News: Global: Highly skilled spouses want to work during assignments abroad. Global survey sharpens focus on partner employment needs. Survey summary Final survey report India: Permits Foundation petitions Indian government to grant expatriate spouses easier access to work.

Permits Foundation is an international non-profit corporate initiative to promote access of accompanying spouses and partners of international staff to employment through an improvement of work permit regulations.

More than forty major international companies and organisations worldwide have joined the Foundation to encourage governments to relax work permit regulations that currently make it difficult for spouses to work in many countries.

The issue is a concern to international companies and organisations which, in view of the increasing number of dual careers, experience work permit barriers as a hurdle to employee diversity and mobility.

Permits Foundation has already been successful in influencing and contributing to change in France, The Netherlands and the USA. It is currently promoting improvements in other countries in Europe, for example in Germany and at the European Union. It has also started to develop networks in Asia and is working to raise awareness of this issue worldwide. The foundation corresponds with government ministries and agencies directly and/or through local networks of employer organisations and other interested bodies.

Governments are increasingly recognising the importance of dual careers in making their country an attractive business destination supporting trade and investment.

These successes are based on Permits Foundation's initiative to:

• Make representations to host governments to liberalise business-related work permit legislation to allow accompanying expatriate spouses to participate freely in local employment markets
• Seek and co-ordinate support from national governments and international organizations with an interest in international investment, mobility, equal opportunity and diversity
• Share best practices and news of governmental progress
• Raise awareness in conferences and seminars
• Encourage debate by preparing briefing materials for selected media.

In this way, Permits Foundation continues to help spouses of all nationalities to maintain and develop skills during expatriation and facilitates re-integration to their home country.

We welcome enquiries from organisations that would like to join this important initiative as a sponsor or contribute in other ways to share best practice and promote change.

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