These are some questions we have frequently been asked. We regret that we cannot handle individual questions about specific visa requirements. Please visit our Links section for specialist and country-related visa information.

If you have any questions about Permits Foundation, please contact us.

• What is Permits Foundation campaigning for?
• Why do international companies and organisations need to employ expatriate staff?
• Why has the issue of work permits for spouses and partners become so important?
• Is this a problem only for spouses and partners from developed countries like Europe and the USA?
• In which countries is this a problem?
• How can this be a problem in some EU countries? Surely EU people have the right to work in any other EU state?
• Are work permits the only barrier to spouses and partners working?
• You use the term “spouses”. Is it also your intention to support work permits for unmarried partners including same sex couples?
• What support has Permits Foundation received so far?
• How is this related to trade and investment?
• How big a problem is this issue for companies?
• Will allowing spouses and partners to work in a host country reduce employment opportunities for local staff?
• What makes you think that Permits Foundation will succeed in bringing about change?
• What is your time frame? Have you set yourself time targets for achieving your goals?
• What are the future immigration/residency issues that might follow from your proposed legislation?
• How will you approach countries that are reluctant to change?
• How can my organisation support the objectives of Permits Foundation?
• What is the Sponsor Support Group?
• Is there a recommended level of donation?
• What do the sponsors receive for the donations they make?
• It is possible to be more actively involved?

Permits is advocating the improvement of work permit regulations for the spouses and partners of expatriate employees. Specifically, Permits wants legally resident spouses and partners to have an open permission to work during an expatriate assignment.

Many countries require expatriate spouses or partners to have a separate work permit, even though they are legally resident. This is often difficult and time consuming to obtain.

International companies and organisations are concerned about this in view of the growth of dual careers worldwide. They experience these additional work permit requirements as a hurdle to international mobility, diversity and equal opportunity.

International companies and organisations employ a small but critical number of expatriate staff (normally about 1 to 7 per cent of manpower) to help transfer skills and technology, to fill temporary skill shortages and to create the "corporate glue" that binds an international organisation together.

Several international surveys in recent years show that partner career issues are the main reason why staff turn down expatriate assignments To attract internationally mobile staff, companies and organisations increasingly need to reassure employees that their partners may be able to work in the host country. As companies strive for more diversity (e.g. more women and more nationalities) in their expatriate staff, the issue has become more visible and requires a proactive effort to remove this barrier to mobility.

Traditionally, the majority of expatriate partners have been women. Nowadays, more than 50 per cent of women across all age groups work in their home country. Under the age of 35, the percentage can be as high as 70-80 per cent. When these women accompany their spouses or partners on an overseas assignment, a majority want to carry on working so that they can continue to develop their skills and facilitate their re-entry to work when they return home. And yet few of them manage to do so.

As more women reach senior positions in their companies, they also need international experience and this has increased the proportion of male spouses and partners. The percentage of male partners often varies with the type of organisation or industry. Many companies report an average of 10 per cent male partners. In international organisations and diplomatic missions, the percentage is often much higher.

No. This problem is not restricted to developed countries. Some of the developing countries have among the highest female participation rates in the world. When spouses and partners from these countries go overseas, they also aspire to maintain and develop their skills, so that they can successfully re-integrate into the work place when they return home.

It is easier to answer in which countries is this NOT a problem. The UK, the US (for L/E visas), Canada, Australia, Denmark, Finland, The Netherlands, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Sweden grant an open permission to work. EU countries also allow EU citizens to work freely, subject to certain restrictions during a transition phase for new member states. In some countries, such as France, Belgium, Ireland, Japan(<28hrs/week) and Singapore the process for gaining a spouse work permit has been relaxed although there are still some restrictions. For the rest of the world, it is difficult for an accompanying partner to work even though they are legally resident.

During a transitional period of up to 7 years after accession of 10 Member States to the EU on 1 May 2004 and of 2 Member States on 1 January 2007, certain conditions may be applied that restrict the free movement of workers from, to and between these member states.

In addition, for spouses and partners of work permit holders from countries outside the EU, it is difficult to get a work permit in many EU countries even though they are legally resident. This is a problem for many international companies, which have offices in Europe and have a wide mix of nationalities amongst their staff.

Spouses and partners face a number of challenges. Whereas the employee usually transfers within his or her company as part of a career plan, the partners have to uproot themselves from their current job and company. They may have no professional network in the new country and the market for their skills may be completely different. They may face language and cultural barriers and their qualifications may not be recognised at the same level. Companies that employ expatriate staff increasingly try to help their partners in practical ways. However, the lengthy work permit regulations represent a real deterrent both to the partners themselves and to companies that might otherwise be prepared to employ them.

It is indeed the intention of the Foundation to promote relaxation of work permit regulations as they affect the partners of internationally transferred executives. However, we are also aware that the cultures and customs of some host countries do not yet officially recognise unmarried partners as being entitled to residency as accompanying family members. The Foundation promotes relaxation of work permit regulations for the spouse or partner who has attained accompanying resident status.

Since its launch in 2001, Permits Foundation has established a broad basis of corporate support across different countries and business sectors. With more than 40 Sponsors, and more organisations interested, we have a solid basis from which to go forward.

Sponsors can include companies and international organisations that employ expatriate staff, employers' associations, human resources institutes or associations and service providers to international companies, indeed anyone with an interest in international mobility, diversity and equal opportunity.

The foundation also welcomes network contacts and support from national governments and international organisations with an interest in overseas trade and investment.

Attracting highly qualified expatriate staff goes hand in hand with international trade and investment that improves local employment prospects and economic growth longer term. Expatriate staff represent a small proportion (normally 1 to 7 %) of total staff employed by a company worldwide. They are sent to another country for a few years to transfer skills and technology, share knowledge across the globe and train local staff to replace them when they leave. Allowing temporary work permits for their spouses and partners is a small concession that can be treated separately from long-term normal immigration policy.

Several international surveys show that dual career issues are the most important reason why staff turn down an international assignment.

They also highlight the extent of international mobility in the global workplace. One survey of 270 leading, cross-sector organisations showed that these organisations employed about 65,000 expatriate staff across virtually every country in the world. A second survey showed that while most companies have less than 50 expatriate staff, only two per cent have over 1000. So this is an issue that affects many companies across a wide spread of countries. Because it is so widely spread, Permits believes that a concerted worldwide approach to raising awareness will help. In any individual country, the numbers involved are sufficiently small to be manageable within concessions for business related transfers.

No. The proportion of expatriate staff and spouses/partners is so small as to have no negative impact on the local job market. What is more important is the positive impact on the economy and labour market of attracting international companies and organisation to base their operations in the country.

At an individual level, expatriate spouses and partners seek temporary, part-time or project work that have no impact on the longer term job market. In addition, giving spouses and partners a work permit does not guarantee them a job. They also have to compete with often well-qualified local staff who speak the local language, know the culture and have locally recognised qualifications. An employer will always try to get the best person for the job. If that happens to be the spouse or partner of an expatriate, this will give most benefit to the company and economy of the country.

We also believe that allowing spouses or partners to work in a host country promotes much better integration and affinity with the host location.

Several countries including the USA, Netherlands, France and Hong Kong have already responded and have relaxed regulations making it automatic or easier for (certain categories of) spouses and partners to get permission to work. These improvements, and countries such as the UK that have been a model of best practice for many years, are a powerful example to other countries.

In each of these countries, Permits Foundation played a role in raising awareness and promoting the change and will continue to do so in other countries.

In allowing spouses to work freely, governments have recognised the value to the economy of creating an attractive climate for inward investment, international organisations and knowledge workers. They are also prepared to consider work permits for business-related transfers differently from long-term immigration. Allowing spouses and partners to work helps them to integrate better into the country.

Permits Foundation believes that allowing spouses and partners to work represents a "triple win" for internationally mobile families, the organisations that employ them and their host and home countries. That will ultimately lead to success.

Our general strategy and activity plan is to build on the models of best practice and successes to date and raise awareness and promote the issue in countries that are both important to sponsors’ businesses and trend setters in their region. Initially, we concentrated on the USA, France, Germany, The Netherlands and the EU generally. We have also started to develop networks in Asia. We continue to refine our activity plan each year and in the next few years will extend our focus to Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.

Each country needs to be approached on a case-by-case basis. The specific time frame will depend on a number of issues including economic, employment and demographic factors. Some countries will be ready to accommodate change more quickly than others.

Our objective is to promote relaxation of work permit regulations as they affect the partners of internationally assigned employees. We see this as being very much tied in with international corporate transfers, trade and investment rather than with long-term immigration laws. General immigration/residency issues are not part of the brief of Permits Foundation.

It is very important to listen to and respond to concerns. Firstly, with help from home country governments, local networks and relevant organisations we will aim to show that where changes have already been made, they help to make the country more attractive to highly skilled staff, international companies and organisations and that this is beneficial to the economy and local employment prospects.

Secondly, we will seek concessions such as pilot schemes, or schemes related to particular professions or skill levels that meet the needs of the local economy. From there, it should be possible to develop in a way that eventually all countries can accommodate.

The procedure for becoming a sponsor is very straightforward. Contact us and let us know that you are interested and we will send you further information. If appreciated, we can arrange a teleconference to answer any questions you might have. When your organisation confirms by e-mail its intention to become a sponsor we will send you details of how to make the donation. In addition, we will add with your consent, your organisation’s name to the Sponsor Support Group mail list, and your logo and website to our Sponsors web page. You can also tell us which host countries are important to your organisation so that we can integrate those in our activity plan.

This is an informal group that ensures regular two-way communication with all sponsors. Via e-mail newsletters and meetings we bring you up-to-date with our activities and create a way for sponsor involvement. Membership (i.e. who represents each sponsor) is flexible and you can advise us of your focal points to receive correspondence and whom we can approach if necessary.

The board has recommended an annual donation of €6000. The level is at your discretion. Some sponsors with few or no expatriates who nevertheless want to support the objectives of the Foundation give less than this amount.

The sponsors are aware that there is no “quick fix” to this issue and that it takes time and understanding to bring about change in so many different countries.

Our sponsors see two main benefits in supporting Permits Foundation. Firstly, they benefit from working together with other companies and organisations to promote change in an area that is important to their business. Secondly, it sends a clear message to employees that their company cares about an issue that is important to them and is prepared to help them meet their expectation that both partners nowadays can have a career. In this way it supports HR strategy to be an attractive employer to international staff.

A board of directors, with input from the sponsors, decides on direction and the focus of the foundation’s efforts. Sponsor meetings are normally held once a year and together with regular newsletters, serve to keep sponsors up to date with the activities of the Foundation.

The Permits Foundation web site also contains links to relevant country information on spouse and partner work permit regulations.

Yes, certainly. We hope you will spread the word of this initiative and help us to extend our networks in host countries that are important to your organisation. Sponsors are also welcome to nominate a member to the board.

Please let us know if you have any questions or wish to discuss further.