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Unfortunately I don't know the mechanics, I just know that legally it's possible to employ someone abroad as a direct employee even if he or she has no US immigration status. For those who can navigate such things, I'd contact an accounting firm that's part of a global network.

This is what PEOs exist to support. Here's an example: [1]

[1] https://peoworldwide.com

Thanks! I will definitely have to research this.

Yeah they're cool; basically they take on your employees full-time and subcontract them back to you. This way they're fully papered up, and can even provide benefits. They're not the cheapest way to go, but once you have a big enough presence in a foreign country you can always open up a local office of your own and transfer them over.

For those viewing solutions here, do your diligence on permanent establishment. You're almost certainly still liable for corporate tax in country where you're indirectly employing people, OECD is clear on that as a general guideline. Few solutions bother with actual compliance here and are in a bit of a legal grey area.

This company from an ex-gitlab does exactly this

http://remote.com/