Afghanistan
There’s plenty of great talent in Afghanistan. But navigating the legal frameworks to actually hire those people? That’s a different ball game. Which is what we’re for: By the end of this page, you’ll learn how you can hire people in Afghanistan—without establishing your own physical presence there or paying thousands in fees.
Country snapshot
CURRENCY
Afghan afghani (AFN)
EMPLOYER TAXES
20%
PAYROLL FREQUENCY
Monthly
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
Pashto and Persian
It’s the fastest way to hire globally
Hiring employees takes months, at the minimum. When you hire with Thera's locally-generated contracts, it’s a matter of days or weeks. This means you can hire the best talent, fast, without losing them to a hellish procession of paperwork.
It’s a lot cheaper
It costs just $0 to sign up for Thera, then $25 per month to hire your contractors with Thera. If you hired employees manually (or did contracting on your own), you’d likely be on the hook for thousands of dollars each month. Setting up an entity alone can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
It’s more flexible for you & your team
Can be less risky than hiring employees
Hiring employees is a bigger commitment, and can open you up to increased liabilities and regulations. When you hire contractors overseas, your biggest risk is misclassification—but laws surrounding contractor classification are often significantly more straightforward.
Some people want to be employees
The contractor life isn’t for everyone—some people want the security that being an employee often appears to provide. Though it’s rare, this does happen, and it’s one disadvantage of manage an all-contractor team.
You might not have as much control over your talent
Most countries’ contractor-employer relationship laws stipulate that the employer can’t set fixed working hours, among other things. These laws give contractors more freedom over how and when they do their work than an employee would have. In reality, however, most contractors are willing & able to work on the company’s schedule—it’s a matter of setting expectations beforehand.
Laws about hiring are complicated, and the same is true in Afghanistan. But there are ways to sidestep the headaches—if your company hasn’t already established a physical presence in Afghanistan, you have two real options when it comes to hiring. We’ll detail both below.
Hire talent as contractors
Hire talent as employees
If you’ve read up until this point, you’ll know that it’s easier, cheaper, and more flexible to hire contractors in Afghanistan than employees. Still, there are valid reasons why you might want to hire employees instead. The content below is for you—we’ll cover employer taxes and obligations in Afghanistan.
Employer tax
Pensions
Labor
Paid Time Off (PTO)
Employees receive one day of paid leave for every 18 days of work after a year of service if they work in a commercial establishment, factory, shop or transport.
If they work for a newspaper, they receive one day of vacation for every 11 days worked.
Public Holidays
Afghanistan observes both national and religious holidays. Employees are entitled to paid leave on the following days:
- Friday (the last day of the week)
- Nawruz (the first day of the new year)
- The 28 of Assad/July 19 (the day of restoration and independence)
- The Eighth of Sawr (the Victory of the Islamic Revolution of Afghanistan)
- The first day of Ramadan
- Three days for Eid-e-Feter
- Three days for Eid-e-Said-e-Adah and one day for Arafat
- The 12 of Rabiul Awal (Hazrat-e-Mohammad’s birthday)
- The 10 of Muharam/the Day of Ashura
- The 26 of Dalwe (the return of former Soviet forces)
- Other days the Republic announces as public holidays
Sick Days
Employees are entitled to 20 days of paid sick per year.
If a worker needs to utilize three days or fewer, they may send a written notice. For longer leave, the employee must provide a certificate from the health institute’s medical doctor. In areas without access to physicians, certificates from the village headman or Province are valid.
Employees covered by a medical insurance plan may use the certificate from the doctor at the insurance company.
If a worker needs to use more than 20 days of sick leave, they may use other leave for this purpose. In some cases, employees can receive additional sick leave.
New employees who start work in the first half of the year may use the full 20 days of sick leave. Workers who join in the second half are entitled to 10 days.
Maternity Leave
Female employees are entitled to take 90 days of paid maternity leave.
This leave should begin 30 days before delivery and extend 60 days past the date of the birth.
At the end of the maternity leave, the employee must report to work. In the case of abnormal delivery or multiple births, she is entitled to take an extra 15 days of maternity leave.
To qualify for this supplemental leave, she will have to provide relevant certificates from the hospital.
Paternity Leave
There is no statutory paternity leave.
Parental Leave
No Info.
Other Leave
No Info.
Marriage Leave
No Info.
Bereavement Leave
No Info.
Termination Process
If an employee has unused recreational leave at the time of their contract’s expiration, they are entitled to their wages for that leave.
As to termination by an employee, the Labor Law gives an employee the right to terminate the employment contract with or without prior notice if the employer is in breach of their employment contract, or if the employee becomes physically disabled and therefore unable to carry out his or her job.
Employers may terminate an employment contract after 20 days of consecutive absences not covered by leave.
Repeated infringement of labor discipline rules is also lawful grounds for termination. Under these circumstances, an employee is not eligible for severance.
Notice Period
Employer is required to provide one month’s notice in the event of termination of fixed-term contracts, and two months’ notice for open-ended contracts.
During probation, any party may terminate the contract with immediate effect.
Severance Pay
Severance pay is mandatory when an employment contract is terminated due to cessation of work, reduction of workforce, imprisonment of the employee or his refusal to be assigned to his previous job, which is payable depending on the duration of service, as follows:
- one gross salary when the duration of service is up to one year;
- two gross salaries when the duration of service is from one to five years;
- three gross salaries when the duration of service is five to ten years; and
- four gross salaries when the duration of service is more than ten years.
Probation Period
Probationary period of 3 months or less.
Working Hours
A lawful working period is 40 hours per week and most employees work eight hours per day.
Employers may adjust an employee’s hours as needed, so long as their working period balances to only 40 hours each week. Under special circumstances, employers must cap the workweek earlier.
Pregnant women and youths aged 15 to 18 may work only 35 hours per week.
Employees who perform work in dangerous conditions may work just 30 hours each week.
Employees should receive a one-hour lunch break, which does not qualify as part of their working time.
Overtime
Employees who perform night work or work in dangerous conditions must not work overtime.
Pregnant women and women with children younger than two years of age are also ineligible.
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