Sponsorship, relocation, and work authorisation run as part of your employment operations. We assess eligibility before you make an offer, prepare and file the case, and keep your HR team informed until the person can legally start.
An immigration and global mobility service makes it legally possible for a specific person to work in a specific country. HireCade reviews which visa routes a candidate qualifies for, sets out the costs, documents, and realistic processing window, prepares and files the case with in-country specialists, and tracks renewals so work authorisation does not lapse.
The reason this is a service rather than a form is that a work permit is tied to a named employer, a specific job, a salary, and a location, and each of those has to be consistent with the employment contract and the payroll record. Immigration handled in isolation from employment tends to produce documents that describe slightly different jobs, and the inconsistency is discovered at exactly the wrong moment.
Two clocks run on every case. The preparation clock, which covers scoping, route selection, and evidence gathering, responds to organisation and effort. The decision clock belongs to a government authority and does not. We can tell you the current published window for a country and flag when it looks unreliable, but no provider can shorten it or promise a decision date.
The first question we ask is whether anyone needs to move at all. If the only obstacle is that you have no way to employ someone where they already live, an Employer of Record removes it without any immigration process. Immigration is the right tool when the work genuinely has to happen somewhere specific, when the person is relocating anyway, or when they need status in that market.
Immigration is one of the most complex barriers to building global teams. Each country has its own visa categories, eligibility rules, processing timelines, and documentation requirements, many of which change frequently, and none of which are visible from a job description. The offer goes out, the candidate accepts, and only then does someone ask which permit this person actually needs.
That sequence is the problem. Work authorisation determines whether a start date is realistic, what the total cost of the hire is, and in some countries whether the hire is possible at all without a registered local employer. Treated as an afterthought it silently adds months; treated as part of the hiring decision it becomes a planning question with a known answer.
HireCade Immigration exists to move that question earlier. We combine experienced immigration specialists, localized knowledge, and streamlined workflows so companies can sponsor, relocate, and retain international talent from short-term mobility through to permanent relocation, with the case wired into the same operation that runs the employment.
A free initial visa eligibility review that tells you which routes fit the person and the role, and which ones will not work, before an offer goes out.
The full requirement list up front: government fees, employer obligations, evidence needed from the candidate, and a realistic processing window per country.
Specialists prepare and review each application before submission, which is where most avoidable errors and rejections are caught.
Where the destination country allows it, our employing entity can act as the sponsor, so you do not need to incorporate to place someone on a work permit.
Permits expire, roles change, and people relocate again. We track renewal windows and handle extensions before authorisation lapses.
One place for case status and communication, so HR and people operations teams can see where every application stands without chasing anyone.
Immigration does not happen in isolation. A work permit has a start date, a salary threshold, a job title on the application, and a location, and every one of those has to match the employment contract, the payroll entry, and the offer letter. When immigration is handled by a separate vendor with no view of the employment record, that alignment breaks quietly and is discovered at the border.
We run the case inside the same operation that handles the employment, so the contract, the payroll setup, and the permit describe the same job. If a start date has to move because a decision is outstanding, the employment paperwork moves with it rather than triggering a payroll correction later.
This integration reduces delays, errors, and administrative burden, and it changes who is responsible for noticing problems. Rather than an HR team reconciling emails from a law firm against a spreadsheet, the case, the contract, and the renewal date sit in one workflow with one point of contact.
What that integration gives you
Moving someone from a regional team into the head office, with the permit and contract changing together.
Placing several people into one country at once, where routes and quotas need planning rather than improvising.
The person you want does not hold the right to work where the role sits, and you need to know if that is solvable.
An employee wants to work from another country, which raises permit, tax, and employment questions at the same time.
Navigating founder and startup visa routes and fast-track relocation for the people setting up a market.
A valued employee relocates for personal reasons and you would rather solve the paperwork than lose them.
Permits already in place with expiry dates nobody is tracking, which is the quietest compliance risk on this list.
A candidate whose acceptance depends on whether a partner can work in the destination country.
Comparing a relocation against employing the person where they already live, before committing to either.
Most companies end up using more than one of these over time. The useful question is which one fits the volume and complexity you have now.
| Consideration | HireCade Immigration | Traditional law firm | Handle it in-house |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Companies sponsoring and relocating staff as part of global employment | High-stakes or contested cases needing legal representation | Steady, repeatable volume in one or two familiar countries |
| Cost shape | Quoted per case, with government fees passed through | Hourly billing, or fixed fees per matter plus disbursements | Salaried mobility headcount, plus counsel when a case is unusual |
| Time to first filing | Eligibility answer in days, filing as soon as documents are complete | Depends on engagement and conflict checks before work starts | Fast for routes you have run before, slow for anything new |
| Country coverage | Support across dozens of countries through in-country specialists | Usually deep in one jurisdiction, referred out beyond it | Limited to the countries your team has actually learned |
| Who tracks the case | We do, with status visible to your HR team | The firm tracks its matter; you reconcile it with your records | Your team, usually in a spreadsheet |
| Link to employment and payroll | Same operation runs the contract, payroll, and permit | None; the firm has no view of your employment data | Possible, but only as well as your internal handoffs work |
| Renewal tracking | Tracked against the employment record and started before the deadline | Available if you instruct it, and easy to forget to instruct | Depends entirely on someone remembering a date |
| Who carries the admin burden | Us, including document chasing and renewal reminders | Split; the firm files, your team gathers and coordinates | Entirely yours, on top of everything else HR owns |
| When it stops making sense | When you need courtroom representation or an appeal argued | When routine, high-volume permits make hourly billing wasteful | When you enter countries nobody on the team has handled |
No provider controls government processing times or decisions. What is controllable is whether the case is eligible, complete, and filed on the right route, which is where refusals are actually won or lost.
Immigration cost depends on the country, the route, and how much evidence the case needs, so we quote per case rather than publishing a single number.
Eligibility assessment
A first read on which routes fit the person and the role, so you can plan the offer around a real timeline.
Visa or work permit case
End-to-end handling of a single application, from preparation through to decision and onboarding.
Add Employer of Record
Where the person stays abroad rather than relocating, we can employ them compliantly instead of sponsoring a move.
Government filing fees, visa application charges, and any mandatory employer levies are passed through at cost. Case pricing is driven by route complexity, evidence volume, and whether dependants are included.
Share the role, the salary, the nationality, and where the work needs to happen.
A free initial review of which routes fit, what they cost, and how long they realistically take.
Specialists assemble the documents, review the application, and submit it on the chosen route.
We coordinate the start date with the decision, then track renewals so authorisation does not lapse.
Global mobility is the function that makes it legally possible for a specific person to work in a specific place. It covers the permit itself, but also the parts that surround it: which route the person qualifies for, whether the salary meets a threshold, whether the employer needs a sponsor licence, what dependants are entitled to, how long the authorisation lasts, and what has to happen before it expires. Companies usually discover the scope of it one requirement at a time.
The routes vary widely in shape. Work permits and skilled worker visas are tied to a named employer and a specific job. Digital nomad visas allow someone to live in a country while working for an employer elsewhere, and generally do not permit local employment. Founder and startup visas assess a business rather than a job offer. Short-term business travel visas cover meetings but not productive work, which is a distinction immigration authorities take seriously. Permanent residence pathways run over years and often build on a work permit already held.
Sponsorship is where the absence of a local entity matters most. In many countries only a registered local employer can sponsor a work permit, because the application requires an employer identity, a local payroll, and a legal party accountable for the terms. If you have no entity in the destination country, the practical options are that a compliant employing entity sponsors on your behalf where local rules allow it, that you incorporate, or that the person works from where they already hold the right to work. Which of those applies is a country-by-country question, and we would rather tell you the honest answer early than discover it mid-application.
That last option is often the better answer, and it is worth naming. If the reason for relocating is simply that you have no way to employ someone where they live, an Employer of Record solves that without any immigration process at all, because nobody is crossing a border. Immigration is the right tool when the work genuinely has to happen in a particular country, when someone is already moving, or when a person needs status in a market for reasons beyond a single job.
The work divides into a few recognisable shapes, and naming the one you are in usually answers half the question. Employer sponsored work permits are the most common: a named company offers a specific job, and the permit is tied to that job, that salary, and often that location. Intra-company transfers move an existing employee between entities of the same group, which tends to be simpler because the employment relationship already exists. Relocation cases move a person and sometimes a family, which adds dependant applications, registration steps, and practical arrangements after arrival.
Beyond those there are routes that do not depend on a job offer at all. Founder and startup routes assess a business plan and the applicant's role in it rather than an employer. Some countries offer remote work or digital nomad permissions that allow someone to live there while remaining employed elsewhere, and these generally do not allow local employment. Permanent residence pathways typically run over years and often build on a work permit the person already holds.
There is also a category of work that is less visible but takes up more HR time than any of the above: keeping existing authorisation valid. Extensions, renewals, and status changes when someone is promoted, moves city, or changes salary band are where compliance most often slips, because nothing triggers them except a date that somebody has to remember.
Alongside all of this sits a question we ask early: does anyone actually need to move? If the reason for a relocation is simply that you have no way to employ someone where they already live, the cleaner answer is often an Employer of Record, because nobody crosses a border and no immigration process is needed. Immigration is the right tool when the work genuinely has to happen in a particular place, when someone is already relocating, or when a person needs status in a market for reasons that go beyond one job.
Immigration is a local practice. The rules, the forms, the evidentiary expectations, and the way a particular authority reads a borderline case are all jurisdiction specific, and they shift with policy in ways that published guidance does not always keep up with. That is why we work with experienced immigration specialists in the destination country rather than applying one team's reading of the rules to every market.
In practice a case has two layers. There is the coordination layer, which is ours: understanding the role and the person, choosing the route with you, assembling and chasing documents, keeping the employment record and the application aligned, tracking the case, and telling your HR team where it stands. Then there is the professional layer, where in-country specialists prepare and review the application, handle correspondence with the authority, and advise on the questions that require local judgement.
Keeping those layers connected is most of the value. A large share of avoidable refusals come from inconsistency rather than ineligibility: a job title on the application that does not match the contract, a salary figure that does not match payroll, a start date that has already passed, an address that changed between two documents. Those are coordination failures, and they are the ones that a separate vendor with no view of your employment data cannot reliably catch.
We are explicit about the boundary. HireCade coordinates immigration casework and gives you clear, practical information about routes, requirements, costs, and process. Where a matter calls for formal legal advice or representation, that sits with qualified professionals, and we will say so rather than blur the line. If what you need is deep advisory work on an individual petition, our immigration experts service is the better starting point.
Cases differ by country and route, but almost all of them move through the same sequence, and knowing the sequence makes it much easier to see where a case is stuck. The first stage is scoping: the role, the salary, the nationality, the destination, and whether dependants are involved. This is the stage where an unworkable plan is cheapest to discover, which is why the eligibility review comes before an offer rather than after it.
The second stage is route selection and planning. More than one route often fits, and they trade off against each other: one may be faster but tied more tightly to the employer, another may allow dependants to work, another may lead toward permanent residence. This is also where employer side prerequisites surface, such as whether a sponsor licence or registration is required, because those can take longer than the application itself.
The third stage is evidence gathering, and it is usually the longest part that anyone controls. Qualifications may need verifying or translating, police certificates may have to be requested from countries the applicant no longer lives in, and employment history may need documenting further back than the applicant expects. Cases slow down here far more often than they slow down at the authority.
The fourth stage is preparation, review, and filing, followed by the fifth stage, which is waiting for a decision on a timetable nobody involved controls. Some authorities issue requests for further evidence during this period, which restarts part of the clock. The final stage is the practical one: confirming the start date against the decision, aligning the employment contract and payroll, completing any post arrival registration, and recording the expiry date so the renewal is started in time rather than discovered late.
The exact list is set by the destination country and the route, and we give you the specific requirements during the eligibility review rather than a generic checklist. That said, the categories repeat almost everywhere, and applicants who start collecting early are the ones whose cases move quickly.
Identity and travel documents come first, and they cause more delays than anything else in this category, usually because a passport is close to expiry or does not have enough validity left for the permit being requested. Previous passports are sometimes needed too, because travel history has to be evidenced across a period rather than at a point in time.
Qualifications and professional credentials are the next cluster. Depending on the route, a degree certificate may need to be verified by a recognised body, translated by an approved translator, or legalised. Regulated professions such as healthcare and law frequently have a licensing step that runs alongside immigration and on its own timetable, which is worth planning for separately.
Then there is evidence about the person and the role: employment history and reference letters, a contract or offer letter consistent with the application, salary evidence, and in some cases proof of maintenance funds. Police or good character certificates may be required from every country the applicant has lived in for more than a set period, which is the item most likely to be requested from an authority that is slow to respond. Dependants add their own set, including relationship and birth evidence.
Our role here is to tell you what is needed, in what form, and in what order, and then to chase it. Most of the time lost in immigration is not lost at the authority, it is lost waiting for one document that nobody realised was on the list.
A case has two clocks and they behave completely differently. The first is the preparation clock, which is largely yours and ours: scoping, route selection, evidence gathering, and review. It is predictable, it responds to effort, and it is where a well organised case pulls ahead. The second is the decision clock, which belongs to the authority. It is not influenced by how well organised you are, and no provider can shorten it.
Government processing times move for reasons that have nothing to do with any individual case. Application volumes rise and fall seasonally, policy changes create backlogs, quota systems open and close on fixed calendars, consular capacity varies by post, and priority or premium services exist in some countries and not in others. A published window is a description of recent experience, not a commitment, and it can become unreliable quickly.
This is why we quote the current published window per country, tell you when we think it is unreliable, and refuse to convert it into a promised start date. Anyone who guarantees a specific decision date is describing something that is not theirs to control. The useful thing we can do is tell you the realistic planning assumption and flag the risk early enough for you to build a contingency into the offer.
There are parts of the timeline that are genuinely controllable, and they deserve more attention than they usually get. Starting document collection at offer stage rather than after acceptance, checking passport validity before anything else, requesting police certificates from other countries first because they are the slowest, and completing employer side registration in parallel rather than in sequence all remove weeks. Filing a complete case also matters after submission, because a request for further evidence restarts part of the process.
The final part of the timeline is the one companies forget entirely. Authorisation expires, and extensions usually have to be filed before it does. We track the renewal window against the employment record and start the extension in time, because a lapse in authorisation is a compliance problem for the employer as well as a personal problem for the employee.
Immigration is a field where overselling is common and expensive for the buyer, so it is worth being direct about the limits. We do not guarantee approvals. A visa decision belongs to a government, and any provider who guarantees one is either misdescribing their service or planning to blame the applicant later. What we commit to instead is not filing a case we expect to lose, because a refusal makes the next attempt harder and stays on the person's record.
We do not control or shorten government processing times, and we will not quote a decision date as though we can. Where a published window looks unreliable, we say so and help you plan an offer that survives the uncertainty rather than one that depends on the optimistic case.
We do not present coordination as legal advice. We give clear, practical information about routes, requirements, costs, and process, and we work with qualified in-country professionals for the parts that require legal judgement, preparation, and representation. If a matter needs argued representation or deep advisory work on an individual petition, we will point you to the right place, including our own immigration experts service where that fits better.
We also decline work we cannot support properly. Some destinations are outside our coverage, some routes require a sponsoring employer that has to be your own registered company, and some situations are better solved without immigration at all. Saying that early costs us a case. Discovering it mid-application costs you a hire and a start date, which is considerably worse.
A work permit is not a standalone document. It carries a job title, a salary, an employer, a location, and a validity period, and every one of those has to match the employment contract, the payroll record, and the offer letter. When immigration sits with a vendor that has no view of your employment data, that alignment breaks quietly and is discovered at a border or during an audit.
Running the case inside the same operation that handles the employment keeps those records describing the same job. If a start date moves because a decision is outstanding, the employment paperwork moves with it instead of creating a payroll correction later. If a role changes enough to affect the permit, the change is visible where the permit is tracked.
The Employer of Record service is the closest neighbour, and often the better answer. Where someone can do the work from where they already hold the right to work, employing them locally removes the immigration question entirely, at $499 per employee per month plus salary and employer contributions. Where someone is relocating, an employing entity in the destination country may be able to act as sponsor under local rules, which is what makes sponsorship possible for companies with no entity there.
HireCade IT fits at the other end of the arrival. A person who has just moved countries still needs a configured device, accounts, and role-scoped access on their first day, and coordinating that against a start date that only firmed up when a decision arrived is exactly the kind of thing that gets dropped. Contractor of Record is relevant in a different case: where the person is genuinely independent and can work from their own country, an immigration project may not be the right project at all.
Our immigration experts service covers the other side of the relationship. That service works at the level of an individual petition, including United States categories such as O-1A, H-1B, EB-1, and EB-2 National Interest Waiver, and is the right starting point if you are an applicant rather than an employer, or if a case needs deep advisory work.
It makes it legally possible for a specific person to work in a specific country. That means reviewing which visa routes the person and the role qualify for, setting out the costs, documents, and realistic processing window, preparing and filing the case with in-country specialists, and tracking renewals so authorisation does not lapse.
The part companies underestimate is coordination. A permit carries a job title, a salary, an employer, and a location, and all of those have to match the employment contract and the payroll record. Keeping those aligned is where most avoidable problems are prevented.
The initial eligibility assessment is free. Case work is quoted per case, because the effort involved in a straightforward intra-company transfer and a complex sponsored permit with dependants is not comparable.
Government filing fees, visa charges, and mandatory employer levies are separate and passed through at cost. We give you the full figure, ours and the authorities', before you commit to a route.
Preparation is usually the part you control: gathering documents and evidence takes a few weeks, longer if a qualification needs verifying or a police certificate has to be requested from another country.
Government decision times are set by the authority, not by us, and they move with volume and policy. We quote the current published window per country and tell you when it is unreliable, rather than promising a date we cannot hold.
No, and neither can anyone else. The decision belongs to a government authority, and a provider who guarantees an approval is describing something that is not theirs to give.
What we commit to is a realistic assessment before you plan around a route, and not filing a case we expect to lose. A refusal makes the next attempt harder and sits on the applicant's record, so declining to file is sometimes the most useful advice available.
We provide immigration support across dozens of countries, working with in-country specialists so advice reflects current local practice rather than a general reading of the rules.
Tell us the destination and we will confirm coverage before you plan around it. Where we cannot support a country properly we will say so instead of taking the case and improvising.
Sometimes, and it depends entirely on the destination. Some countries let a compliant local employing entity act as the sponsor, which means you can place someone on a permit without incorporating. Others require the sponsoring employer to be your own registered company, and no arrangement changes that.
We check this in the eligibility assessment, because the answer determines whether the hire is an immigration project, an entity project, or better solved by employing the person where they already live.
The exact list depends on the country and the route, and we give you the specific requirements during the eligibility review. The categories are consistent though: a passport with sufficient remaining validity, degree certificates and professional credentials, employment history and references, a contract that matches the application, salary evidence, and police or good character certificates from countries of previous residence.
Dependants add relationship and birth evidence. Some routes also require verified translations, legalisation, medical checks, or biometric appointments. The slowest item is usually a certificate requested from a country the applicant no longer lives in, which is why we ask people to start that one first.
We coordinate immigration casework and give clear, practical information about routes, requirements, costs, and process. The preparation, review, and filing of applications is handled with qualified in-country specialists who practise in the destination jurisdiction.
Where a matter needs formal legal advice or representation, that sits with those professionals rather than with a coordination layer, and we will say so plainly. If you need deep advisory work on an individual petition, our immigration experts service is the better starting point.
This page is the productised service for companies: sponsorship, relocation, and mobility handled alongside the employment itself, with cases tracked for your HR team.
Our immigration experts service works at the level of an individual petition, including United States categories such as O-1A, H-1B, EB-1, and EB-2 National Interest Waiver, and is the right starting point if you are an applicant rather than an employer, or if a case needs deep advisory work.
We tell you why, in the terms the authority used, and set out what is actually available: correcting and refiling, switching to a different route, or appealing where an appeal right exists. Refusals are most often about missing or inconsistent evidence rather than the person being ineligible.
Nobody can guarantee an approval, and any provider who does is describing a decision that is not theirs to make. What we do commit to is not filing a case we expect to lose, because a refusal makes the next attempt harder and it sits on the person's record.
Yes, and this is where in-house processes most often fail. Permits expire, and a lapse in authorisation is a compliance problem for the employer as well as a personal problem for the employee.
We track renewal windows against the employment record and start the extension before the deadline, including status changes when a role, salary, or work location moves enough to matter.
Occasionally, but it needs checking rather than assuming. Working while on a tourist or business visitor status is not permitted in most countries, and a stay long enough to be convenient is often long enough to create local tax or social security obligations for you as well as the employee.
Some countries have a specific remote work or digital nomad route that makes this clean. We will tell you which case you are in and what the employer exposure is before the person books a flight.
It depends on the route and the country. Many employer sponsored routes allow a partner and children to apply as dependants, and some grant the partner work rights while others do not. A few routes make no provision for dependants at all.
This is worth checking before an offer rather than after, because it frequently determines whether a candidate accepts. We include the dependant position in the eligibility review, along with the additional documents and fees involved.
Ask what the relocation is for. If the work genuinely has to happen in a particular country, if the person is moving anyway, or if they need status in that market, immigration is the right tool.
If the only reason is that you have no way to employ someone where they already live, an Employer of Record solves it without any immigration process, at $499 per employee per month plus salary and employer contributions. That is usually faster, cheaper, and less risky than moving a person across a border to fix a corporate structure problem.
Immigration is one answer to the question of where someone can legally work. These are the neighbouring products, the specialist talent pools, and the hiring tools that sit around it.
Employ someone where they already live, with no relocation and no immigration process at all.
Engage genuinely independent contractors abroad without carrying misclassification risk.
A configured device and role-scoped access waiting on a start date that moved with the decision.
Everything we do, grouped by whether you need to find, hire, employ, or research people.
What each product costs, including the parts quoted per case rather than published.
Attorneys and paralegals for individual petitions and deep advisory casework.
Pre-vetted engineers, including candidates who would need sponsorship to relocate.
Labelling and RLHF teams, usually employable where they already live.
Technical SEO and content specialists for distributed marketing teams.
A full product team assembled for a roadmap, without a relocation programme attached.
Unlimited jobs, candidates, and seats, so a sponsored hire is tracked like any other.
Sourcing, resume ranking, and screening for roles that attract international applicants.
Expert interviewers run technical loops across time zones so your engineers keep shipping.
A curated shortlist every Monday, useful when a market takes time to open.
Talk to professionals in a market before you commit to hiring or relocating into it.
Book a consultation and get clear guidance on the routes available for your situation, what they cost, and how long they take before you make the offer.
