An international model contract decides how much is left for you at the end of a 90-day season. The line that weighs most in that math is almost never the size of the guarantee. It's the preposition that says where the expenses come out of.
Below are the 12 points to read before you sign, in the order they appear on paper.
Before the money: who signs and for how long
1. The name in the header. The agency you know from Instagram isn't always the company that signs. In China it's common for the contract to come from a legal entity based in a different city from the one the agency shows. That gives the agency the right to send you to work in another city without renegotiating anything. Read the header and check that the company, the city and the country match what you were told.
2. The term, read twice. One defect shows up in contracts from agencies that don't know each other: the same document says 90 days in one clause and 180 in another. Sometimes it's subtler, and the word "Term" means the visa period in one paragraph and a year with automatic renewal in another. Find the term in at least two places in the text and compare it with the date on the visa or work permit. The visa shows the term the agency actually processed.
3. Exclusivity and territory. A season contract usually applies only to the agency's own country. Be wary when a local contract talks about "worldwide" exclusivity, or when the territory bundles several countries nobody mentioned in the conversation.
What to read in an international model contract before talking about the amount
4. Renewal and termination. Automatic renewal isn't a problem in itself. The problem is asymmetric termination: the agency can leave on short notice, and you can only leave by declaring retirement or serving a long notice period. The two exits need to be a similar size.
5. Non-compete. A clause that stops you from working with another agency in the same country after the contract ends is common. Past 12 months it gets heavy. If it comes with a high fixed penalty, ask before you sign.
Guarantee, expenses and the balance at the end of the season
6. Is the guarantee a net floor? The guarantee is the minimum you take home from the season. The right way to read it is this: you work, you keep your split (your share of the job's value), the expenses come out of that split, and if what's left falls below the guarantee, you receive the guarantee. Expenses don't break through the floor. But that's how the market usually works, not a sentence that protects you. If the contract doesn't say the guarantee is net, ask in writing.
7. The preposition on expenses. Read exactly where the expense is deducted. "Deducted from the model's statement" or "from earnings" means it comes out of your earnings, and the guarantee stays untouched. "Deducted from the guarantee" means it comes out of your floor. Those are two different calculations, and the contract can use both for different items, such as the visa and sick days. Read the preposition, not the tone of the paragraph.
8. The list of what's advanced. Apartment, transport, pocket money, flight, visa, tests, materials. For someone moving countries, the agency advances all of this and deducts it later. A real contract we read this year listed the apartment at 5,500 RMB a month, transport at 3,000 a month and 400 in pocket money a week. Pocket money looks like a perk, but it's an advance: it comes back as a deduction. Add up the whole table and see how much you need to bill just to break even.
9. What happens if the account closes negative. In a contract with no guarantee, look for the end-of-season clause. Some say that if your earnings don't cover the advances, the difference becomes a balance you pay within 30 days. Others say nothing, and silence doesn't protect you, it just leaves the settlement in the agency's hands. An advance is the agency's investment in your potential. Ask, calmly, how it handles this case before you sign.
Percentages and amounts vary by contract and market. These are guiding examples.
Commission, payment and the currency the money arrives in
10. Split, statement and payment term. Check the percentage of the local agency (the one in the country where you'll work), whether the job amount is gross or net, and when payment lands. Ask for the contract to provide an itemized statement, the breakdown of the amount of the job, the agency's commission and the net payable. Without a statement, you have no way to check the math. The mother agency (the one that finds you, guides you and places you with agencies around the world) charges 10% of the gross value of the job. The full path is in how the mother agency gets paid, and the realistic earnings range is in how much international models earn.
Payment in yuan, euro or dollars loses money in conversion if it goes straight into a traditional bank. Many people in the business get paid through a multi-currency account like Wise, and the step-by-step is in how to get paid in foreign currency without losing on conversion.
The clauses that only show up when there's a problem
11. Measurements and marks on paper. Many Asian contracts have a physical condition field: height, measurements, scars, tattoos, blemishes. If a client turns you down over something visible, the agency uses that field to cancel the guarantee. Fill in everything, including the small scar you think nobody sees. A declared mark is much harder to use against you later.
The opposite is also worth knowing. When the agency warns that a tattoo will limit work and the contract has neither a guarantee nor a physical field, the missing field isn't an oversight: with no guarantee, there's nothing to cancel. Ask for the mark to be described and accepted in writing all the same.
12. Confidentiality, power of attorney and the revised version. Secrecy about amounts is normal. A clause that bars you, even after the contract ends, from any act against the agency's "honor" deserves a question. An irrevocable power of attorney, which lets the agency sign and collect on your behalf, is too heavy to sign before you've set foot in the country. And if an "updated version" arrives after you've already signed, compare it line by line with the original. We've seen an entire guarantee vanish in a revision that gave no warning.
One rule closes the list: nobody buys a ticket, checks a bag or pays anything before both sides have the signed contract. A promise by message doesn't replace paper.
Inside Cosmos
Cosmos is a Brazilian mother agency based in Florianópolis (SC), which has worked with more than 50 agencies across Asia, Europe and around the world.
Our contract reading generally follows four blocks: structure (who, where, for how long), money (guarantee, split, advances), risk (penalty, termination, vague clause) and strategy (what to accept, what to ask, what to explain to the model). The reading flags everything. What goes to the agency is short: questions about the numbers that are missing and an adjustment only on the line that really exposes someone.
Many hard clauses only weigh if the model slips up. When applicable, those stay in the text and become an explanation before signing, in plain language, without legalese. A good contract isn't one with no hard clauses. It's one you understand in full before you sign.
If you're deciding on your next market, start with the guide to becoming an international model, and understand the role of the person reading this contract with you in what a mother agency does. To see how the market is organized from the side of those who defend the model, Model Alliance collects material on the rights of people who work in fashion.
Still without a mother agency to read contracts with you? Send your material through Be Discovered and the Cosmos team will review your profile.
Frequently asked questions
You can, and a serious agency doesn't take offense at a question. What works is asking for little: the numbers that are missing (guarantee, expenses, statement) and an adjustment on the line that really weighs. A long list of demands usually stalls the conversation.
It depends on the text. The most common triggers are measurements that differ from the ones declared, a physical mark that wasn't disclosed, and hidden performance conditions, such as a minimum number of jobs in the first weeks. A guarantee agreed by message needs to appear the same way in the final contract.
That the guarantee is paid regardless of how many jobs you do, with no performance minimum. It has nothing to do with physical condition. Even so, check that another clause in the same contract doesn't create that minimum some other way.
In many contracts, yes, as an advance deducted later. Check whether the deduction comes out of your earnings or out of the guarantee. If you're going to China, the process is in how the Z visa works.
Visa requirements change. Always check with the embassy or consulate of the destination country for up-to-date information.
This content is informational. Always consult your agency and, when necessary, a specialized lawyer.
