We have some awesome news to share:
RemoFirst has been recognized as one of the Top 12 Leaders in the IEC Global EOR Study 2026, published by The IEC Group.
Out of more than 1,000 EOR providers evaluated worldwide, only 150 were selected to participate in the study, and just 30 earned a spot as IEC Elite Members.
RemoFirst made the cut, landing in the Leader quadrant of the IEC Dynamic Map, alongside some of the big players that have raised hundreds of millions of dollars.
For a company built on the belief that global hiring should be simple and accessible, this recognition means a lot.
What Is the IEC Global EOR Study?
The IEC Group is an independent research and analyst firm that tracks the global workforce solutions market.
Their annual EOR study is one of the most comprehensive in the industry, assessing providers across a wide range of criteria: global reach, compliance depth, platform maturity, AI and automation, client experience, employee experience, integration capabilities, and overall innovation.
The IEC Dynamic Map plots providers across two axes: Company Attractiveness and Execution and Customer Experience. Landing in the Leader quadrant means performing well on both, not just one.
Here is what IEC CEO Luis Praxmarer had to say about RemoFirst in the study:
"RemoFirst is a value-oriented global EOR provider that combines coverage across 185+ countries, transparent pricing and fast deployment. Its appeal is strongest for SMB and mid-market firms seeking efficient international hiring, while its future differentiation will depend on disciplined partner-led compliance execution at scale."
Why This Recognition Matters to Us
RemoFirst was built for companies that want to hire globally without the complexity and cost that usually comes with it. We have always believed that a startup in one city or country should have the same access to global talent as a Fortune 500 company, and that a business should not have to spend six figures setting up a foreign entity just to hire one person internationally.
This recognition reflects that the market is starting to reward that approach. Affordability, speed, and simplicity are no longer seen as trade-offs, they are becoming the standard.
"Being recognized as a Leader in the IEC Global EOR Study is a meaningful validation of what we have been building," said Nurasyl Serik, CEO and Co-Founder of RemoFirst. "Our mission has always been to make global hiring simple, affordable, and compliant. This recognition reflects the trust our customers place in us every day, and it motivates us to keep raising the bar."
The EOR Market Is Growing Fast
This is also a good moment to zoom out and look at where the industry is heading.
The global EOR market was valued at around $5.8 billion in 2024. By 2030, IEC projects it will reach $16.7 billion, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 20%.
That is not a niche trend. That is a fundamental shift in how companies think about hiring and workforce management.
A few things are driving that growth:
Global talent is now the norm.
Companies are no longer limiting their searches to local candidates. Whether it is engineering, AI, data, or specialized roles, the best talent is scattered across the world, and businesses want access to it without geographic restrictions.
Work models have changed permanently.
Remote and hybrid work have made cross-border hiring a default option rather than an edge case. More companies are building distributed teams, and they need infrastructure to support it.
Compliance is getting more complex.
Worker classification rules, tax obligations, data privacy laws, and labor regulations vary dramatically across jurisdictions and are tightening globally. Companies increasingly rely on EOR providers to manage that complexity rather than trying to figure it out themselves.
EOR has evolved from a workaround for companies that could not afford to open local entities into a strategic layer of global workforce infrastructure. And that evolution is not slowing down.
What RemoFirst Brings to the Table
The IEC study specifically called out several things we are proud of:
Our price-to-coverage ratio is one of the strongest in the market. We support EOR hiring in 185+ countries starting at $199 per employee per month, with no hidden fees or opaque pricing.
Our deployment speed is built for companies that need to move quickly. Waiting months to get someone legally employed in a new country is not an option for most growing businesses.
Our visa and work permit support now covers 110+ countries, which is increasingly important as global mobility becomes a bigger part of workforce strategy.
Our integration layer is growing, connecting EOR workflows into the HR and payroll ecosystems that companies already use. We know that no one wants another siloed tool.
And our support model, with dedicated account managers and 24/7 customer service, is built around the idea that when something needs to get sorted, it should get sorted fast.
What Comes Next
We are not done and have more innovation to come!
Where we are focused: continuing to strengthen compliance governance, expanding our AI-native maturity, and building out more advanced multi-country workflow support.
Those are not just checkboxes.
They are the things that will matter most as more enterprise customers look to EOR as a long-term workforce strategy, not just a quick hiring fix.
We are grateful to our customers, our team, and to The IEC Group for this recognition. It is a good reminder of why we started RemoFirst in the first place, and how much further we want to go.
Interested in learning more about how RemoFirst can support your global hiring? Get started here.
