Should you hire in Saint Kitts and Nevis through an EOR or your own entity?
The right route for a first hire here needs a check, because Saint Kitts and Nevis licenses anyone who recruits or supplies workers, with exemptions. Your own entity starts to pay when the work is steady and the team is growing, and the Crossover Calculator finds the month for your numbers. For companies weighing a local entity, Teamed's real HR and legal experts, assigned within 24 hours, give you an honest answer on the right route. You also get 24/5 human support with a first response within 15 minutes.
· Saint Kitts and Nevis guide
Photo: Katelyn Comer on Unsplash
Whether you need a local company to employ someone in Saint Kitts and Nevis depends on the route. The Recruiting of Workers Act requires a licence to recruit workers, and its definition includes supplying workers to another person.
Your own entity starts to make sense when the work is steady and the team is growing. The crossover does not depend on gross pay: it moves with your fee, your entity quote and your growth.
What does the recruiting law say about supplying workers?
The Recruiting of Workers Act (Cap. 6.05) says no person may recruit workers unless licensed, and it defines recruiting to include supplying workers to be employed by another person.
A breach is an offence with a fine of up to EC$1,500, imprisonment of up to three months, or both.
The Act exempts some recruiting, including recruiting by employers with no more than ten workers, recruiting in the country for jobs in the country, and recruiting domestic or non-manual workers. These exemptions do not apply where professional recruiting agents do the recruiting. A licence lasts at most a year, and the regulations bar a licensee from taking payment from a worker for finding the job.
The Act dates from 1941 and gives effect to a 1936 ILO convention on recruiting workers, and we found nothing in the sources we read on how it applies to a modern employer of record. That is a question for local counsel. The Protection of Employment Act defines an employer to include a person who employs on behalf of another, other than an agent for a disclosed principal. The Protection of Wages Act stops an employer, an intermediary, a labour contractor or a recruiter from taking payments from a worker for obtaining or keeping a job. Our experts check the route against these rules before any contract is signed.
What does an EOR do in Saint Kitts and Nevis that you would otherwise do yourself?
The employer of record is the legal employer named in the contract. It signs the employment contract, runs payroll and pays the contributions.
You direct the work and keep the output.
That includes the Social Security, levy and severance fund duties and the Protection of Employment Act's rules on probation, notice and severance. Employer of record is a commercial label, not a legal category. The legal employer is the company named in the contract.
A contractor who becomes an employee can move onto payroll without changing platform.
What changes when you employ people directly in Saint Kitts and Nevis?
You take on every employer duty yourself: Social Security, the levy, the severance fund and the Protection of Employment Act's rules.
None of it is optional.
- Contributions. The employer's 5% Social Security, a 3% levy and 1% for the severance fund, plus the employee's shares deducted from pay.
- Registration. Employers register with the Social Security Board, which collects the three charges.
- No income tax withholding. The Inland Revenue Department says income tax on individuals was abolished in 1980. A company still files corporate income tax returns.
- Leave. Fourteen paid days of annual leave and 13 weeks of maternity leave.
- Termination. Notice from one week to three months, two written warnings before a misconduct dismissal, and severance after a year on certain grounds.
- Work permits. A person outside the CARICOM exemptions needs one, so you check the right to work before the contract is signed.
When does your own local entity make sense?
When the work here is steady, the team is growing and your entity quote beats the cost of the other routes.
Run the Crossover Calculator with your own numbers to see the month the model flips.
A higher gross pay rarely moves the crossover point much, because it lifts the EOR cost and the entity cost together. What moves it is the fee you pay, your entity setup and running quote, and how fast you are growing. Headcount alone will not tell you where you cross.
Teamed tells you when you have crossed, and helps you move.
How does the move to your own entity work?
You move from contractor to employer of record to your own entity on one platform under Teamed's Graduation Model.
EOR is the right model for a first hire in many countries, until it isn't.
The same people move across, and your designated person plans the move with you. Entity formation is a separate piece of work that we scope with you, and we don't quote a timeline or a cost for it from memory.
Teamed prices every country the same way, with zero FX markup in any currency, and the pricing page shows the fee.
How does Teamed advise on the right route in Saint Kitts and Nevis?
Teamed's real HR and legal experts check the right route for your Saint Kitts and Nevis hire first: employer of record, contractor or your own entity.
Advice and the next steps run on one platform.
A designated person gives you an honest answer on the right route, and you can run the numbers yourself in the Crossover Calculator.
The check is part of every plan and comes before any contract is signed. Contractor, employer-of-record and own-entity routes run on one platform, so a change of route does not mean a change of provider.
Start from the Saint Kitts and Nevis hiring overview, then run the Crossover Calculator with your own numbers.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a local company to hire an employee in Saint Kitts and Nevis?
It depends on the route. The Recruiting of Workers Act requires a licence to recruit workers, and it includes supplying them, with exemptions. Teamed's experts check which route fits your hire before any contract is signed, and you can open your own entity later.
What does a direct employer in Saint Kitts and Nevis have to run?
Social Security, the levy and the severance fund, registration with the Social Security Board, and the Protection of Employment Act's rules on probation, notice and severance. There is no income tax withholding on pay.
Does gross pay decide when to open a local entity?
Rarely. A higher gross pay lifts both the EOR cost and the entity cost together. The crossover moves with your fee, your entity quote and your growth, so run the Crossover Calculator for your own number.
Can a contractor in Saint Kitts and Nevis become an employee on the same platform?
Yes. A contractor who converts to employment moves onto payroll on the same platform, and the same person can later move to your own entity.
Saint Kitts and Nevis licenses anyone who recruits or supplies workers, so the route for a hire is the first decision and not the last.
A direct employer then carries three payroll charges and a Protection of Employment Act with written warnings and severance rules.
We will tell you when you have crossed, and help you move.
Looking for a job in Saint Kitts and Nevis yourself? Teamed does not hire people directly. Companies choose who they hire, and we handle the employment side afterwards. Here is why we cannot help with your search.
