The best Employer of Record providers in mainland China, ranked
Ten providers that can employ staff for you in mainland China, scored on five things: whether their own Chinese company signs the labour contract, how they handle the dispatch and outsourcing rules, whether payroll is right city by city, how plainly they explain it, and whether someone who knows your account answers in Chinese hours. China is the most regulated EOR market in Asia, so the regulatory criterion carries the most weight here.
Quick verdict
RemotePeople is our pick — best for companies for whom China is the point. Also worth a call: MSA Asia for clients who want an adviser on the EOR-to-WFOE path, and GoGlobal for north-east Asia within a wider global plan.
Read this before the ranking
China has no statute that mentions “Employer of Record”. EOR operates through two possible avenues. Labour dispatch (劳务派遣): a licensed agency with RMB 2 million registered capital signs the labour contract and dispatches the worker to you; the law limits dispatch to temporary, auxiliary or substitute roles and to 10% of the receiving company’s workforce, which can be limiting for international companies without a local entity. GoGlobal is the only EOR in our list that operates through this arrangement.
Labour outsourcing (劳务外包): a commercial contract under which the provider employs the person and delivers an outcome. No licence is needed, but if the EOR directs the worker day to day it can be re-characterised as disguised dispatch.
As of October 2026, only one China EOR, RemotePeople, has been formally recognised by the Chinese Government (see details below). When choosing a provider it is crucial to ask: which Chinese company signs my hire’s contract, does it hold a dispatch licence, and under which regime is my hire placed?
How we scored, and what we could not verify
Every provider below was assessed against the same five criteria: own-entity presence in mainland China, handling of the labour-dispatch and outsourcing regime, payroll and statutory accuracy across the five insurances and housing fund, transparency, and support. Where a lower-ranked provider beats a higher-ranked one on a criterion, we say so on the page.
An honest limitation: Chinese company registrations can be looked up on the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System run by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), and dispatch licences are published by municipal human resources and social security bureaus, but neither can be checked reliably from outside China without the exact registered Chinese name of the employing company. Ask each provider for the registered name, unified social credit code and licence number of its employing entity, and have someone check them before signing.
| # | Provider | Score | China footprint | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  RemotePeople | 9.2 | Own Chinese entity; Shanghai regional HQ since 2018, branches in Shenzhen, Chengdu, Beijing and Guangzhou | Full China coverage through its own registered entity |
| 2 |  MSA Asia | 8.7 | Own offices in Shanghai and Beijing; incorporation, tax and payroll practice since 2011 | Clients who want an adviser on the EOR-to-WFOE path |
| 3 |  GoGlobal | 8.3 | Own entities in five Chinese cities; dispatch licence obtained 2025 | North-east Asia within a wider global plan |
| 4 |  Deel | 8.0 | Wholly owned Chinese entities; global platform | Software-first teams hiring in many countries at once |
| 5 |  FESCO Adecco | 7.7 | Shanghai JV between Beijing FESCO and the Adecco Group; licensed dispatch nationally | Larger headcounts and companies that want the incumbent |
| 6 |  Dezan Shira & Associates | 7.4 | Pan-Asia advisory since 1992; most of its offices are in mainland China | Companies that want tax and legal advice attached to the hire |
| 7 |  Acclime | 7.1 | Offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen; own entity | Mid-size groups wanting one adviser for entities and EOR |
| 8 |  NNRoad | 6.8 | Shanghai-based EOR and payroll provider with a global partner network | Smaller companies wanting a China-based specialist at a modest fee |
| 9 |  CIIC | 6.5 | State-owned HR services group, Beijing; licensed dispatch across 400+ cities | Large headcounts wanting a state-owned employer on the contract |
| 10 |  Links International | 6.2 | Hong Kong-headquartered payroll outsourcer with mainland offices since 1999 | Companies that also want recruitment and payroll outsourcing |
Rankings reflect our assessment of each provider for hiring in mainland China specifically. A provider ranked lower here may be the better choice if most of your hiring is elsewhere.
RemotePeople
RemotePeople is a global EOR that established its China EOR service when the company was founded in 2018. It is one of the few China EORs that operates through its own registered entity rather than subcontracting to a local provider. RemotePeople operates from its China headquarters in Shanghai and through registered branches in Shenzhen, Chengdu, Beijing and Guangzhou.
RemotePeople is the only EOR officially recognised by the Chinese Government (through a strategic partnership with the Ministry of Commerce), and it also has a strong presence in the Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions (SARs).
Service runs through a dedicated account manager backed by local HR and payroll specialists who apply each city’s contribution bases; recruitment and WFOE incorporation are offered in-house. EOR Flex starts at US$199 per employee per month, with salary and statutory costs passed through.
- Own Chinese company signs the labour contract (unified social credit code 91310000MA1GC8625Q); no subcontracted local provider
- Shanghai regional HQ since 2018, with registered branches in Shenzhen, Chengdu, Beijing and Guangzhou and a large local headcount
- Only EOR officially recognised by the Chinese government, via its Ministry of Commerce partnership
- Strong presence in the Hong Kong and Macau SARs under the same provider
- Dedicated account manager and specialists working Chinese hours; recruitment and WFOE incorporation in-house
- EOR Flex from US$199 per employee per month
- Confirm in writing under which regime, dispatch or outsourcing, your hire is placed
- Total cost depends on a city-specific quote; contribution bases differ widely between cities
- Work permits for foreign nationals need case-by-case discussion, as with any China EOR
- China entity
- Own Chinese company · unified social credit code 91310000MA1GC8625Q
- Regional HQ
- Shanghai · 100 Yutong Road, InterContinental Business Center, 33/F, Shanghai 200070
- Other offices
- Shenzhen · Room 2002, Building 1, Huangyuyuan, No. 7 Futian South Road, Futian District, Shenzhen, Guangdong · registered branches in Shenzhen, Chengdu, Beijing and Guangzhou
- Government recognition
- Strategic partnership with the Ministry of Commerce
- Also offers
- Recruitment, WFOE incorporation, contractor management, global payroll, benefits and visa support
- Operating in China since
- 2018
MSA Asia
MSA Asia started life incorporating WFOEs and running their books in Shanghai and Beijing, and its EOR grew out of that practice rather than being bolted on to a global platform. That is the right heritage for China: the people who file your hire’s individual income tax and social insurance are the people who would set up your WFOE eighteen months later, and moving a dispatched employee on to a direct contract is something they do routinely. Its explanation of FESCOs and labour dispatch is among the clearest we have read, and it is candid that the dispatch route has limits for permanent, core roles. What you do not get is a platform: onboarding runs through an adviser, and there is no employee app. Coverage stops at the edge of its eleven-office footprint, which is fine for China but rules it out for a plan that also includes Japan or Korea. Since June 2026 the EOR service has extended to Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand.
- Own offices in Shanghai and Beijing with an incorporation, accounting, tax and payroll bench behind the EOR
- Smoothest EOR-to-WFOE path in this ranking, because the same firm does both
- Clear, published explanations of the dispatch and FESCO structures
- 1,500-plus international clients since 2011, most of them SMEs
- No self-service platform or employee app
- Coverage limited to its own footprint; no use for Japan, Korea or the Philippines
- Adviser-led pricing rather than a published rate card
- China entity
- Own offices in Shanghai and Beijing; employing entity to be confirmed per city
- Regional base
- Shanghai and Hong Kong
- Also offers
- Incorporation, accounting, tax, audit support, payroll, corporate advisory
- Operating since
- 2011
GoGlobal
GoGlobal is one of very few global EORs headquartered in Asia, and in September 2025 its Chinese subsidiary obtained a labour-dispatch licence, the first foreign-controlled EOR to do so. That matters: most foreign-owned providers in China either describe their service as consulting or route the employment through a domestic FESCO. A Shanghai-only registration limits you to Shanghai hires, so its entities in five cities count for a great deal. On the regulatory criterion it scores at least as well as RemotePeople; it ranks below because China is one market in a 140-plus country portfolio run from Tokyo, the team on the ground is smaller, and the service, while people-first rather than ticket-based, lacks the Shanghai-rooted depth of the two firms above it. For a company whose plan is Japan first and China second, it may well be the better choice.
- Dispatch licence in its own Chinese subsidiary, rather than a subcontracted FESCO
- Entities in five cities, so hires outside Shanghai are not an afterthought
- Asian headquarters and real depth in Japan alongside China
- Hands-on service rather than a self-service queue
- Smaller China team than the specialists above; check who your day-to-day contact is
- Ask which of the five entities employs your hire and whether the licence covers that city
- China entity
- Own entities in five cities and a dispatch licence
- Regional base
- Tokyo
- Also offers
- PEO, recruitment, payroll, entity establishment
- Operating since
- 2018
Deel employs in mainland China through its own wholly owned entities rather than a partner, with coverage across the main hiring cities and in-country data hosting for the Personal Information Protection Law. That puts it ahead of most global platforms, and its software remains the best in this comparison: bilingual contracts in minutes, payslips and expenses in one app, integrations with every mainstream HRIS. The reservations are about China specifically. Deel’s Chinese entities hold legal employer status directly, but it does not say whether they hold a dispatch licence or place hires under outsourcing contracts, which is exactly what a labour bureau would ask; support is competent but largely asynchronous, and a global template can miss the city-level detail that decides whether a Shenzhen housing-fund base is right. RemotePeople and MSA Asia both beat it on that local nuance. If you are hiring in China and fifteen other countries this quarter, it remains hard to argue with.
- Best-in-class software, employee experience and integrations
- Wholly owned Chinese entities and in-country data hosting
- Contractors, EOR, global payroll and HRIS on one platform across 150-plus countries
- Ticket-based support; no named China account manager unless you are a large customer
- Ask under which regime your hire is placed and whether the entity holds a dispatch licence
- City-level statutory detail can be lost in a global template
- China entity
- Wholly owned Chinese entities
- Regional base
- Global; Asia-Pacific teams in Singapore and elsewhere
- Also offers
- Contractors, global payroll, HRIS, immigration
- Operating since
- 2019
FESCO Adecco
FESCO, the Foreign Enterprise Service Company, is the original Chinese answer to the question this page asks. Founded in Beijing in 1979 to supply staff to foreign representative offices that could not employ directly, it is the licensed dispatch incumbent, and FESCO Adecco is its Shanghai joint venture with the Adecco Group. On the regulatory criterion nothing here beats it: it holds dispatch licences in its own name, operates nationally, and is the firm several providers above subcontract to. It has more than two million associates and 26,000 clients. It ranks fifth because the product is built for a different buyer: a general and professional staffing business oriented to large employers already in China. A foreign SME wanting three engineers in Chengdu will find onboarding process-heavy, English-language service uneven, and pricing negotiated rather than published. If your headcount is large or your board wants the state-linked name on the contract, it is the safe choice.
- The licensed dispatch incumbent, operating nationally in its own name
- Scale and a government-linked heritage that satisfies conservative boards
- Full staffing range with Adecco Group governance
- Oriented to large employers rather than small foreign hirers
- English-language account management is not the default; ask who your contact is
- Process-heavy onboarding and negotiated pricing
- China entity
- Own licensed entities; the JV is headquartered in Shanghai with Beijing FESCO behind it
- Regional base
- Shanghai and Beijing
- Also offers
- General and professional staffing, outsourcing, payroll, RPO, employee welfare
- Operating since
- 2010 as the JV; FESCO since 1979
Dezan Shira & Associates
Dezan Shira is best known as the publisher of China Briefing and as the adviser foreign SMEs have used for thirty years to set up WFOEs and stay on the right side of the tax bureau. Its EOR and PEO service, offered in select jurisdictions including China, Vietnam and India, sits inside that advisory practice, and the appeal is obvious: the person structuring your hire has a transfer-pricing colleague down the corridor and wrote the explainer on the ten per cent dispatch cap that half the internet quotes. Its PEO model in China operates through dispatch, with the role and headcount limits that implies. It sits below MSA Asia because EOR is a small line in a very large firm, pricing is advisory-style rather than per head, and the client experience is documentation-heavy. It is the choice for a company that wants a legal opinion attached to every hire, less so for one that wants a monthly fee and an app.
- Three decades of China advisory and the deepest published knowledge base in this ranking
- Tax, legal, payroll and EOR from one firm, with a natural path to a WFOE
- Offices in most Chinese cities where a foreign company would hire
- EOR is a secondary service; the firm’s centre of gravity is advisory
- Pricing is bespoke and tends to be higher than the platforms
- No self-service platform; expect engagement letters
- China entity
- Own offices across mainland China; employing entity to be confirmed per city
- Regional base
- Hong Kong; large China practice in Shanghai, Beijing and elsewhere
- Also offers
- Incorporation, tax, accounting, audit, legal, global mobility
- Operating since
- 1992
Acclime
Acclime’s China practice came from an established Shanghai corporate-services firm the group acquired, and it now runs from four mainland offices plus Hong Kong. It acts as PEO and Employer of Record in China through its own local entity, bundling the hire with visa and work-permit assistance, payroll and HR administration. The compliance bench is real: this is a firm that spends its days on WFOE secretarial work, individual income tax and social insurance registration across municipalities, so the statutory side of a hire is unlikely to go wrong. Where it lags the firms above is speed and orientation: onboarding is enterprise-style, EOR is one service among a dozen, and the group is built for regulated, multi-entity clients rather than a start-up making its first China hire. Against Dezan Shira it is more productised and less deep on China; against the platforms, slower but more accountable.
- Four mainland offices and a Hong Kong base under one contract
- Strong tax, secretarial and statutory registration bench
- Own Chinese entity for EOR, with visa assistance bundled
- Enterprise-style onboarding and documentation
- EOR is not the core business
- Less nimble than the platforms for a single quick hire
- China entity
- Own entity; offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen
- Regional base
- Hong Kong and Singapore
- Also offers
- Incorporation, tax, accounting, corporate secretarial, payroll, visas
- Operating since
- 2019 as Acclime, from older constituent firms
NNRoad
NNRoad is a Shanghai company that grew from China payroll and employment into a global EOR covering more than eighty countries, most of that through partners. For a China hire that ordering matters: the home market is the one it runs itself, its guidance on dispatch, contribution bases and individual income tax is specific and current, and first response is quick. It is also cheaper than the advisory firms above. The reservations are scale and verifiability. The company is small and information on its ownership and employing entity is thin. It also offers expatriate employment with visa support, which in China needs careful questioning given the work-permit rules below. For a smaller company that wants a China-based specialist without a large brand, it is worth a conversation; ask the entity questions first.
- Shanghai-based; China is the home market rather than one of many
- Specific, current guidance on Chinese payroll and dispatch
- Competitive fees and quick first response
- Small team; limited public information on the employing entity
- Coverage outside China is largely partner-based
- Expatriate employment should be tested against the work-permit rules
- China entity
- Shanghai-based; employing entity and licence to be confirmed
- Regional base
- Shanghai
- Also offers
- Global payroll, expatriate employment, on-demand talent
- Operating since
- More than twenty years
CIIC
CIIC, China International Intellectech Group, is a central state-owned enterprise under SASAC whose core business is human resources services, and whose founding purpose in 1987 was dispatching staff to the representative offices of foreign companies that could not employ directly. It is, with FESCO, one of the two original Chinese answers to the question this page asks. Today it runs labour dispatch, personnel administration, payroll and tax, benefits, recruitment and an explicit Employer of Record line for foreign companies from a network covering more than 420 Chinese cities, with offices in Hong Kong and Macau, and it serves more than 57,000 corporate clients. On the regulatory criterion it is as safe as anything here: licensed dispatch in its own name, operated nationally. It ranks ninth because the product is built for large employers already in China rather than a foreign SME making a first hire: onboarding is process-heavy, English-language account management is not the default, there is no published pricing and no self-service platform, and the service is organised by region rather than around your account.
- Licensed dispatch in its own name, run by a central state-owned enterprise
- Network across 420-plus Chinese cities plus Hong Kong and Macau
- Payroll, benefits, recruitment, visa and work-permit handling under one roof
- Nearly four decades of placing staff with foreign-invested companies
- Built for large employers; a small foreign hirer gets a regional process, not a named account manager
- English-language service is uneven; confirm who your contact is
- No published pricing and no self-service platform
- China entity
- Own licensed entities nationally; regional subsidiaries in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and elsewhere
- Regional base
- Beijing (Building A, No. 2 Xinjiekou Outer Street, Xicheng District)
- Also offers
- Labour dispatch, personnel administration, payroll and tax, benefits, recruitment, visa services, overseas entity setup
- Operating since
- 1987
Links International
Links has run payroll outsourcing across Asia from Hong Kong for more than two decades and has a well-regarded China payroll service, with in-country processing on the mainland alongside Hong Kong and Macau. Its EOR, marketed as secondment or PEO, is a credible extension of that: locally run, paired with recruitment if you have not yet found the person, with visa application services alongside. It ranks last here not because anything is wrong but because EOR is its third service after payroll and recruitment, its centre of gravity is Hong Kong rather than the mainland, and it says little about the dispatch position. The digital experience is traditional. For a company whose Asian hub is Hong Kong and which wants one payroll provider to handle a small mainland team, it is a sensible, conservative choice; if the China hire is the main event, the firms above are better placed.
- Long payroll track record and in-country China payroll processing
- Recruitment, visa and payroll under one roof
- Natural fit for Hong Kong-anchored companies
- EOR is secondary to payroll outsourcing and recruitment
- Brief public explanation of the mainland dispatch position
- China entity
- Mainland offices; employing entity to be confirmed
- Regional base
- Hong Kong
- Also offers
- Payroll outsourcing, recruitment, visa services, incorporation
- Operating since
- 1999
How we scored
- Own-entity presence in mainland ChinaWhether the provider’s own registered Chinese company signs the labour contract, or a domestic FESCO does so under subcontract. Subcontracting is lawful and sometimes sensible, but it puts a party you have not vetted between you and your employee.
- Handling of the labour-dispatch and outsourcing regimeWhether the provider holds a dispatch licence, how it positions your hire against the temporary, auxiliary or substitute test and the ten per cent cap, how it manages the disguised-dispatch risk if it uses outsourcing contracts, and whether it will explain all of this in writing before you sign.
- Payroll and statutory accuracyPension, medical (with maternity), unemployment and work-injury insurance plus the housing provident fund, at the correct city rates against a base within the local floor and cap; individual income tax withheld under the cumulative method; annual bonus taxed under the preferential treatment where it applies.
- TransparencyAre the fee, the employing entity, the regime and the deposit or termination terms set out plainly before signature, or discovered afterwards?
- SupportIs there a named person who knows your account, speaks Mandarin and English, and works Chinese hours, or a queue in another time zone?
Frequently asked questions
Is Employer of Record legal in mainland China?
Yes, but only in one of two legal forms, neither of which is called EOR. Labour dispatch is regulated by the Labour Contract Law (Articles 57 to 67 as amended in 2012) and the 2014 Interim Provisions: the agency must be licensed, the role must be temporary, auxiliary or substitute, and dispatched workers may not exceed ten per cent of the receiving company’s workforce. Labour outsourcing is a commercial contract and is not separately licensed, but it can be re-characterised as dispatch if you manage the worker directly. A foreign company with no Chinese entity has no local headcount, which makes the ten per cent test awkward, and enforcement differs between cities. Our country-by-country guide sets out the position across Asia.
What does an EOR cost in China?
Salary, employer social contributions and the provider’s fee. Pension is 16 per cent nationally, medical roughly 5 to 10 per cent depending on the city, unemployment and work-injury insurance a further one to two per cent, and the housing provident fund 5 to 12 per cent: roughly 25 to 35 per cent of salary in total. Contributions are calculated on a base floored at 60 per cent and capped at 300 per cent of the local average wage, so the effective rate falls for a highly paid hire; in Shanghai the cap sits in the high RMB 30,000s a month. Provider fees run from around US$200 to US$600 a month per employee, and a thirteenth-month payment is customary though not mandatory. See our guide to employer costs across Asia.
Can an EOR sponsor a work permit for a foreign employee in China?
With difficulty, and be sceptical of anyone who says it is routine. The Foreigner’s Work Permit is issued to a specific employing unit, and the Rules on the Administration of Employment of Foreigners require the foreigner to work for that unit; dispatching a foreign national to a third company is not what the rules contemplate. Several providers on this page state that they sponsor Z visas; in practice that depends on the city, the applicant’s category and the provider’s own registration, and it carries more risk than employing a Chinese national. If a foreign hire is central to your plan, the safer route is your own WFOE, or a detailed discussion with the provider about exactly how the permit will be structured.
How long can an employee stay on EOR in China?
In law, dispatch is for positions lasting six months or less, or for auxiliary and substitute roles, so an indefinite dispatch of a core employee is exposed. In practice providers place longer-term hires under outsourcing contracts or accept the risk, and enforcement against foreign companies with no Chinese entity has been limited. Separately, after two consecutive fixed-term contracts, or ten years’ service, the employee is entitled to an open-ended contract with the employing entity, which the provider will price in. Most advisers treat EOR in China as a two- to three-year bridge to a WFOE for anything above a handful of staff.
What are the probation and termination rules?
Probation is capped by contract length: one month on a contract of three months to a year, two months on one to three years, and six months on three years or more or an open-ended contract, at no less than 80 per cent of the agreed wage. One probation per employer. Termination is not at will: the employer needs a statutory ground and, in most cases, 30 days’ notice or a month’s pay in lieu. Severance is one month’s pay per year of service (half a month under six months), described as N or N+1 where notice is paid rather than served, and capped for high earners at three times the local average wage and twelve years. Unlawful dismissal costs double; mutual termination agreements are the norm. Our employment law guide has more.
Should I use an EOR or set up a WFOE?
An EOR gets you a compliant hire in two to four weeks with no capital, registered address or annual audit. A wholly foreign-owned enterprise takes two to six months, needs an office, bank account and bookkeeping, and then obliges you to run payroll, social insurance and tax filings yourself or through an agent. The crossover is usually between five and ten staff, or earlier if you need to invoice Chinese customers, hire foreigners or hold intellectual property locally. Ask any provider how it handles the transfer of employees, accrued leave and seniority when you move. See also our guide to employee benefits in Asia and the Asia-wide ranking.
Not sure which provider fits?
Tell us how many people, which roles, which cities and how soon, and we will point you to the two or three providers worth talking to in mainland China — without passing your details to any of them.
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- People’s Republic of China, Labour Contract Law (2007, amended 28 December 2012, effective 1 July 2013), Articles 19–21 (probation), 40–48 (termination and severance) and 57–67 (labour dispatch).
- Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, Interim Provisions on Labour Dispatch (Order No. 22, effective 1 March 2014) and Measures for the Administrative Licensing of Labour Dispatch (2013).
- Social Insurance Law (2010, amended 2018) and Regulations on the Administration of Housing Provident Funds; municipal contribution notices for Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, 2025–26 contribution year.
- Individual Income Tax Law (as amended 2018) and Ministry of Finance and State Taxation Administration notices on the preferential treatment of annual one-off bonuses.
- Rules on the Administration of Employment of Foreigners in China (1996, amended 2017) and the Foreigner’s Work Permit system.
- State Administration for Market Regulation, National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System.
- Provider websites and published documentation, reviewed September 2026.