Employer of Record in Kazakhstan

A Kazakhstan-registered legal entity or foreign branch can employ a worker and send them to a receiving client when the assignment meets an Article 137-1 permitted purpose and avoids its prohibitions. Other routes are direct employment in Kazakhstan and a services contract with a genuinely independent contractor. The EOR label alone does not qualify an assignment.

4dev.com’s Contractor Platform works with contractors in Kazakhstan for genuinely independent services; 4dev.com is not an Employer of Record.

How an employer of record works in Kazakhstan

In Kazakhstan, an employer of record is the sending employer that signs the worker’s employment contract and sends them to a receiving client. The sending party must be a Kazakhstan-registered legal entity or foreign branch; the client directs and controls the agreed work in its interests, and the employment contract or additional agreement identifies the client’s worksite.

Article 137-1 permits personnel provision for household work, a defined job, replacement of a temporarily absent worker, or seasonal work. A payroll administrator for someone already employed by the client does not become the sending employer merely by using the EOR label.

Is the proposed assignment permitted under Kazakhstan law?

Document why this worker is being sent to this client. Article 137-1 permits personnel provision for the purposes below, subject to its prohibitions. A generic plan to fill an ongoing role does not identify a permitted purpose.

The purpose to document

Household work	Work in a natural person’s household	Kazakhstan Labour Code, Article 137-1
Defined job	A worker sent for the period of a specified job	Kazakhstan Labour Code, Article 137-1
Replacement	A worker temporarily replacing an absent worker	Kazakhstan Labour Code, Article 137-1
Seasonal work	A worker sent for a seasonal assignment	Kazakhstan Labour Code, Article 137-1

The sending party’s agreement with the client should identify the assignment purpose and agreed function. The worker’s employment contract or additional agreement must identify the recipient worksite.

Article 137-1 bars personnel provision to replace workers taking part in a lawful strike or workers who have refused work under the labour-law procedure, apart from the stated health-deterioration exception. It also bars the arrangement during the receiving party’s stoppage, bankruptcy procedure, or reduced-hours job-preservation regime. The client’s circumstances therefore matter as much as the supplier’s registration.

What registration or licence should the supplier show?

The supplier needs to show who will legally employ and send the worker. The cited Kazakhstan rules do not establish a universal EOR-specific licence or registry, so begin with that entity’s registration and identity.

Ask for the Kazakhstan registration of the sending legal entity or registered foreign branch, then match its legal name to the employment contract and the personnel-provision agreement. The registration law governs state registration of legal entities and registration of branches; the one-working-day processing rule for eligible electronic applications does not replace a check of the entity presented for this assignment.

Ask for any permission specific to the activity and the name of the receiving party. Obtain the mandatory occupational accident-insurance policy before work starts: the sending employer cannot dispatch an uninsured worker, and the client cannot admit one to the worksite.

Who signs what and who handles the worksite?

The sending employer signs the employment contract and insures the worker; the client directs the agreed work and carries worksite duties. Check that split against both agreements.

Party	Signs or receives	Duties to verify
Client / receiving party	Personnel-provision agreement; receives the worker at its worksite	Directs and controls the agreed work; provides equipment and safe conditions; records working time, overtime, holiday work and harmful or dangerous work; must not discriminate against sent workers in pay when concluding the agreement. May not admit an uninsured worker.
Sending employer / EOR	Employment contract or additional agreement with the worker; personnel-provision agreement with the client	Remains the legal employer, pays salary in tenge at least monthly by the statutory deadline, enters the signed contract in the unified system and obtains mandatory accident insurance before dispatch. The contract or additional agreement identifies the recipient worksite.
Employee	Employment contract or additional agreement with the sending employer	Performs the agreed function in the client’s interests under its direction and control. Retains the employment contract and the pay nondiscrimination safeguard that applies to sent workers.

The document chain to request

Request the signed employment contract or additional agreement, the personnel-provision agreement stating the assignment purpose, and the accident-insurance policy. Obtain the client’s worksite instructions and proof that the sending employer entered the signed new contract in the unified employment-contract system within five working days of both signatures. Together, they show the assignment and each party’s duties, including the client’s worksite responsibilities.

From candidate to first Kazakhstan payroll

Confirm the assignment and insurance before dispatch, sign the contract before work starts, and file the employment record on its own deadline. Supplier setup and any immigration steps determine how long the full process takes; no single first-payroll timeframe is established.

Step	Responsible party	Verified timing or dependency
Confirm the Article 137-1 fit and the sending employer	Client and sending employer	The actual assignment must have a permitted purpose and avoid the statutory prohibitions.
Prepare insurance and the worksite	Sending employer and receiving party	The sending employer needs mandatory occupational accident insurance before dispatch, and the receiving party must not admit an uninsured worker. The recipient must set up safe conditions, equipment and time records.
Sign the employment contract	Sending employer and worker	Written or electronically signed before work starts.
Enter the employment record	Sending employer	Within five working days after both parties sign the new employment contract.
Run the first payroll	Sending employer	Salary is paid in tenge at least monthly, no later than the first ten days of the following month.

A local hire

Identify the sending employer and client before arranging insurance and worksite conditions. If the supplier still needs to register a legal entity or branch, the one-working-day rule covers processing an eligible electronic application only. Foreign-founder documents, banking, immigration and first-payroll preparation sit outside that clock.

If the worker needs immigration clearance

A worker from another EAEU member state does not need a work permit. For a temporarily staying foreign worker, the employer generally needs the applicable foreign-workforce permit before signing the employment contract, subject to the stated exemptions and alternative work permissions; the worker must also have the required medical insurance for the statutory class. These checks can determine when the worker starts.

What does an employer of record cost in Kazakhstan?

Ask the provider to itemize gross salary, employee withholding, employer contributions, accident insurance, any harmful-work pension, its fee and other quoted costs. The nominal 17.5% combines four employer rates—3.5%, 5%, 3% and 6%—on different bases, subject to separate caps and eligibility rules. It cannot be applied as a flat salary uplift.

Employer pension contribution	3.5% for eligible employees born on or after 1 January 1975; monthly base from one to 50 minimum wages	Social Code
Employer social insurance	5% after employee mandatory pension contributions; one-minimum-wage floor and seven-minimum-wage monthly cap	Social Code
Employer health insurance	3%; monthly base capped at 40 minimum wages	Mandatory Health Insurance Act
General social tax	6%; base excludes employee pension and employee health-insurance contributions	2026 Tax Code

Employee pension and health-insurance contributions reduce some assessment bases; they are separate from the employer’s additions. The scenarios add only the four listed employer components to gross salary.

Salary reference	Gross monthly salary	Selected employer components	Gross plus selected components	Effective share of gross
National average salary, Q2 2026	KZT 486,388	KZT 79,183.97	KZT 565,571.97	16.28%
Engineer average, April 2026	KZT 702,000	KZT 112,445.60	KZT 814,445.60	16.02%
Information and communications sector average, Q2 2026	KZT 851,076	KZT 130,006.75	KZT 981,082.75	15.28%

These are 2026 ordinary legal-entity payroll calculations for an employee eligible for employer pension and outside a harmful occupation. The engineer and information-and-communications scenarios reach the social-insurance cap, reducing their effective shares of gross.

The subtotals exclude mandatory occupational accident insurance, the conditional 5% professional pension for listed harmful occupations, benefits and EOR fees; they are not total mandatory employer expense. Accident insurance has an occupational-risk tariff from 0.12% to 2.96% of insured payroll, a per-employee payroll cap of ten minimum wages and a minimum policy premium of one monthly minimum wage; request a risk-class quote for the role.

For an eligible employee, the employer pension rate rises to 4.5% from 1 January 2027. These 2026 figures do not include the higher 2027 pension rate. The Kazakhstan hiring guide covers the fuller employee-cost method.

Limits of an EOR arrangement in Kazakhstan

The sending employer’s role leaves the client with questions about assignment eligibility, its own tax exposure, IP rights and termination. Assess each against the actual work and agreements.

Assignment scope and exit

The assignment must continue to fit one of Article 137-1’s permitted purposes and avoid its recipient-side prohibitions throughout the engagement. The cited rules do not establish a numerical maximum that applies to every assignment. The sending employer remains the legal employer and must use the applicable employment-law ground to end the relationship.

Permanent establishment

An EOR does not create a permanent-establishment safe harbour. Under the Tax Code, a fixed local place of business can create a permanent establishment regardless of duration; services through hired personnel can do so after more than 183 days in any rolling 12 months on one project or related projects; and a dependent agent with authority to represent and act for the nonresident can do so regardless of duration. The 183-day test applies only to the personnel-services route. Check the actual activity and relevant treaty against all three triggers.

IP, restrictive terms and termination

For commissioned author works, the rights chain should be in a written agreement signed by the author and assignee, stating the permitted uses, duration, territory and remuneration or payment terms. Rights are presumed nonexclusive unless the agreement expressly states otherwise, so neither an EOR arrangement nor the client’s direction of work establishes automatic client ownership. Enforceability of restrictive terms remains a contract-specific question; the cited sources do not support a universal answer.

The sending employer must use the actual termination ground. Liquidation or workforce reduction requires at least one month’s notice and generally one average monthly wage in compensation, while lower production or services that worsens the employer’s economic situation requires 15 working days’ notice and two average monthly wages; longer contractual notice can apply.

The first Article 86 work-without-contract fine is KZT 129,750 for an official, KZT 259,500 for a small business or nonprofit, KZT 346,000 for a medium business, and KZT 648,750 for a large business. That is separate from the category-based 30–150 MRP offence for missing, late, incomplete or incorrect entries in the unified employment-contract system; neither fine creates a universal transfer of liability between client and supplier.

When can you hire without an employer of record?

You may not need an employer of record when you already have the registered local employer that can hire directly, or when the work is genuinely independent services rather than employment.

With your own Kazakhstan-registered entity or branch, direct employment may suit the assignment. The Labour Code applies to employers and workers located in Kazakhstan, including registered foreign branches and representative offices; social-tax obligations also depend on the employer’s legal and operating position.

For an unregistered offshore company seeking to employ a Kazakhstan-resident worker and run local payroll, the answer depends on its employment, tax and registration position. The cited rules do not settle that route for every company; review those obligations for the proposed setup.

For independently delivered work, use a services relationship only where the facts support real independence. A civil-law services contract with an individual is prohibited if it contains employment features, regardless of its label; see the Kazakhstan contractor guide for the classification tests and contract route.

Compare a local entity, employer of record and independent contractor

Choose the route from the actual working relationship. A registered local employer can hire directly; a sending employer can supply personnel for a permitted Article 137-1 assignment; independent services require a genuinely independent contractor.

Route	Relationship	When it may fit	Limitation
Your own local entity or registered foreign branch	Your Kazakhstan employer contracts directly with the employee.	You will employ the worker directly and can maintain the local employer, payroll, insurance and worksite duties.	An eligible electronic entity or branch-registration application is processed within one working day, but foreign-founder documents, accident insurance, bank and payroll setup, and any foreign-worker permission have separate dependencies.
Employer of record	The Kazakhstan-registered sending party is the legal employer and sends the employee to the receiving party.	The documented assignment is household work, a defined job, replacement of an absent worker, or seasonal work, and no statutory prohibition applies.	The client directs the agreed work and retains recipient-side worksite duties; the label does not make an open-ended assignment universally permitted.
Independent contractor	The contractor provides services under a civil-law agreement.	Deliverables and the working relationship are genuinely independent.	A services contract cannot be used where the relationship has employment features, regardless of its label.

The one-working-day registration period covers an eligible electronic application; first payroll also depends on the separate setup steps in the table. See the Kazakhstan hiring guide for the direct-employment sequence and the contractor guide for the independent-services test.

Questions to put to a Kazakhstan provider

Request the documents and named owners for these checks before the worker begins:

• What is the registered employing entity or foreign branch’s legal name, and does it match the employment contract and personnel-provision agreement?
• Which Article 137-1 purpose supports this assignment, and what confirms that no prohibition applies at the receiving party?
• Can you provide the signed employment contract or additional agreement and the personnel-provision agreement that identifies the recipient, worksite and assignment purpose?
• Who obtains the mandatory occupational accident-insurance policy before dispatch, and what are the worker’s occupational risk class, tariff and policy-minimum quote?
• Who at the receiving party owns equipment, safe conditions, worksite instructions and records of hours, overtime, holiday work and harmful or dangerous work?
• Who submits the new employment record, can provide its unified-system receipt within five working days of both signatures, and owns the procedure for correcting a record?
• If the worker is foreign, who confirms the EAEU permit exception or obtains the applicable foreign-workforce permit and medical insurance before the contract?
• Which 2026 contribution bases, caps and employee cohort apply, which accident policy and harmful-work pension costs sit outside the selected subtotal, and how will the 2027 employer-pension rate change be handled for eligible workers?
• What written IP clause covers any commissioned author work, and what is the termination and transfer plan if the client moves the worker to its own employer?
• Who has reviewed the client’s local activity, personnel and authority for permanent-establishment exposure?

Common questions about EOR in Kazakhstan

Is an EOR legal for my role in Kazakhstan?

It can fit only where the actual personnel-provision assignment is household work, a defined job, replacement of a temporarily absent worker, or seasonal work. The sending party remains the legal employer, while the receiving party directs and controls the agreed work; the statutory prohibitions also have to be checked.

Does an EOR provider need a special licence?

The cited rules do not establish a universal EOR-specific licence or registry. Check the sending employer’s Kazakhstan registration and legal name, any activity-specific permission, and mandatory occupational accident insurance before dispatch.

Can I hire in Kazakhstan without opening an entity?

The cited rules do not settle direct local payroll for every unregistered offshore company; its employment, tax and registration position needs review. A registered local entity or branch can employ directly. Genuinely independent services follow a separate contractor route.

How long until an EOR employee can start?

The contract must be signed before work starts, and the sending employer must record it within five working days of both signatures. Insurance, worksite setup and any immigration clearance add time, so there is no single first-payroll or onboarding duration.

What should a Kazakhstan EOR quote include?

It should distinguish gross salary, employee withholding and the selected employer components: 3.5% employer pension for the eligible cohort, 5% social insurance, 3% employer health insurance and 6% general social tax. The 17.5% nominal sum uses different bases and caps; accident insurance, conditional harmful-work pension, benefits and provider fees are separate.

Does a foreign employee need a work permit?

Workers from another EAEU member state do not need a work permit. For a temporarily staying foreign worker, the employer generally needs the applicable foreign-workforce permit and the required medical insurance before the employment contract, subject to the statutory exemptions and alternative work permissions.

Does using an EOR prevent permanent establishment?

No. A fixed local place, services through hired personnel lasting more than 183 days in a rolling 12 months on one or related projects, and a dependent agent with authority are separate permanent-establishment triggers; the 183-day test does not displace the other two.

How do I move a worker from an EOR to my own entity?

There is no established automatic statutory transfer from the sending employer to the client’s own entity. Identify the employment exit ground and the new legal employer, sign the new employment contract before work starts, and ensure the new employer records it in the unified system within five working days of both signatures.

Sources

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