All employers who send employees across international borders—whether to engage in business activities, carry out short-term assignments, or for long-term relocation—benefit from having a written immigration policy that covers the legal and practical issues of global travel and international relocation.

A written policy helps compa­nies meet duty-of-care obligations, prevents border issues and detainments, and ensures that employees have the right to work when they arrive in their destination country. Additionally, a policy sets uniform expectations and guidelines to prevent managers and employees from running afoul of local labor laws or other sponsorship requirements. With a written immigration and business travel policy, employees benefit from having clear expectations from the offset and Global Mobility staff can reference uniform policies to inform their management of compliance requirements and other legal obligations.

This backgrounder by Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP (BAL) provides high-level suggestions on key issues related to mobility and immigration that should be part of every global company’s policy manual. With the backgrounder, BAL hopes to encourage Global Mobility professionals to think about how to create a best-in-class internal policy around immigration and international travel that promotes business needs while mitigating the many immigration risks that follow international travel assignments and long-term relocation. Topics covered in the document are described below in brief. For full explanations and key information, download the full BAL backgrounder here.