government communication and audits. Serve as the primary contact for immigration authorities and respond to any compliance inquiries

The best part? Your candidate works directly for you from day one. The EOR relationship is purely administrative. You set their goals, manage their performance, and integrate them into your team just like any other employee.

This approach eliminates the months-long entity setup process and removes the compliance burden from your internal teams. Your HR department can focus on onboarding and employee experience instead of decoding immigration law.

Step-by-step: Work visa sponsorship through an EOR

The EOR-sponsored visa process follows a clear roadmap that removes guesswork and speeds up timelines. Here’s exactly how it works from initial candidate identification to ongoing compliance management.

Step 1: Candidate and role confirmation

You found someone amazing, and now comes the reality check. Does their role actually qualify for visa sponsorship in the country where they live? This means checking salary thresholds, skill requirements, and those oddly specific occupation lists that governments love to create. Your EOR partner walks you through which positions have the best shot at approval based on what’s actually happening with current immigration policies.

Step 2: EOR compliance review

Here’s where the EOR becomes your immigration detective. They dig into your candidate’s background (including education, work history, and language skills) and figure out which visa pathway gives you the strongest chance of success. No guesswork, no crossing fingers. You get a realistic timeline and upfront costs before anyone starts filling out forms.

Step 3: Documentation and application

The paperwork phase that usually makes people want to quit before they start. Your EOR collects everything from passport scans to university diplomas to employment contracts. They know exactly what immigration officers want to see and how to present it. The whole process moves faster because they have relationships with the right people and systems that actually work.

Step 4: Visa approval and employee start

The magic moment when everything comes together. Your EOR handles the final logistics like payroll setup and benefits enrollment while your new hire gets ready to start. They work for you from day one, take direction from your managers, and integrate into your team culture. The only difference is that someone else handles all the compliance paperwork.

Step 5: Ongoing compliance and renewals

Immigration law doesn’t stop once someone gets approved. Visa conditions change, renewal deadlines approach, and governments always want updates about employment status.

Your EOR tracks all of this automatically and handles the maintenance work that keeps everyone’s authorization current. You focus on managing great employees while your EOR focuses on keeping everyone legally compliant.

Benefits of using an EOR for work visa sponsorship

The advantages of EOR-backed visa sponsorship extend far beyond just convenience. Companies gain strategic flexibility while reducing both risk and administrative overhead.

Here are the key benefits that make EOR sponsorship a game-changer for global hiring:

• Faster time-to-hire. Skip months of entity setup and start the visa process immediately through established local infrastructure. While direct sponsorship can take 6-12 months just to establish a legal presence, EORs can begin visa applications within days of candidate confirmation.
• Reduced compliance risk. Transfer immigration law liability to specialists who understand local regulations and maintain current expertise. EOR providers employ dedicated immigration specialists who track regulatory changes and handle compliance requirements that could result in costly penalties for inexperienced employers.
• Cost predictability. Avoid unpredictable legal fees, entity maintenance costs, and potential penalty expenses from compliance mistakes. EOR services typically offer transparent pricing models that help you budget accurately instead of facing surprise legal bills or government fines.
• No entity requirements. Access talent in new markets without establishing an expensive local business presence or ongoing administrative obligations. This eliminates the need for local bank accounts, registered office space, and country-specific accounting requirements that can cost tens of thousands annually.
• Expert guidance. Leverage professionals who navigate immigration systems daily and understand the fastest paths to approval. EOR immigration specialists know which visa categories work best for specific roles and can optimize applications to improve approval chances.
• Scalable hiring model. Add team members across multiple countries without multiplying your legal and administrative complexity. Each new market becomes as simple as your first international hire rather than requiring separate entity setups and compliance systems.
• Focus on core business. Keep your HR team focused on employee experience and performance rather than immigration paperwork. Your internal staff can concentrate on onboarding, training, and managing employees instead of decoding visa regulations and filing government forms.
• Global talent access. Compete for the best candidates worldwide without geographic restrictions based on your current legal footprint. You can pursue talent in any country where the EOR operates, dramatically expanding your recruitment possibilities.
• Ongoing support. Receive continuous compliance monitoring, renewal management, and regulatory updates without building internal expertise. EOR providers track visa expiration dates and handle renewals automatically, preventing lapses that could disrupt employment.
• Flexibility for growth. Test new markets with individual hires before committing to larger investments in local operations. This approach lets you validate market opportunities and team effectiveness before establishing your own legal entities.

The bottom line is simple: EOR sponsorship lets you hire like a global company without the infrastructure investments typically required to become one.

Example use cases

Real-world scenarios help illustrate how EOR visa sponsorship works across different industries and hiring situations. Here are a couple of common examples that show the practical benefits in action.

U.S. tech company hiring a developer in Germany

A fast-growing Silicon Valley startup finds the perfect backend engineer in Berlin but has no German legal entity. Rather than spending 6-8 months establishing a German subsidiary, they partner with an EOR to sponsor the developer’s work permit.

The EOR handles the Blue Card application, manages German payroll and tax compliance, and ensures adherence to local labor laws while the developer works directly with the U.S. engineering team.

U.K. hospital bringing nursing talent from the Philippines

A British hospital network needs specialized ICU nurses but faces local talent shortages. They identify qualified candidates in Manila who hold internationally recognized nursing credentials.

Through an EOR’s Skilled Worker Visa sponsorship, these nurses can relocate to the UK with proper work authorization while the EOR manages visa applications, professional license verification, and ongoing compliance with both immigration and healthcare regulations.

Never compromise on your hiring

Work visa sponsorship doesn’t have to be the bottleneck that kills great hires. EOR sponsorship lets you tap into established systems and immigration expertise instead of building everything from scratch. When you find the right person in the wrong country, an EOR becomes the bridge that makes the hire possible.

Ready to explore how this could work for your next international hire? Pebl’s global Employer of Record (EOR) service handles the complexities of international hiring, from visa sponsorship to payroll management across more than 185 countries. And you? You can focus on the actual work. The exciting part. The reason you wanted to hire that next great employee in the first place. Get in touch to learn more.

This information does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal or tax advice and is for general informational purposes only. The intent of this document is solely to provide general and preliminary information for private use. Do not rely on it as an alternative to legal, financial, taxation, or accountancy advice from an appropriately qualified professional. The content in this guide is provided “as is,” and no representations are made that the content is error-free.

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