International Relo Terms

Appliances & Electronics Service: Firms providing appliances and electronics for international use. Firms may also provide advice and/or equipment (transformers, adapters, converters, and power protection) to expatriates wishing to use U.S. appliances outside of the U.S.

Automobile Policy: The purpose of this policy is to protect international assignees from the excessive costs of leasing and operating a vehicle while on assignment in the host country.

Banking Policy: This is intended to handle banking issues which arise in locations where there are no adequate international banking or currency facilities. It is not intended that local draws be used in developed countries (e.g. Australia) with modem banking and currency exchange systems.

Birth of a Child Overseas: When a child is born outside of a parents' home country, the birth must be registered with the local consulate in order to substantiate the child's nationality, obtain a passport, and get a birth certificate. In addition, the child's birth should be registered with the local authorities and the necessary visas obtained. Major medical plans usually cover the cost of birth of a child abroad. However, the employee may have to pay all expenses in advance, as many insurance plans are not accepted abroad. The employer may be asked to assist by advancing such payments.

Business Trips: An international business trip usually entails an assignment related to the employee's regular responsibilities. The employee remains at a particular location for only a limited period, typically up to one or two months and almost always less than three months. When a business trip lasts for an extended period of time, care should be taken to ensure visa and tax requirements.

Candidate Assessment: International assignments are quite costly. Pre-screening employees and spouses can save a company from spending heavily for the assignment, having the assignment fail with little or no productivity from the employee, and then having to expend additional funds to bring the employee and family back to the point of departure. A candidate assessment service can be used to evaluate the cultural adaptability of the candidate and spouse and to predict the assignment success probability.

Car Provision: Automobile assistance may be provided when host-country standard automobile costs exceed home-country costs, to protect expatriates against the higher costs.

Commodities and Services (C&S) Differential: The commodities and Services Differential is an allowance paid to international assignees to cover the difference in general living costs between the home country and host country locations. Allowances are reviewed periodically (for instance, either annually or at six month intervals) for changes in the cost of living and changes in exchange rates. (see also Cost of Living Allowance)

Consulting Services: International, immigration and other services. Firms specializing in consulting services, including policy writing, training, and program development in all areas of international transfers and immigration programs.

Cost of Living Allowance (COLA): A payment designed to adjust the expatriate's spendable income to account for differences in the purchasing power, taking into consideration the costs of goods and services, taxes and exchange rates between the home and host countries. (see also Commodities & Service Differential)

Cost of Living Differential: An index number indicating the difference in cost of living between the home and host country. This differential may be either positive or negative.

Cross-Cultural Orientations: Providing the transferee and family the opportunity to focus upon the dynamics of working and living in a second culture. Typical program content includes: comparing and contrasting value systems and how they impact behaviors; business and social protocol; the emotional transition and lifestyle adjustment; and strategies for success in the new culture. The term "cross-cultural" implies interactions between two cultures.

Danger Pay: This is a percent of a base pay paid to expatriates for those locations where there is a condition of civil insurrection, civil war, terrorism or wartime conditions, which threaten physical harm or imminent danger to health or well-being. May also be referred to as Hazard Pay. (see also Hardship Allowance)

Efficient Purchaser Index: Represents the relative cost of goods and services, applying spending patterns typically adopted by home country nationals living in the host country. In other words, although a home country pattern of consumption is maintained, it is assumed that the assignee shops as cost-effectively in the host country as at home, without any reduction in the quality of goods selected. External suppliers provide the index.

Entry Documents: The assignee should make sure appropriate visas and other documents are available for customers and immigration inspection.

Expatriate Consulting Services: Firms providing a wide variety of consulting services to reduce the risk inherent in international relocations, including behavioral profiling evaluation of cultural adaptability, international insurance, etc.

Expatriates: Employees who, at the request of the company have a work assignment outside their home country.

Expatriation: The process of transitioning from the home country to the host country.

Foreign Assignment Location/Foreign Post/Host Country: The city and country where the employee is residing during assignment which is outside the employee's country of origin.

Foreign Service Employee (FSE): An employee who is assigned to work in a country other than their home country.

Goods and Service Differential: The goods and service differential is generally paid for the entire length of the assignment including home leaves, business trips, and other temporary absences from the host country. However, the goods and services differential is not paid while the expatriate is receiving a temporary living per diem. Base salary and family size are used in determining the goods and services differential. See Cost of Living Differential, and also Commodities & Services Differential)

Household Goods Specialty Services: Firms providing coordination of services for disassembly and assembly of intricate furnishings and appliances on an international basis. Firms may offer repair and value protection for valuable household goods.

Inpatriate: Generally referred to as any non-US citizen employed in the United States.

Intercultural Training: Providing the transferee and family the opportunity to prepare for the challenges and experiences they may face upon arrival in a different country, or interacting with foreigners. This training provides the transferee and family with an understanding of values differences and behavioral expectations in business and social settings, and it helps them interrelate successfully with diverse cultural groups. The term "intercultural" implies interactions with multiple cultures in addition to the host culture.

International Resettlement Assistance: If requested by the employee, and where available, payment for a relocation consultant to personally accompany the employee (and family) in the new country to assist with the items that are unique to moving to a new country, including researching schools, personal interviews with schools, and school transfer details; establishing banking relationships; getting proper driver's license; providing local consumer information (and accompanying the family on preliminary shopping trips if requested); and providing any other information on living and working in the new country which would be helpful.

Letter of Assignment: An assignment letter is provided to the employee which outlines the specific provisions of the assignment, including compensation, assignment duration, date of transfer, and point of origin.

Letter of Understanding: A letter in advance of the expatriate's departure for the country of assignment which summarizes the terms and conditions surrounding the expatriate assignment (for example, Base Salary, premiums and allowances, timing of Home Leave, benefit plan coverages, number of family members Point of Origin).

Localization: The process by which an employee will transfer from a long-term expatriate assignment to that of a local employee, thereby giving up the benefits of the expatriate terms.

Multiple Assignments: A transfer from one expatriate assignment to another expatriate assignment in a different location.

Property Management: Assistance provided to the assignee relating to the rental, care, and or upkeep of the home country residence while the assignee is in the host country.

Repatriation: The return of the assignee to the home country at the completion of the expatriate assignment.

Repatriation Training and Orientation: Reverse or reentry culture shock actually can be more daunting that the challenges faced when originally moving to the overseas location. Assignees, family members, and employers often do not anticipate issues that will be present in returning home. Organizations are encouraged to provide support in the form of professional or career training for the assignee and cultural training for family members.

Short Term Assignment: Short-term assignments cover those situations where the assignment is longer than a business trip, but shorter than an expatriate or long-term assignment-usually lasting from three to six months.

Single Status: An expatriate employee who is unmarried, or who is married but not joined by eligible family members at the foreign assignment location.

Social Amenities: Private clubs usually are available in the larger cities or major international communities, and most of these clubs offer social activities including restaurants, libraries, swimming pools, tennis, golf, bingo, films in the native language, networking opportunities, and general support. Employers sometimes pay family membership fees to such clubs.

Spouse Assistance Allowances: This provision recognizes that spouses who accompany expatriates on assignment experience significant disruption in their personal lives and careers. Companies may elect to provide employment assistance for spouses who are legally able to work in the host country. However, often it is not possible for the spouse to obtain a work permit. In that case, companies may pay for some kind of career continuation or enrichment activities, such as volunteer or educational endeavors.

Travel Documents: The employee and his/her family will need passports and work and/or residence permits for the country of assignment. The employee should begin working with the Human Resources, and often with an outside immigration law firm, as early as possible to secure these papers. Obtaining the necessary passports and documentation is frequently a very time-consuming process. The employee should not be permitted to move to the host location and start the international assignment before all necessary documents have been obtained. The company should ensure compliance with all country-specific immigration laws. Employees should not commence their assignments without proper documentation.

Vaccinations and Inoculations: The employee and the accompanying dependents must secure vaccinations and inoculations as may be required for international travel and residency in the host country.

Visa: Grants the employee permission to enter a particular country for a specified length of time. While a few countries may not require a visa, the majority do. When a visa is required, each family member must have a valid visa for the entire intended length of stay. If the employee is accepting an international assignment, the employer may help the employee obtain a visa. Otherwise, the employee can procure a visa through the consulate of the employee's destination country or contact the U.S. State Department for visa application forms and information.

Listed below are several types of U.S. visas. Additional information on these, as well as other categories of visas, may be found on the U.S. State Department web site.

• B-1 Visa: The B-1 Visa is available for the temporary business visitors-foreign nationals seeking to enter the U.S. for business purposes. However, the foreign national may not be employed locally in the United States, and may receive no remuneration other than expense reimbursement from a U.S. source. The B-1 applicant must intend to leave the U.S. at the end of the temporary stay. The B-1 holder may enter the U.S. for up to six months, and the period of permitted stay may be extended in six-month increments.
  
  
• F-1 Visa: Full-time foreign nationals in the F-1 student visa category, who have been studying in the U.S. fir at least nine months, are permitted to engage in one year of full-time employment, called "optional practical training." This practical training must be in the student's field of study and can take place either during the school year, during periods of vacation time off, or after completion of the degree requirements.
  
  
• H-1B Visa: This is one of the most commonly used category for foreign professionals working in the U.S., the H-1B visa may be sought for employment in a specialty (i.e., professional) occupation, where at least a baccalaureate degree or equivalent experience and/or training is required to perform the duties of the position. Specific educational requirements, position and wage requirement tests must be met. During the period of employment in the U.S., the foreign national can remain on the employer's U.S. or foreign payroll. The procedure for obtaining an H-1B visa is highly detailed. Only a limited number of H-1B's are available to be issued each year. Length of stay is for one to three years and is renewable to a six year maximum.
  
  
• H-3 Visa: This type of visa is for trainees involved in a training program with little or no productive work consisting of classroom instruction and close supervision, when similar training is not available in the home country. Length of stay is for one year and is renewable to a two year maximum.
  
  
• H-4 Visa: The visa is a spouse and unmarried children under age 21 of H-1, 2, 3 Visa holders. H-4 dependents not authorized to work. Length of stay is the same as H-1, 2, 3.
  
  
• L-1, 2 Visa: Another frequently used visa, the L-1 visa is primarily for intercompany transfers of managers, executives, and employees with specialized knowledge. Must have prior one-year employment within the three years preceding entry in a similar position with a foreign affiliate of the U.S. company. L-2 dependents not authorized to work. Length of stay is one to three years and is renewable to a seven-year maximum for managers and executives and a five year maximum for employees with specialized knowledge.
  
  
• TN-1 Visa: The Tn-1 visa is for Canadian and Mexican professionals. Must be a Canadian or Mexican citizen with a bachelor's degree or alternative professional credential allowed under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Only professions listed in NAFTA and accompanying NAFTA regulations qualify. Canadians may apply and be processed at a U.S. port of entry. Mexicans must process a petition before applying for entry.