Atlas HXM Workforce Indexes Finds That the EU Leads On Work Visa Access but Ranks Lower on Hiring Ease

New Atlas HXM data scoring 100+ countries finds that visa accessibility and hiring conditions are weakly related.

CHICAGO, IL, UNITED STATES, October 15, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Europe is one of the easiest regions in the world to move people into but one of the harder places to employ them, according to the first results from the Atlas HXM Global Workforce Indexes, launched today by Atlas HXM, the global workforce platform built on compliance.

The three indexes score more than 130 countries and territories on hiring conditions, work visa access and contractor compliance. Across the countries scored on both, hiring and visa scores show only a weak correlation of 0.32, which shows that a country’s standing on one workforce question says very little about its standing on another. The United States shows how far the two can diverge, ranking as a top-five hiring destination but ranks 100th of 136 on visa mobility.

Europe Opens Its Doors to Talent.

Twelve of the top 25 countries on the Atlas HXM Visa Mobility Index (AVMI) are in the EU, and four more are non-EU European neighbors. Denmark and Finland lead the index, with France also in the top ten. The AVMI scores the work visa routes open to people from outside a country, so within the EU it measures access for non-EU nationals.

For a US employer relocating an existing team member, much of Europe offers more accessible and predictable routes than the likes of Canada or Australia — both top ten hiring destinations that sit in the bottom half of the visa mobility index.

The picture isn’t uniform, however. Hungary, Lithuania and Greece all rank well below their neighbors and the reason is not approval risk. On approval probability, all three score in line with the rest of the region: Hungary 7.9, Lithuania 7.5 and Greece 7.3 compared to a European average of 7.03. On visa accessibility, which measures the documentation, process steps and elapsed time a typical work visa case demands, they score 2.3, 2.4 and 4.4 compared to a European average of 6.23.

The index is built to surface exactly this divergence. A country can publish a straightforward work permit and still refuse a large share of applications, while another can run a demanding process that approves nearly everyone who completes it. The two pillars are weighted and reported separately for that reason.

The distinction changes what HR and mobility teams should be planning for. In these markets, the risk is not that an application fails. It is that the process consumes more of the hiring timeline than anyone budgeted for. Teams that plan for refusal risk and not for process time end up in the same place: a start date that moves.

Hiring Is a Different Question.

On hiring, Europe’s advantage all but disappears. France shows both sides at once. It sits in the top ten for visa mobility and in the bottom third of the Atlas HXM Hiring Destination Index (AHDI), making it one of the more difficult and more expensive places to employ and manage people. Employment law is the main driver: on labor market regulations alone, France is among the lowest-scoring countries in the index.

Contractor Classification Adds Another Layer.

Contractor engagement carries its own exposure, and it is easy to miss because it is often assessed by a different team, weeks after the mobility decision. Spain is the clearest example. It sits in the top 25 for visa mobility and in the bottom 10% of the Atlas HXM Contractor Compliance Index (ACCI) — among the harder countries in which to draw a defensible line between an independent contractor and an employee. A country that makes it straightforward to bring in a foreign professional can be one of the least forgiving places to engage that same person on a contract.

No Country Is Good at Everything.

Of the countries scored on all three indexes, only nine sit in the top quartile of each: Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Denmark, Finland, Taiwan, Mauritius, Bahrain and Albania. What links them is not strength on any one dimension — none of the nine tops all three indexes — but the absence of a severe weakness on any of them. Most countries have at least one.

According to Rebecca Croucher, Chief Growth Officer at Atlas HXM, “The mistake we see most often isn’t choosing the wrong country — it’s assuming that one answer covers all three questions. A team gets a visa approved in six weeks, decides the hard part is behind them, and then finds that the employment contract, the notice requirements and the contractor test all work differently from what they planned for. We built these indexes so that work happens before the offer goes out, not after.”

About the Atlas HXM Global Workforce Indexes.

The Atlas HXM Global Workforce Indexes are three country rankings, each scored from 0 to 10 across four weighted pillars, where higher is always better:

Atlas HXM Hiring Destination Index (AHDI) — 107 countries. How straightforward it is to employ people directly, what employment costs, and how stable the operating environment is.

Atlas HXM Visa Mobility Index (AVMI) — 136 countries. How readily a company can move foreign talent into a country and keep them lawfully employed there.

Atlas HXM Contractor Compliance Index (ACCI) — 138 countries. How clearly a country draws the line between a contractor and an employee, and what a company is exposed to if that line is crossed.

The indexes combine Atlas HXM’s own operational data with established public sources including the World Bank, the OECD, the International Labour Organization, the European Commission, the IMF and multiple national government sources. Scores are absolute rather than relative, so a country’s score does not change because another country is added or removed. The indexes are refreshed quarterly with a published change log, and the full methodology is published alongside every index.

James Dunne
Atlas HXM
jamesd@atlashxm.com
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