Hiring and relocating global talent: a guide to building your immigration strategy

Companies often look beyond local borders to find the right people. Tapping into a wider international talent pool helps businesses find skilled individuals they might not find locally. For companies to stay competitive, hiring global talent is the most important part of a modern global talent strategy.

This guide covers the process of hiring talent from abroad, important considerations like immigration compliance and visa processes, and how to create a strong plan for long-term global talent acquisition.

‍

Understanding the international talent hiring process

International recruitment means finding, attracting, selecting, and bringing employees on board from outside your country. This includes identifying global talent needs, managing employee immigration details, and smoothly integrating new hires. Companies might hire remotely, support employee immigration, or do both.

Here's how the typical hiring process works:

• Deciding hiring priorities: Focus on roles where looking internationally makes sense, especially for positions with skill shortages or a global need.
• Attracting candidates: Use platforms and methods that effectively reach an international talent pool, matching your recruitment goals.
• Screening applicants: Be ready for different resume styles and qualification systems from various countries.
• Conducting interviews: Adjust interviews for different time zones and cultural expectations.
• Making an offer: Create a compensation package that aligns with local standards in the candidate's region.
• Setting up employment: Decide if the hire will be a contractor or a full-time employee. This choice affects contracts, payroll, and benefits, and must meet local rules.
• Managing immigration and onboarding: You'll first handle employee immigration processes, then either relocate international employees or integrate them as remote workers.

This process needs good communication between HR, legal, finance, and operations. It's often more involved than hiring locally, mainly due to complex immigration and visa rules. Still, with the right support and tools, it's manageable.

Building a strong global recruitment strategy

A clear plan helps avoid legal problems, hiring delays, or unexpected costs. These are the main parts of a successful global talent acquisition strategy:

• Clarifying roles and locations: Determine if positions will be remote, hybrid, or need physical presence. Not all roles or teams work well across many time zones.
• Knowing compliance rules: Understand the local employment laws, visa requirements, and benefit expectations for each country you hire in. Dealing with specific immigration rules is often the hardest part.
• Setting up hiring infrastructure: Choose your employment setup, such as direct hire, using an Employer of Record (EOR), or hiring contractors. This choice depends on your company’s presence in the target country.
• Planning for mobility and immigration: If global talent needs to move, preparing for employee immigration and visa processes is important. Be sure your team can manage the legal aspects, or consider partnering with an immigration services provider to navigate challenges and ensure moves are compliant. To learn more about when to use outside help, see our guide on outsourcing immigration services.
• Communicating consistently: Hiring talent from abroad needs extra attention to expectations, timelines, and cultural differences. Keep candidates informed and involved throughout.

If you’re starting your hiring plan from scratch, working with a partner offering global immigration solutions can help you avoid delays and mismatches.

How to find and attract international talent

Finding the right international candidates means using effective tools and making your job postings appealing.

Using international recruiting software

Specialized recruiting software helps HR teams find international talent. Here are some useful options:

• Jobboard Finder: This tool gathers information from recruiting websites worldwide, with data from over 975 job boards across 244 countries. Recruiters can post job ads and track their performance directly within the platform.
• Relocate.me: This platform specializes in finding tech talent. It connects employers with candidates open to moving. Employers can upload job details, filter applicants, and integrate with their applicant tracking system (ATS).
• Landing.jobs: Another tool for international tech talent, Landing.jobs shares job ads across its channels and network. They also help with writing job postings to attract international candidates and work with various applicant tracking systems.
• Honeypot.io: This platform focuses on engineering teams and offers automation. Employers post job details, and Honeypot automatically matches them with international tech talent, sending lists weekly. They also have a thorough candidate screening process, with only 10% of applicants making it into their talent pool.

Leveraging social media

Social media is an effective way to find international talent.

• LinkedIn: With over 250 million active monthly users, LinkedIn is a good place to post jobs. Your professional network and employee shares can lead to good results. LinkedIn also lets applicants learn more about the role, the company, and the current team.

Joining Slack communities

Slack communities can connect you with international employment opportunities.

• Slofile: A database of Slack communities you can use to search for talent based on specific role requirements.
• DesignerHangout: Useful if you're looking for a skilled designer for your team.
• WomenInSales: Helpful if you’re building your sales team.
• SaaS alliance: A good starting point if you're looking for tech talent to help grow your SaaS product.

Optimizing your job posting

Your job posting is where candidates decide whether to apply. It’s important for attracting international talent. Here’s what to include:

• Relocation package details: Clearly explain how your company helps with relocation. This includes advice on adapting, financial support, travel costs, visa services, and support after the move.
• Company’s location: State your company's location. Adding a video highlighting local attractions or a list of employee favorite activities can be a bonus.
• Clear and inclusive language: Avoid jargon, idioms, or slang specific to one region. Use short, clear sentences and words that have universal meaning. For example, use "responsible for managing projects" instead of "owns deliverables." Avoid language that might exclude someone based on gender, culture, or background.
• Multiple languages: If you're targeting specific regions, consider publishing your listing in the main local languages.
• Transparency about compensation: Include a pay range, the currency, and whether compensation is adjusted for location.
• Benefits: List benefits like flexible working hours, home office stipends, health insurance, paid time off (PTO), and professional development budgets.
• Hiring process details: Explain the number of interview rounds, the typical timeline, if interviews can be asynchronous, and what documents are required.

What to prepare for when hiring talent from abroad

Bringing in international talent means more than just finding the right person. Before posting a job, ask yourself: Can we support an international hire from beginning to end? Even well-resourced HR teams can benefit from global mobility software or partnerships that reduce administrative tasks and keep international hires on track.

Here are some areas to prepare for:

• Legal and compliance: Every country has different rules for employment, tax, and documentation. Immigration compliance is often the most complex and high-risk area, as mistakes with visa types or application processes can cause significant delays or fines. That’s why companies working across borders often set up strong systems ,  or rely on specialized global immigration solutions ,  to stay compliant.
• Employment setup: Decide early if the hire will be a contractor or an employee. This choice impacts contracts, payroll, and benefits, and must align with local rules.
• Talent relocation: If the role needs a move, be ready to handle visa sponsorship and subsequent housing support and documentation. Successfully managing employee immigration processes is a critical step for any smooth talent relocation. Relocating international employees is easier with clear internal workflows or a global mobility provider specializing in immigration expertise.
• Cultural alignment: Even the best candidates need help adapting to a new team or country. Support their integration with proper onboarding, mentorship, and tools that encourage collaboration.

Building a reliable international hiring strategy

International hiring is most effective when done with clear intent. Whether you’re growing your team across markets or hiring a few international experts, here’s how to set your company up for success:

• Map out your hiring needs: Identify which roles are flexible for global hiring and which need relocation or being close to headquarters.
• Align with internal stakeholders: HR, finance, and legal all play a part in hiring international talent. Bring them in early.
• Build your mobility infrastructure: This could mean setting up internal employee immigration and talent relocation support, or partnering with a global immigration services provider, who can coordinate complex immigration processes, housing, and onboarding.
• Use the right tools: Track applications, centralize documents, and keep communication flowing across countries. The right global mobility software can help simplify administration and reduce delays.
• Think long-term: Global hiring isn’t a quick fix. It's a way to scale, diversify, and compete for talent, and it works best when your global talent strategy is designed to support it over time.

‍