A UK company can hire EU developers from the UK. You pick one of three engagement models (direct contractor, employer of record, or a nearshore partner), then settle tax status, contract terms and data flows before anyone writes code. Visits to your UK office are a separate question from where the engineer works day to day.
It sits under our hub on EU engineering hiring compliance: contracts, IP and GDPR.
What changed for UK companies hiring EU engineers after Brexit
Freedom of movement between the UK and EU ended with Brexit. gov.uk's visa rules are framed around work done in the UK, and remote-only arrangements aren't addressed on the visitors page, so check with an adviser.
Brexit also touches the paperwork around the edges: how you handle visits to your office, which court a dispute lands in, how VAT treats the invoices, and how data moves between the UK and the EU.
This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Your accountant and, for anything involving travel or relocation, an immigration adviser should sign off on your specific setup.
Three ways to engage an EU-based developer
For hiring EU contractors after Brexit, the model matters more than the country. It decides who signs what, and who answers to whom.
Direct contractor (B2B)
You contract with the developer, usually through their own company, and pay invoices. It's typically the lightest setup. The trade-offs are that you handle sourcing and vetting yourself, and that you own the question of whether the arrangement counts as a genuine contractor relationship. On the engineer's side that's a matter of local law, so check it with a local adviser before you sign. On the UK side it's a tax-status question, covered in the next section.
Employer of record
An employer of record (EOR) is typically a third party that becomes the legal employer of a worker you direct day to day. It runs payroll and employment paperwork in the engineer's country. If you're weighing employer of record vs contractor in Europe, the practical difference is that the EOR takes on the employment admin and you still manage the work. You pay for that service, and you're tied to a provider's terms. We haven't put pricing here because the figures we found came from vendors' own pages.
Nearshore partner or staff augmentation
A nearshore partner typically finds, vets and matches engineers, and you run them as part of your team. This is the route to take if you want to hire nearshore developers from the UK without building a sourcing pipeline. HighCircl works this way across seven European countries (Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Serbia, Slovenia, Romania and Spain), with a capped 20% margin on top of what the engineer earns, 72-hour matching, no minimum hours and a replacement guarantee. Serbia isn't an EU member, which matters for the data point below.
| Model | Who you contract with | Employment-law risk | Typical use | HMRC status question |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct contractor | The developer or their company | Check local law | One or two engineers, you do the sourcing | Yes, see next section |
| Employer of record | The EOR provider | Check local law | You want an employee-style arrangement without your own entity | Check with your tax adviser |
| Nearshore partner (varies by provider) | The partner, under its own terms | Depends on the partner's contract | You want a vetted shortlist and a team-sized engagement | Depends on the contract structure |
Whatever the model, check the actual contract.
Tax status in one paragraph
Whether the UK off-payroll rules (IR35) apply is a separate question with its own set of tests, and we've written it up elsewhere. The short version comes straight from HMRC's manual: "A worker who is not UK-resident and is performing work outside the UK is unlikely to fall within the charge to UK tax or NICs." It adds that if the worker isn't chargeable to UK tax or NICs, the off-payroll working rules won't apply. A small-client exemption also exists. For the thresholds and the UK-connection test, read how the off-payroll rules treat a contractor based in the EU before you sign anything.
Contract points that change when the engineer is in the EU
A cross-border development agreement needs the usual clauses. The other clauses a cross-border development agreement needs are covered in our contract guide. Four points are specific to a UK buyer and an EU engineer.
IP assignment
Consider putting the IP assignment in writing; how it works varies by country. We cover the detail in who owns the code an EU contractor writes.
Governing law and courts
The UK government's guidance says the 2005 Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements "still applies to the UK (without interruption) from its original entry into force date of 1 October 2015". The convention applies where the chosen court is in a contracting party, "which includes all EU member states".
Read that narrowly. The convention covers exclusive choice-of-court agreements entered into from 1 October 2015, and it's about courts and judgments, not governing law. If you'd rather arbitrate, that's a separate track, and we haven't sourced anything on it here.
Paying an EU contractor and VAT
When your business buys services from abroad, a rule called the reverse charge applies. The UK business accounts for the VAT on its own VAT return, and some services are treated differently. Your accountant will know how to book it. Ask them before the first invoice arrives, not after.
Data
UK GDPR still governs personal data you send to an EU developer, but you don't need a transfer agreement to send it. The ICO states that all countries in the EEA have full adequacy, so UK to EU flows are covered. The other direction is covered too: the European Commission's UK adequacy decisions were amended in December 2025 through a renewal decision. Serbia is the exception. It's outside the EEA and isn't covered by UK adequacy regulations, so a transfer mechanism is needed. The detail is in when UK and EU transfers need no agreement at all, which also covers what to use when they do.
UK visa rules apply when the engineer comes to the UK
gov.uk's visa rules are framed around work done in the UK, and the visitors page doesn't address remote-only arrangements. Check with an immigration adviser for your case. Here's what the pages do say.
A Skilled Worker visa "allows you to come to or stay in the UK to do an eligible job with an approved employer", and it needs a certificate of sponsorship, according to the Skilled Worker visa page. That's the route for someone relocating to work in the UK.
Visits are where people get caught. EU citizens can visit the UK as business visitors, and the guidance for EU, EEA and Swiss visitors lets them "attend meetings, events and conferences" and stay for up to six months. It also says they can't "do paid or unpaid work for a UK company or as a self-employed person". EU citizens except Irish citizens also need an electronic travel authorisation from 2 April 2025, as the government announced when it extended ETAs to European visitors.
The prohibition on paid or unpaid work for a UK company is the one to watch, and what counts depends on the activities the page lists. Check before booking, and ask an immigration adviser about anything that isn't clearly a meeting, event or conference.
Time zones and working hours
Most EU countries share a working day with the UK; confirm the exact overlap for your engineer's country. Agree the overlap window with the engineer up front rather than assuming it.
How to set it up
1. Choose the engagement model
Match the model to the headcount and how much admin you want to own. One or two engineers you've already found suit a direct contract. A team you need quickly, without building a sourcing pipeline, suits a partner. An EOR sits between the two.
2. Settle tax status before you sign
Work out whether the off-payroll rules could apply to your contractor, using the HMRC test above and the IR35 article. Do it before the contract, because the answer can change how you draft it.
3. Write the contract: IP, governing law, data
Consider putting the IP assignment in writing, choose the court, and include the data-protection terms. Add the VAT reverse-charge treatment to your accountant's checklist at the same time.
4. Check who will travel to the UK and for how long
List any planned visits and what the engineer will do on each. Meetings, events and conferences are among the listed business-visit activities. Anything else goes to an immigration adviser first.
5. Set the overlap window and onboarding
Agree a fixed daily overlap, put standup inside it, and give the engineer the same tools access and onboarding as anyone in your London team. Keep the first fortnight's scope small.
Using a nearshore partner from the UK
If you go the partner route, HighCircl sends a shortlist of three to five engineers. About 1 in 10 applicants passes its four-stage vetting, run by senior engineers, and senior engineers cost €45-105/hr ($50-115/hr). There's no subscription and no recruitment fee, and a deposit of one month's estimated cost is applied to your first invoice. The HighCircl hiring page shows how to start a search.
FAQ
Can a UK company hire a developer who lives in the EU?
Generally, yes. The question that matters is who the contracting party is: the developer, an employer of record or a partner. The visa routes gov.uk describes are for coming to the UK to work or visit, and a visit to your office has its own limits (see the visa section).
Do I need an employer of record to hire an EU developer from the UK?
No. An EOR is one option. A direct contractor or a nearshore partner also works. The trade-off is admin and cost against control, and the employment-law questions in the engineer's country are worth checking whichever route you pick.
Does UK GDPR stop me sending data to an EU developer?
No. The ICO says every EEA country has full adequacy, so sending personal data to a developer in an EU country doesn't need a transfer agreement. Serbia is the exception, since it's outside the EEA. HighCircl's engineers in EU member states are GDPR native, and Serbia isn't an EU member.
Does IR35 apply to EU-based contractors?
Usually it's unlikely where the contractor isn't UK-resident and works outside the UK, according to HMRC's manual quoted above. There are thresholds and a UK-connection test, and the IR35 article walks through them.
Do EU developers need a visa to visit our London office?
EU citizens except Irish citizens need an electronic travel authorisation, and permitted business-visit activities include meetings, events and conferences. Paid or unpaid work for a UK company isn't allowed on that basis.