The Expat’s Guide to Working in Iran

In business world, the expat is a person who was send to a foreign country to work in subsidiaries or branch offices of a company. They can provide better control on local business and improve the coordination between sites.

However, there are some main cons for expatriates which should be considered by employers. Using expatriates requires to be informed about their hidden costs:

High level compensations in comparison to local employees,
High integration costs to cope with new culture,
High costs of living included health care, housing, schools for their children and etc.,
Costs of moving expatriates’ family and their belongings,
Governmental restrictions in foreign countries,

So, what about Iran?

Iran is the second biggest economy in the Middle East and North Africa, and one of the most populous. After lifting most sanctions against Iran, there are more international companies who seek business opportunity in Iran as a niche market. By the way, many expats are also interested to seek good and high paid salary in Iran independently.

International firms are trying to hunt best local talents to forming their core team, however it seems not easy. The Iran’ job market is not well developed and finding qualified talents is like look for a needle in a haystack. In such a risky conditions, most of companies prefer to use their expatriates to boost their process.

Expatriates guide to working in Iran:

Are you preparing for relocating to Iran for working? Or maybe you are already an expat in Iran and would like to get more familiar with working in Iran, ha? Well, as there are lack of information for international firms and interested expats about relocating to Iran, working conditions and related topics, the aim of this article is providing such a comprehensive guidance.

Working in Iran comes with a variety opportunities. Energy industries, agriculture and service sectors are the main sectors with offering more job opportunities. If you are a graduated expert with reliable experience in these sectors, you can find good opportunities. By using Social Networking sites like LinkedIn you can find better results.

Back to reviewing expats’ guidance in Iran, many questions come up: am I eligible to Iranian income tax law? What are the requirements to get a residence permit for my spouse? How should I apply for a work permit in Iran? Which healthcare system should I applied for?

Answering these questions required to know a vast information about living, working and relocating matters to Tehran. However, in this article we provide a summary guidance. Let’s review the answers of mentioned important questions:

Eligibility to Iranian income tax law:

Any person who’s working in Iran are subject to income tax based on their salaries (Guide On Iranian Taxation System For Foreign Investors). It is no matter that you are Iranian or a non-Iranian and all people are subject to tax on all their income (Ibid). Non-resident individuals are liable to pay tax only on their Iranian-sourced income and they can’t obtain an exit visa from Iran unless they provide proof that they have paid their due taxes (Ibid).

What’s Iran exit visa?

Foreign nationals who wishes to leave Iran is required to apply for an exit visa at least one week in advance of the intended departure date since the possession of a passport does not allow for exit (Canada, I. IRB: Information on the exit visa in Iran).

Iran’ residence permit for your spouse:

You can apply easily for spousal visa. It has simple procedures and requires to prove the marriage and sponsorship (“IR-IRAN Electronic Visa (Evisa) Application – Ministry Of Foreign Affairs”).

Iran’ work permit:

Most of foreign national may not be authorized to work in Iran, unless s/he obtains the entry visa with the right of working and work permit from the” Department General for Employment of Foreign Nationals” (“Employment Of Foreign Nationals | Organization For Investment Economic And Technical Assistance Of Iran”). The employer should applies for the issuance of an entry visa with the right of working.
There are some required documents that should be submitted for issuance of work permit (Ibid):

The formal and well written request of the employer
Completion visa application and work permit forms
Visa fee

Normally, the above procedure is accompanied with interviews. This visa will be extended by the Police Aliens Affairs Dep (Ibid).

Healthcare for Expats in Iran:

Expats are not entitled to public health insurance in Iran and they will need to pay for their own healthcare. Iran has a large network of public and private clinics and healthcare is cheap compared with other countries.

Usually, expats arrange for private health insurance to take care of their healthcare needs. It’s recommend to take out worldwide health insurance, however expats could arrange for private health insurance to take care of their healthcare needs.

Wrapping up!

As it was mentioned earlier, target audiences of this article are both, independent expatriates and international corporations who are planning to send their expatriates to Iran. The independent expatriates’ main questions about relocation to Iran were answered. However, there are some advice for international companies and their expatriates in Iran which should be considered:

Never make a decision without fully understanding all Iran’ regulations and related costs,
Consider integration plan and time for your expatriates to become adjusted with Iran’ culture and language,
Plan to empower local talents and hire them in your long term plans,
Be ensure that your expatriates are fully aware of your core values and their local missions in Iran,
Create the learning environment to dialogue with expatriates,
Set succession plans for expatriates and provide channels to transfer knowledge and skills to local staffs,
Coach both expatriates and local staffs in Iran to create a two way sympathy between them,
Don’t ignore your local talents! Make sure that they understand your reasons for recruit an expatriate.
Get advice from local HR Immigration Consultants who know the domains and help to boost your operations. We at HRStartup could support you in mobilization plans and expat relocating to Iran.

Iran enjoys a rich and powerful history with bright future. It’s time to relocating to Iran!

References:

Canada, Immigration. “IRB: 1) Information On The Exit Visa In Iran 2) Information On Exit Visas For Unmarried Women 3) Information On Whether An Exit Visa Is Needed To Leave Iran For Turkey And Pakistan [IRN7997] | Ecoi.Net – European Country Of Origin Information Network”. Ecoi.net. N.p., 2017.
“Employment Of Foreign Nationals | Organization For Investment Economic And Technical Assistance Of Iran”. Investiniran.ir. N.p., 2017.
Guide On Iranian Taxation System For Foreign Investors. 1st ed. Iran: Investment, Economic and Technical Assistance of Iran, 2012.
“IR-IRAN Electronic Visa (Evisa) Application – Ministry Of Foreign Affairs”. E_visa.mfa.ir. N.p., 2017.

Published @ Techrasa