Employer of Record in Haiti

Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti and historically known as Hayti, is a nation in the Caribbean Sea situated on the island of Hispaniola, east of Cuba and Jamaica and south of The Bahamas and Turks & Caicos Islands. It shares the western three-eighths of the island with the Dominican Republic. To the southwest is the little Navassa Island, which is claimed by Haiti but is challenged as a United States territory administered by the federal government. Haiti is 27,750 km2 (10,714 sq mi) in size, the third biggest nation by area in the Caribbean, and has an estimated population of 11.4 million, making it the Caribbean's most populated country. Port-au-Prince is the capital.

The indigenous Tano people, who originated in South America, first settled on the island. The first Europeans landed on December 5, 1492, during Christopher Columbus' first journey, which led him to assume he had discovered India or China. Later, Columbus established La Navidad, the first European outpost in the Americas, on what is now Haiti's northeastern shore. The island was claimed by Spain and renamed La Espaola, and it remained a part of the Spanish Empire until the early 17th century. However, due to conflicting claims and colonization by the French, the western section of the island was given to France in 1697 and renamed Saint-Domingue. French colonists created profitable sugarcane fields, which were labored on by large numbers of African slaves, making the colony one of the wealthiest in the world.

During the French Revolution (1789–99), slaves and free people of color launched the Haitian Revolution (1791–1804), headed by Toussaint Louverture, a former slave and the first black commander of the French Army. Napoleon Bonaparte's forces were defeated after 12 years of conflict by Louverture's successor, Jean-Jacques Dessalines (later Emperor Jacques I), who declared Haiti's sovereignty on 1 January 1804—the first independent nation of Latin America and the Caribbean, the second republic in the Americas, the first country in the Americas to abolish slavery, and the only state in history established by a successful slave revolt. All of Haiti's earliest leaders were former slaves, with the exception of Alexandre Pétion, the first President of the Republic. After a short period of division, President Jean-Pierre Boyer unified the nation and then sought to bring the whole island of Hispaniola under Haitian authority, sparking a lengthy series of battles that concluded in the 1870s when Haiti legally acknowledged the Dominican Republic's independence.

Haiti's first century of independence was marked by political turmoil, diplomatic isolation, and the payment of a debilitating debt to France. From 1915 through 1934, the United States occupied the nation due to political instability and foreign economic influence. Following a series of brief presidencies, François 'Papa Doc' Duvalier took power in 1956, ushering in a long period of autocratic rule that was continued by his son, Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier, until 1986; the period was marked by state-sanctioned violence against the opposition and civilians, corruption, and economic stagnation. Haiti started seeking to develop a more democratic political system after 1986.

Haiti is a founding member of the United Nations, the Organization of American States (OAS), the Caribbean States Association, and the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie. It is a member of the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, and the Community of Latin American and the Caribbean States, in addition to CARICOM. Haiti has the lowest Human Development Index in the Americas, owing to its history of poverty and political instability. Since the turn of the century, the country has seen a coup that forced United Nations involvement, as well as a devastating earthquake that killed over 250,000 people.