The best Employer of Record providers in Hong Kong, ranked
Ten providers that can employ staff in Hong Kong on your behalf, scored on whether they employ through their own Hong Kong-incorporated company rather than a partner, how well they handle the Employment Ordinance and its recent amendments, whether MPF, employees’ compensation insurance and the employer’s return are run accurately, how plainly they explain their fees, and who picks up the phone. Hong Kong is one of the least regulated EOR markets in Asia: easy to enter, cheap to employ in, and easy to get quietly wrong now the MPF offset against severance has gone.
Quick verdict
RemotePeople is our pick — best for companies for whom Hong Kong is the door to Greater China. Also worth a call: MSA Asia for clients wanting incorporation, accounting and EOR from one adviser, and Links International for companies that also want recruitment and visa handling locally.
Read this before the ranking
Hong Kong does not regulate the employer-of-record model at all. There is no labour-dispatch licence as in mainland China, no two-year cap as in Korea and no restriction on the roles a third-party employer may fill. Any Hong Kong-incorporated company can employ your hire, enrol them in an MPF scheme and second them to you, and the Employment Ordinance (Cap. 57) applies in full whoever signs the contract. That openness is the attraction and the risk: nothing stops a foreign platform employing your staff through an unnamed local subcontractor, or a payroll bureau calling itself an EOR while the legal employer is a shell. What actually bites here is statutory: the “continuous contract” test that unlocks paid leave and severance (the 418 rule became the 468 rule on 18 January 2026), the end of MPF offsetting against severance and long service payments from 1 May 2025, and the employer’s return to the Inland Revenue Department. The first question to ask any provider is which Hong Kong-incorporated company will appear on your employee’s contract and MPF enrolment form, and what its Companies Registry number is.
How we scored, and what we could not verify
Every provider below was assessed against the same five criteria: own-entity presence in Hong Kong, handling of the Employment Ordinance and its 2025–2026 amendments, payroll and statutory accuracy, transparency, and support. Where a lower-ranked provider beats a higher-ranked one on a criterion, we say so.
An honest limitation: Hong Kong is one of the few Asian jurisdictions where a company’s existence can be checked from outside the territory, through the Companies Registry’s e-Search service, but a registry search does not tell you it has staff, an MPF employer account or an employees’ compensation policy. Where a provider states that it employs through its own Hong Kong entity we record that as a claim. Before signing, ask for the entity name and Companies Registry number, check it, and ask which MPF scheme your employee will join. A provider that also recruits for you needs an Employment Agency licence from the Labour Department; one that only employs does not.
| # | Provider | Score | Hong Kong footprint | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  RemotePeople | 9.2 | Employs directly in Hong Kong; two-week onboarding; Asia-Pacific HQ in Singapore | Companies for whom Hong Kong is the door to Greater China |
| 2 |  MSA Asia | 8.7 | Own office in Sheung Wan; one of eleven across Asia | Clients wanting incorporation, accounting and EOR from one adviser |
| 3 |  Links International | 8.3 | Hong Kong headquarters since 1999; states EOR runs wholly through its own entities | Companies that also want recruitment and visa handling locally |
| 4 |  Deel | 8.0 | Global platform; own Hong Kong entity (claimed) | Software-first teams hiring in many countries at once |
| 5 |  Acclime | 7.7 | Group headquarters in Central; EOR alongside formation, tax and secretarial | Mid-size and regulated groups wanting one adviser for entity and people |
| 6 |  Dezan Shira & Associates | 7.4 | Founded in Hong Kong in 1992; HR and payroll practice offering co-employment | Investors using Hong Kong as a holding platform for China and ASEAN |
| 7 |  Vistra (Tricor) | 7.1 | Tricor’s Hong Kong payroll and staffing business inside a global group | Large corporates already using Vistra or Tricor for entities and payroll |
| 8 |  Galaxy Payroll Group | 6.8 | Hong Kong-headquartered payroll and EOR provider; Nasdaq-listed 2024 | Small teams in Hong Kong, Macau and Greater China on a budget |
| 9 |  Multiplier | 6.5 | Singapore-headquartered platform; own Hong Kong entity (claimed) | Start-ups wanting a cheaper platform alternative to Deel |
| 10 |  FastLane (Encor) | 6.2 | Hong Kong accounting and payroll firm, acquired by Encor Group in 2026 | Small Xero-based companies wanting payroll and MPF handled locally |
Rankings reflect our assessment of each provider for hiring in Hong Kong specifically. A provider ranked lower here may be the better choice if most of your hiring is elsewhere.
RemotePeople
Hong Kong is one of the simplest places in Asia to employ someone, and RemotePeople treats it that way: information gathering in three to five business days, contract drafting and signature in another five to seven, and MPF enrolment and payroll set-up in parallel, so a new hire is on the books within roughly two weeks. Founded in 2018 by Antoine Boquen and Pierre Pradier, headquartered in New York with its Asia-Pacific business run from Singapore, the company has more than 250 staff across 30 countries and over 3,000 clients. Hong Kong sits inside that regional operation, which matters when a hire spans the border: the same account manager handles a Hong Kong employee and a Shenzhen colleague under one relationship. General Employment Policy visa sponsorship, the 468 rule, statutory holidays and the post-2025 long-service position are handled as routine. Recruitment, payroll for companies with their own Hong Kong company, contractor management and incorporation sit alongside EOR, and EOR Flex starts at US$199 per employee per month. Deel remains the better choice if software integrations are the deciding factor.
- Two-week onboarding with MPF enrolment and payroll set-up run in parallel
- One relationship for Hong Kong and mainland hires, run from the Singapore regional HQ
- Dedicated account manager backed by HR and employment specialists
- Recruitment, payroll, contractor management and incorporation alongside EOR
- EOR Flex from US$199 per employee per month
- Fewer third-party integrations than Deel or Rippling
- Total cost depends on a quote; ask for the all-in Hong Kong figure
- Visa sponsorship is arranged case by case, as with every provider
- Hong Kong entity
- Employs directly in Hong Kong; MPF-enrolling employer
- Regional base
- Singapore (Asia-Pacific HQ); global HQ New York
- Also offers
- Recruitment, global payroll, US PEO, contractor management, Contractor of Record, benefits and visa support, entity incorporation
- Operating since
- 2018
MSA Asia
MSA Asia is an Asia-only corporate-services firm whose EOR grew out of fifteen years of incorporating Hong Kong companies and running their accounting, tax and payroll. Its Sheung Wan office is one of eleven, and much of its incorporation work sits in Hong Kong, so the people running your EOR payroll are the same people filing employer’s returns and profits tax computations for hundreds of other clients. That shows in the detail: the firm is comfortable with the pre- and post-May 2025 split in long service payment calculations, with structures that use a Hong Kong company to own a mainland WFOE, and with the move from EOR to your own entity. The offer is adviser-led rather than productised: no self-service dashboard, and coverage stops at its footprint, so Japan, Korea and the Philippines are out. For a company hiring two or three people in Hong Kong while it decides whether to incorporate, it is the most complete adviser on this page.
- Own office in Hong Kong alongside mainland China, Macao and Taiwan, the Greater China set most clients actually need
- Incorporation, accounting, tax and EOR from one desk, so the EOR-to-entity path is smooth
- Deep statutory knowledge; 1,500-plus international clients since 2011
- No self-service platform; you work through an adviser
- Coverage limited to its own eleven-office footprint
- Hong Kong entity
- Own office in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
- Regional base
- Shanghai and Hong Kong
- Also offers
- Incorporation, accounting, tax, payroll, corporate advisory
- Operating since
- 2011
Links International
Links is the Hong Kong native on this list. Headquartered here since 1999, it started in recruitment, built a regional payroll outsourcing business on top, and now delivers EOR in Hong Kong and a dozen other Asian markets. It states plainly that its EOR is delivered wholly through its own entities, has a director dedicated to EOR, and publishes a cost calculator, which is more than most providers here manage. Pricing is tiered to the employee’s monthly gross relevant income, expense claims included, so ask how a bonus month is charged. It joined the Ascentium group in February 2025, the same group that owns Dezan Shira, and Everest Group named it a Star Performer in its 2025 assessment of Asia-Pacific multi-country payroll. Where it beats RemotePeople and MSA Asia is recruitment and visa processing under one roof in Hong Kong. Where it falls short is depth outside payroll and hiring: it does not incorporate companies or file your tax, and the Links One platform is solid rather than best in class.
- Hong Kong headquarters and twenty-five years of local payroll and MPF work
- States that EOR is delivered wholly through its own entities, with a dedicated EOR director
- Recruitment, visa application and EOR from one team, with a published cost calculator
- Fees scale with monthly relevant income, so variable pay changes the bill
- No incorporation or tax practice; moving to your own entity means another adviser
- Software is functional rather than a differentiator
- Hong Kong entity
- Own entities, stated; group HQ in Hong Kong
- Regional base
- Hong Kong
- Also offers
- Payroll outsourcing, recruitment, visa services, outplacement
- Operating since
- 1999
Deel
Deel is the best-known global platform and, in Hong Kong, a good one. It states that it employs through its own Hong Kong entity, its contracts track the Employment Ordinance, and the software — onboarding, payslips, expenses, equipment, immigration tracking, integrations — is the best in this comparison by a distance. Because Hong Kong has no dispatch regime and no licensing, the usual weakness of a global template matters less here than in Shanghai or Seoul; the rules are few and Deel encodes them competently. What you do not get is a Hong Kong specialist who knows your account. Support is ticket-based, pricing is per employee with add-ons, and a question about whether a discretionary bonus counts as wages for long service payment will be answered from a knowledge base before a person. If Hong Kong is one of fifteen countries you are hiring in this quarter, that trade is worth making.
- Best-in-class software, employee experience and integrations
- Own Hong Kong entity (claimed); 150-plus countries on one platform
- Contractors, EOR, payroll, HRIS and immigration in one product
- Ticket-based rather than relationship-based support
- No local adviser for grey areas such as end-of-year payment wording
- Pricing is per-employee with add-ons; check what visa work costs
- Hong Kong entity
- Own entity, claimed
- Regional base
- Global; Asia-Pacific teams in Singapore and elsewhere
- Also offers
- Contractors, global payroll, HRIS, immigration
- Operating since
- 2019
Acclime
Acclime was founded in Hong Kong in 2019 and has grown by acquisition into a regional group with offices in eighteen markets, absorbing Fiducia’s Greater China practice and the former RSM Hong Kong advisory team along the way. It is partner-owned, holds a Trust or Company Service Provider licence here, and agreed an investment from Warburg Pincus in late 2025, according to its own and third-party reporting. Its PEO and EOR offer sits inside an HR outsourcing line covering payroll, HR administration and immigration, alongside company formation, corporate secretarial, tax and audit, which makes it a natural fit for a mid-size company that has, or will soon have, a Hong Kong subsidiary and wants one adviser for the entity and its people. It beats MSA Asia on advisory depth for listed and regulated clients and on breadth across Asia-Pacific. It is slower and more document-heavy than the platforms or the smaller advisers, and EOR is one line among many.
- Hong Kong headquarters, partner-owned, strong tax, secretarial and advisory bench
- Eighteen markets under one contract, including Macau, Taiwan and mainland China
- Immigration and visa practice in-house
- Enterprise-style onboarding and documentation
- EOR is peripheral to a much larger corporate-services business
- Hong Kong entity
- Acclime Corporate Services Limited, Hong Kong; group HQ
- Regional base
- Hong Kong and Singapore
- Also offers
- Formation, company secretary, accounting, tax, audit, payroll, immigration
- Operating since
- 2019 as Acclime, from older constituent firms
Dezan Shira & Associates
Dezan Shira is the oldest firm on this page and the one with the deepest publishing habit: its Asia Briefing titles have explained Hong Kong and China employment rules to foreign investors for three decades. Founded in Hong Kong in 1992, it grew into a pan-Asia practice with twenty-seven of its own offices across China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Singapore, Vietnam and Dubai, and is now part of the Ascentium group alongside Links International. Its HR and payroll practice offers what it calls a co-employment model through its asiaadmin platform, and its Hong Kong office holds an Employment Agency licence because it also places staff. The strength is context: if your Hong Kong hire sits in a structure that also involves a Guangzhou factory and an Indian development centre, Dezan Shira will understand the whole picture. The weakness is that EOR is a by-product of an advisory firm rather than a product; expect a proposal, not a sign-up page.
- Thirty-plus years in Hong Kong and mainland China; unmatched written guidance
- Own offices in the Greater China, India and ASEAN markets Hong Kong companies usually expand into
- Hong Kong Employment Agency licence held; tax, legal and accounting from the same firm
- EOR is co-employment within an HR and payroll practice, not a standalone product
- Oriented to investors and manufacturers rather than remote-first start-ups
- Confirm which group entity signs the contract
- Hong Kong entity
- Hong Kong office since 1992; Employment Agency licence held
- Regional base
- Hong Kong
- Also offers
- Corporate establishment, tax, accounting, audit, legal, HR and payroll
- Operating since
- 1992
Vistra (Tricor)
Tricor was for two decades the default corporate-services house for Hong Kong-listed companies, and its HR and payroll business, including Tricor Staffing Solutions, came with it when it merged into Vistra in 2023. The combined group employs more than 9,000 people in over fifty markets and offers EOR in more than 85 countries. In Hong Kong that means a large, well-controlled payroll operation already running MPF, employees’ compensation insurance and IR56 filings for many employers. Vistra is the right answer for a corporate that already uses it, or Tricor, for company secretarial and share registry work and wants the people side under the same master agreement. It is not the right answer for a founder hiring one salesperson: the sales process is enterprise-shaped, pricing is bespoke, and EOR is a small line inside a business built around funds and entity administration. On institutional controls it beats every provider above it; on responsiveness to small clients it does not.
- Tricor’s long-standing Hong Kong payroll and staffing operation
- Institutional controls suited to listed and regulated clients
- EOR in 85-plus countries under one master agreement
- Enterprise sales cycle and bespoke pricing
- EOR is peripheral to fund and entity administration
- Hong Kong entity
- Tricor’s Hong Kong companies within the Vistra group
- Regional base
- Hong Kong is one of the group’s largest offices
- Also offers
- Company secretarial, share registry, payroll, tax, fund administration
- Operating since
- Tricor since 2000; Vistra merger 2023
Galaxy Payroll Group
Galaxy is a Hong Kong payroll outsourcer that added employment services, acting as employer of record for candidates its clients source, and listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market in September 2024, raising US$7 million. The listing is unusual for a firm of its size and cuts both ways: the SEC filings give a clearer picture than most private EORs offer, but they also show a small company with a handful of owned entities and in-country partners for the rest. Its own material describes operating entities in Hong Kong, Macau, mainland China and Taiwan, with wider Asia-Pacific markets served through partners; its company-secretarial arm holds a Hong Kong TCSP licence. Pricing is competitive and the team responsive in the way small firms are. For a company that wants a Hong Kong-based, Cantonese-speaking payroll house to employ a few staff in Hong Kong or Macau, and does not need a platform, it belongs on the shortlist. Outside Greater China, confirm whether the employer is Galaxy or a partner.
- Hong Kong headquarters, Cantonese-speaking team, payroll as the core competence
- Public-company disclosures give unusual visibility into a small provider
- Own operations in Hong Kong, Macau, mainland China and Taiwan (stated)
- Small organisation; partner-dependent outside Greater China
- Software is a basic HRIS rather than a differentiator
- Hong Kong entity
- Own operating entity in Hong Kong; group HQ
- Regional base
- Hong Kong
- Also offers
- Payroll outsourcing, accounting and tax, company secretarial, staffing
- Operating since
- 2013; listed 2024
Multiplier
Multiplier was built in Singapore for the kind of company that hires across South-east Asia and Hong Kong from a small head office, and it generally quotes below Deel for a similar self-service experience. It states that it employs through more than a hundred of its own entities, Hong Kong among them, and its Hong Kong onboarding handles MPF enrolment, employees’ compensation cover and Employment Ordinance contracts without drama. Its Asian base means Hong Kong is a home market rather than an outpost, and support runs on Asian hours. Where it trails Deel is maturity: fewer integrations, a thinner immigration practice, and less confident handling of Hong Kong edge cases such as the 468 test or long service payments split either side of May 2025. Where it trails the Hong Kong advisers is obvious: nobody at Multiplier will sit with you and work out whether to incorporate.
- Asian headquarters and Asian support hours
- Own Hong Kong entity (claimed); transparent per-employee pricing below Deel
- Thinner immigration and advisory depth than Deel or the local firms
- Younger organisation; product still changing
- Hong Kong entity
- Own entity, claimed
- Regional base
- Singapore
- Also offers
- Contractors, global payroll, HRIS, benefits
- Operating since
- 2020
FastLane (Encor)
FastLane is a Hong Kong accounting firm first and an employer of record a distant second; it is here because many small foreign-owned Hong Kong companies already use it for Xero bookkeeping, company secretarial work and payroll, and want the same people to handle a hire. Founded in 2013 and part of Encor Group since a March 2026 acquisition, it serves more than a thousand clients, publishes payroll pricing from HK$280 per employee per month, and runs MPF administration, employer’s returns and GEP and Top Talent Pass visa applications from Sheung Wan. Its PEO and EOR offer, however, is pitched mainly at building offshore teams in Malaysia through its FastLaneRecruit arm rather than at employing Hong Kong staff for a foreign company, so ask whether a FastLane Hong Kong entity will be the legal employer. For an existing FastLane client it is the low-friction option; for anyone else the providers above are more clearly EORs.
- Hong Kong-based, Xero-native payroll and MPF administration with published prices
- Visas, employer’s returns and accounting from one small team
- EOR offer is oriented to Malaysian offshore hiring rather than Hong Kong employment
- Integration into Encor is recent; branding and team are changing
- Hong Kong entity
- Hong Kong-incorporated firm; confirm which entity employs
- Regional base
- Hong Kong
- Also offers
- Accounting, audit, company secretary, incorporation, payroll, visas
- Operating since
- 2013; part of Encor since 2026
How we scored
- Own-entity presence in Hong KongWhether the provider employs your hire through a Hong Kong-incorporated company it owns, with its own MPF employer account and employees’ compensation policy, or through a partner. Own entities mean one point of accountability; partners are acceptable when named and vetted.
- Handling of the Employment Ordinance and its amendmentsWhether contracts deal correctly with the continuous-contract test (the 468 rule from 18 January 2026), probation and notice, end-of-year payment wording, statutory holidays rising to 17 by 2030, and severance and long service payments without MPF offsetting.
- Payroll and statutory accuracyMPF enrolled within 60 days and remitted by the tenth of the following month; employees’ compensation insurance from day one; IR56E, IR56B, IR56F and IR56G filed on time, remembering that Hong Kong has no monthly salaries tax withholding except the one-month hold on a departing employee’s final pay.
- TransparencyAre fees, deposits, exit notice and what happens to accrued long service liability explained plainly before signature, or only after a sales cycle?
- SupportIs there a named person in Hong Kong or the region who knows your account and works Hong Kong hours, or a queue?
Frequently asked questions
Is Employer of Record legal in Hong Kong?
Yes, with fewer conditions than almost anywhere else in Asia. Hong Kong has no labour-dispatch law, no licensing regime for third-party employers and no limit on how long an employee may be employed by one company while working for another. The Employment Ordinance governs the relationship between the employee and whoever signs the contract, and that employer must enrol them in an MPF scheme, hold employees’ compensation insurance and file employer’s returns. The only licence that can arise is the Employment Agency licence, needed if the provider also recruits for you. See Is EOR legal in Asia?
What does an EOR cost in Hong Kong?
Hong Kong is the cheapest major market in Asia to employ in. The only mandatory employer contribution is MPF at 5 per cent of relevant income, capped at HK$1,500 a month once salary reaches HK$30,000, plus employees’ compensation insurance at a small fraction of payroll. There is no social insurance, housing fund or statutory bonus. EOR service fees generally run from roughly US$300 to US$600 per employee per month, with local advisers at the lower end and global platforms quoting subscriptions plus add-ons for visas or benefits. Budget separately for severance or long service payment on exit, which for service after 1 May 2025 can no longer be offset against employer MPF contributions. See Employer costs across Asia.
Can an EOR sponsor a work visa in Hong Kong?
Yes. Under the General Employment Policy the sponsor is the employing company, so an EOR with its own Hong Kong entity can sponsor a foreign professional as employer of record, and most providers here say they do. The Immigration Department looks at the sponsor’s business, the salary and whether the role could be filled locally, so a thin sponsoring entity with no other staff makes a weaker application than an established one. Ask how many GEP applications the provider sponsored last year and whether visa work is included in the fee.
How long can an employee stay on EOR in Hong Kong?
Indefinitely; unlike mainland China’s dispatch rules or Korea’s two-year limit, Hong Kong sets no maximum. The calculation is commercial: after 24 months an employee qualifies for severance payment on redundancy, after five years for long service payment, and that liability accrues on the EOR’s books at two-thirds of a month’s wages (capped at HK$22,500) per year of service, up to HK$390,000. Ask how the provider accounts for it and what happens if you move the employee to your own entity, which can be done without breaking continuity.
How do probation, notice and termination work in Hong Kong?
Probation is contractual rather than statutory; three months is typical. In the first month of probation either side may end the contract without notice; after that the agreed notice applies, at least seven days. Outside probation a contract silent on notice defaults to one month, and payment in lieu is permitted. Paid annual leave (7 to 14 days), paid statutory holidays, sickness allowance and paid maternity and paternity leave follow once the employee is on a continuous contract: from 18 January 2026, four weeks or more with the same employer and either 17 hours a week or 68 hours across the four weeks. Dismissal after 24 months without a valid reason opens the employer to unreasonable-dismissal claims and possible reinstatement orders. See Employment law across Asia and Employee benefits across Asia.
Should I use an EOR or set up my own Hong Kong company?
Incorporating in Hong Kong is cheap and quick, usually a matter of days, and the ongoing obligations are light: an annual return, an audit, a profits tax return and the employer filings above. The awkward part is the bank account, which can take months for a foreign-owned company with no local director. An EOR makes sense while you test the market with one to three people, while the bank account is pending, or where Hong Kong is a small satellite of a larger Asian team. With four or five staff and a local signatory, an entity is almost always cheaper and a cleaner platform for mainland China and ASEAN structures. MSA Asia, Acclime and Dezan Shira will do both and move the employees across. For the regional comparison see The best EOR providers in Asia.
Not sure which provider fits?
Tell us how many people, which roles and how soon, and we will point you to the two or three providers worth talking to in Hong Kong — without passing your details to any of them.
Ask usSources
- Hong Kong SAR, Employment Ordinance (Cap. 57); Labour Department guidance on continuous contracts, statutory holidays, severance and long service payments.
- Employment (Amendment) Ordinance 2025 (the 468 rule, effective 18 January 2026); Employment (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 (statutory holidays rising to 17 by 2030).
- Employment and Retirement Schemes Legislation (Offsetting Arrangement) (Amendment) Ordinance 2022, abolishing MPF offsetting from 1 May 2025.
- Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance (Cap. 485) and the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority: contribution rates and relevant-income thresholds.
- Employees’ Compensation Ordinance (Cap. 282); Inland Revenue Department, Employer’s Return (BIR56A and IR56 series); Minimum Wage Ordinance (Cap. 608).
- Immigration Department: General Employment Policy, ASMTP, Top Talent Pass Scheme and TechTAS; Companies Registry e-Search service.
- Provider websites and published documentation, reviewed September 2026.