Middle East

Iraq

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Employer of Record (EOR) in Iraq

What you'll learn

  • Country Introduction
  • Employment Terms
  • Minimum Wage and Working Hours
  • Statutory Leave Laws
  • Termination Process
  • Additional Information
Iraq Introduction

Iraq is a country in the Middle East region bordered by Turkey, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria. Iraq’s economy is driven by the oil sector, and the country is taking steps to facilitate an entrepreneurial atmosphere and make it easier to do business there.

Employment Terms

Te minimum wage in Iraq is around IQD 518,000 per month, with a workweek of 40 hours per week (maximum of 48 per week). Employees must be granted at least 24 hours per week for rest. Overtime is paid at 150%-200% of the regular salary, and has a maximum of 120 hours per year.

Types of Leave

Parental Leave

Pregnant employees in Iraq can take a minimum of 72 days of paid maternity leave. While there is no provision for paternity leave, either parent can take 3 days of unpaid leave each year to care for a child under the age of 6.

Sick Leave

Employees can take up to 30 days of paid sick leave each year, as long as they can show medical proof. Employees are able to take another 180 days if still sick that are covered by social security.

Paid Leave

Iraq has 14 public holidays, and employees can take at least 20 days of paid time off each year that are accrued each month. Employees can also request leave for bereavement, marriage, and a few others.

Termination Process

Process

Employers can terminate an employment contract for reasons of resignation, mutual agreement, contract expiration, extensive illness, company closure.

Notice Period

The notice period for termination is at least 30 days, with notice in writing. Employees can resign as long as they provide 30 days notice as well (if an employee resigns without notice they might have to pay the employer a monetary equivalent of the notice period).

Severance Pay

Severance pay is usually calculated as 2 weeks of wages for each year of service.

Additional Information

N/A

OVERVIEW
Language(s):
Arabic, Kurdish
Currency:
Iraqi Dinar (IQD)
Capital City:
Baghdad
Population:
44.4 Million
Cost of Living Rank:
108th
VAT (Valued Added Tax):
N/A
Employer TaxES
12%
(estimated)

★  12% - Social Security


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2

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How Remofirst employs in Iraq

It can be prohibitively expensive to establish an entity in every country you want to hire talent in, so Remofirst will hire and pay your employee on your behalf while you manage their daily duties. Remofirst will handle formal HR procedures and employment contracts that adhere to local laws, so that you can simply approve invoices via our platform. When you work with an Employer of Record (EOR) you can compliantly hire the best employees around the world.

How employees in Iraq get paid
Your employee's hours, time off, holidays, bonuses, and commissions are automatically calculated into payroll. Remofirst will invoice you in either US Dollars (USD), Euros (EUR), British Pounds (GBP), Canadian Dollars (CAD), or Singapore Dollars (SGD) around the 15th of each month to make sure your employees in Iraq are paid on time in Iraqi Dinar (IQD). To make it even easier, you can summarize your entire global team's salaries to aggregate them into one payment (instead of many individual payments).
Full-time Employees vs Global Contractors

Unlike full-time employees, contractors work on projects with multiple companies at a given time and are technically self-employed. Full-time employees are solely focused on their employer and usually receive benefits (such as health insurance, equity or stock options, and time off) as an additional form of compensation. While it can be cheaper to work with international contractors instead of paying benefits to a full-time employee, you run the risk of misclassification. It's recommended to work with an EOR for contractor onboarding and payments, so you can know that your international contractors are paid compliantly and on time.

Dependable support for employees
Whenever the employee or employer has a question about benefits, Visas, or anything else related to international employment in Iraq, they can use our platform's chat function to get answers from our team of experts. Every client of Remofirst also receives a dedicated account manager that will serve as a point of contact for global HR support.