GLOBAL EMPLOYER OF RECORD IN 190+ countries

Employer of Record in Brunei

Hire in Brunei without setting up a local company before the scale of the opportunity is clear. Acumen acts as your Employer of Record, allowing you to place the talent you need, support the business locally and grow the team without an early incorporation commitment.

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Acumen International delivers global employment solutions across 190+ countries.

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Employing in Brunei through an Employer of Record

An Employer of Record is a third party that takes on the legal and administrative duties of employment on behalf of another company. In Brunei, Acumen International becomes the legal employer of the professionals who work for your business: it issues their contracts, runs payroll and retirement contributions, arranges the licences and passes that foreign staff need, and answers for compliance with Brunei’s Employment Act. Your business selects the people, defines their roles and directs their work.

This lets a company work in Brunei without registering a local company or branch and without altering its existing structure. A team can be formed for an energy contract, a programme under Brunei’s Wawasan 2035 diversification plans or a first commercial presence, then expanded or reduced as the business requires. Where the right person has not yet been found, Acumen International can also run the search, from specialist recruitment to executive search, with background and education checks before the offer.

Situations where an Employer of Record serves a Brunei hire

• Contractor compliance. Professionals working full time for your business in Brunei move onto proper employment contracts with retirement contributions paid as the law requires.
• One accountable provider. Contracts, payroll, SPK contributions and foreign worker licensing sit with Acumen International rather than with several local advisers.
• No entity to set up or maintain. You employ in Brunei without incorporating a company or registering a branch with the Registry of Companies.
• Market tests and short-term projects. A pilot in Brunei, or a fixed-term contract in oil and gas or infrastructure, is staffed without permanent premises, then extended or closed as results come in.
• Bridge to your own entity. While your Brunei company is being incorporated, the first hires start with Acumen International and transfer once it can employ them.
• Fast team launch. Bruneian professionals start on Acumen International’s contracts while licences and passes for foreign specialists are processed.
• Mergers and restructuring. Staff in Brunei stay employed without a break while the group structure around them changes.
• NGO staffing. International organisations employ programme and technical staff in Brunei under local law.
• Employer liability. Acumen International holds the employer’s obligations in Brunei, so statutory duties sit with the party the Department of Labour and the Employees Trust Fund hold accountable.
• Remote team expansion. Team members based in Brunei join a distributed team on Brunei contracts and payroll.

Employing for another business in Brunei: the legal basis and its limits

Employment in Brunei is governed by the Employment Act (Chapter 278), which applies to local and foreign staff alike. Acumen International employs your team under that Act and provides their services to your business under a commercial agreement. Four points shape how the arrangement works:

• Senior staff sit largely outside the Act. Its definition of an employee excludes people in managerial, executive or confidential positions, so for senior hires the employment contract, not the statute, sets most of the terms. Those contracts are drafted in full.
• Recruitment is a licensed activity. Carrying on an employment agency requires a licence from the Commissioner of Labour under the Employment Agencies Order 2004, and the Department of Labour expects the recruitment of new foreign workers to go through a licensed agency.
• The business using the work shares pay liability. A principal is jointly liable with the employer for unpaid salary of workmen supplied under a contract, up to one month’s salary (s.53), which is why payroll is run on time and documented.
• Contracts must be in writing. A contract for more than one month must be written and signed, and must state how either party can end it (s.10). Failing to provide one is an offence.

What Acumen International handles in Brunei, from recruitment to exit

Minimum wage and pay rules in Brunei

Brunei introduced a minimum wage in stages under section 74A of the Employment Act. It is B$500 a month for full-time employees and B$2.62 an hour for part-time employees, measured before retirement contributions are deducted, and it applies to local and foreign staff.

• 2023: the first phase covered banking, finance and information and communications technology, from 12 July 2023.
• 2025: from 1 April 2025 coverage widened to further sectors, including securities markets, insurance and takaful, private healthcare and education, professional architecture, engineering and surveying firms, tourist accommodation, travel agencies and security services.
• Exclusions: government employees, apprentices and foreign workers on a Professional Visit Visa or Special Authorisation Work Pass.
• Enforcement: underpayment can lead to a fine of up to B$3,000, imprisonment of up to one year, or both.

For the professional roles placed through an Employer of Record, salaries sit well above the floor and are agreed individually.

Employment contracts and working time in Brunei

The Employment Act sets the floor for employees within its scope; for managerial and executive staff the same subjects are settled in the contract, usually on comparable or better terms.

Ending employment in Brunei

Notice follows the contract. Where the contract is silent, the Act sets a minimum by length of service, and either party may pay salary in lieu instead (s.22):

• Final pay: when the employer ends the contract, salary is due on the last day or within three working days (s.41).
• Retrenchment and retirement benefits: no entitlement arises under the Act before five years’ continuous service (ss.73–74), so for most senior hires severance is a matter for the contract.
• Local staff are protected: an employer may not dismiss a local employee in order to keep or take on a foreign employee in the same role (s.113).
• Foreign employees: the employer carries repatriation duties when the employment ends (ss.114–116), and the employment pass is cancelled with Immigration.

Employment risks in Brunei and how Acumen International covers them

Foreign Worker Licences and employment passes in Brunei

Brunei gives priority to its own workforce, and a foreign hire is approved only once the employer has shown that the local market has been tried. The approval is issued to a registered Brunei employer, for a stated activity and position.

1. Local-first steps. The vacancy is registered and advertised through JobCentre Brunei, and the employer’s list of local staff is verified by the Employees Trust Fund.
2. Foreign Worker Licence. The employer applies to the Department of Labour, with the candidate’s qualifications and a security deposit. The licence states the activity and position the worker may fill, and breaching those conditions is an offence (s.112).
3. Medical examination. The worker is examined at an accredited centre once the licence is approved.
4. Employment visa and pass. The Immigration and National Registration Department issues the pass, valid for up to two years and renewable; the holder then registers for a Green Identity Card.
5. Short assignments. Training, urgent works or a short project of up to 12 months can use a Special Authorisation Work Pass instead, which cannot be renewed.

Foreign employees must also be covered by medical insurance (s.113A), and the Department of Labour inspects new licence holders within months of approval.

What Acumen International contributes

• A registered employer to hold the licence. The Foreign Worker Licence and employment pass are issued to a Brunei employer. Acumen International acts as that employer, so your specialist can be approved without your business first registering in Brunei.
• An application that meets the local-first test. The JobCentre steps, the local staff record and the role description are prepared so the case for a foreign hire stands up.
• A licence that fits the real job. The activity and position are set to match what the person will actually do, and changes are approved before they take effect.
• Status kept valid. Passes, identity cards and medical cover are renewed ahead of expiry for as long as the person works for you.

Family members

Spouses and children of an employment pass holder can apply to Immigration for dependant passes, and need their own approval to take up work.

Employer cost and contributions in Brunei

Brunei levies no personal income tax and no payroll tax, so the statutory cost of employment centres on retirement contributions. Since July 2023 these are paid into the National Retirement Scheme, Skim Persaraan Kebangsaan (SPK), administered by the Employees Trust Fund (Tabung Amanah Pekerja, TAP). SPK covers citizens and permanent residents; foreign employees are outside it.

The employee contributes 8.5% of basic salary. The employer’s share depends on the salary band:

Members who were aged 50 to 59 when SPK began could stay in the earlier TAP and Supplemental Contributory Pension schemes, at 5% each from employer and employee for TAP and 3.5% each for the pension scheme.

For a foreign employee, the employer’s statutory costs are instead the licence and pass fees, the security deposit, medical insurance and repatriation at the end of the employment. Each cost estimate sets these out with the salary before the offer is made.

Sectors employing through an Employer of Record in Brunei

• Oil, gas and petrochemicals: engineers, HSE specialists and project managers for upstream operations around Seria and the downstream projects at Pulau Muara Besar.
• Energy transition and utilities: specialists in solar, power systems and decarbonisation.
• Banking, finance and Islamic finance: risk, compliance and takaful professionals.
• Information and communications technology: developers, network engineers and digital transformation leads.
• Healthcare and education: medical specialists, academic staff and programme leads for private providers.
• Infrastructure and professional services: architects, engineers and quantity surveyors on public and private projects.

Hiring cases in Brunei and how they are handled

Benefits, payroll and leave in Brunei

With no income tax to withhold, packages for professional roles in Brunei are usually expressed as a monthly salary with housing, transport and medical benefits, and for foreign staff often annual return flights and schooling support.

Payroll obligations

Maternity leave

Citizens and permanent residents with more than six months’ service receive 105 days of maternity leave, of which 13 weeks are paid: the first eight weeks by the employer and the next five reimbursed by the government. Foreign employees have a shorter entitlement, and the contract can improve on either.

Sources

• Employment Act (Chapter 278)
• Employment (Minimum Wage) (Amendment) Order, 2025
• Brunei Darussalam policy repository on migrant workers’ legislation
• Employees Trust Fund organisation profile 2025
• Brunei Darussalam: other taxes
• Brunei Darussalam: taxes on personal income