Caterer and Hotelkeeper – 8006

l It is the task of the organisation in the host country to organise work and residence permits for incoming employees. While it is usually straightforward to secure entry permits and visas for spouse and family, in many countries there is little chance of securing a work permit for anyone other than the originally named employee.If a spouse is also to take work, they must find their own sponsor - their own employer - who will make the application for a work permit.

l Incoming spouses and dependent children to the UK are permitted to take employment. Caron Pope, of law firm Norton Rose, says this can put the spouse in a much better position - able to take work from any employer, rather than being tied to a named organisation and position. Employers can use this to their advantage: bringing their own employee in on the back of a spouse's permit would leave that employee free to do a range of work for the organisation.

l Children over 18 years of age do not qualify under UK immigration rules for families. In such cases individuals would have to be admitted through a different category - visitor or student, forexample.

In the past year, Starwood Hotels has moved about 40 employees in and out of the UK, 200 across Europe and many more worldwide. Anne Scott, area director of human resources for the UK at Starwood finds it difficult even to consider the precise numbers involved. "You try to legislate for relocating," she says, "decide exactly how you'll deal with each relocation, but the problem is that each one is always very different.

"A single person moving, for example, is a completely different matter to moving someone with a family. You just have to take each one as it comes."

Although the hospitality industry frequently relocates staff, the process is not always straightforward. It is not just a matter of filling in the right forms, booking the flight and packing the suitcase. There is a huge range of possibilities for each relocation - special considerations according to the country the employee travels from andto, their nationality, marital status, and even the personal belongings they wish to take with them.

Starwood uses independent agents to handle different aspects of each relocation. Visa agents will sort out the immigration paperwork, a relocation company takes charge of transportation and shipping, while specialists in the country of destination will be engaged to sort out accommodation, education and orientation requirements. The approach can appear confusing - a division of labour that means both employer and relocating employee must deal with a multitude of contacts in order to progress. But international relocation is such a complex area that embarking on the exercise without consulting individual specialists would be extremely foolhardy.

"We're often asked by potential clients if there is a one-stop shop that will provide the full relocation service," says Rosemary Roundtree, managing director of IPM, specialists in expatriate policy and employment contract administration, "but it's impossible to do."

Employers must prove need

Before the individual member of staff even begins to consider their new location, the employing company must prove the need for that individual to work in the host country.

"Permits and visas are very difficult to get unless you have a very skilled person or very strong reasons why it has to be that person in that job," says John Stacey, director of human resources at Gardner Merchant. "For the hospitality and catering industry this can be difficult. It can be hard to say why a person from outside should be brought in - there could be plenty of skilled people already over there."

In the face of this requirement, Gardner Merchant now tends to transfer employees through secondments and assignments for set periods of six to12 months.

Ian Payne, managing director of Cendant International Assignment Services, argues that some international work can be carried out through business trips, which avoids the bureaucracy of obtaining a permit altogether. "If someone is going abroad for only three months or so, it may remove the need for a formal application for residence or work permits," he says.

The individual on a business trip must remain working for the home business entity, not for the overseas company. This may be fine for a general manager, but impossible to argue for a chef. Justifying a relocation may also be easier if staff are simply swapped between locations - a UK chef for an Australian chef, a waiter for a waiter and so on. In such cases it is clear the relocation does not take away a position of employment suitable for a local worker.

This issue does come into play when securing a work permit on the grounds of training or work experience. "Individuals coming in from the USA generally come on the one-year Training and Work Experience permit," explains Kate Desigar, director of human resources at Four Seasons Hotels. "As a company we have to show we are going to give them very structured training." A full training plan is submitted as part of the application for the work permit showing clearly that the training or work experience will not displace a UK citizen from employment.

Employee rights

Most international relocation among catering and hotel companies transfers the employee's rights and remuneration to the host country. "As a company individual, employees will have continuous service," says Desigar, "but they will go on to a new contract based in the host country and be paid by the organisation out there. Every employee will be subject to the employment law and local legislation of that country."

This last point should not be taken as standard. IPM's Roundtree argues that switching the employment contract to the host country may lead to problems if the assignment runs into trouble. "Thinking employers will want the employment and assignment contracts subject to the law of the country they are most familiar with," she says. "There may be political circumstances, health or other reasons for terminating an assignment and the company should always have the facility to bring the individual back to his or her own country and resolve any further employment problems there."

If a company has employed a UK national in a foreign country for a long period of time, the employee may be able to take action under the law of that country, regardless of where their contract is based. Once again, the employer can find himself or herself trying to deal with an employment problem using unfamiliar laws. The more global a company becomes, the less likely this will be a problem. Experienced locals will know exactly how to deal with situations which may arise. "Wherever possible, the policy of most companies should be to train nationals within that country to run the business," says Stacey of Gardner Merchant.

There are occasions, however, where expertise and skills cannot be resourced in any other way. Nicholas Metcalfe, director of recruitment consultants Chess Partnership, is not alone in noting how the high costs associated with relocation mean organisations must prepare thoroughly before embarking on such an exercise.

"We're now running assessment centres for international employers, studying cultural adaptability among employees," he says. "A one-hour interview in London, followed by an application for a visa, doesn't mean a relocation will work out and the cost of that can run into thousands of pounds."

With most work permits taking from eight to 12 weeks to be processed (there are additional time-consuming security checks for individuals from certain countries such as Iraq, Russia and North Korea), employers must be fully aware of all the processes associated with relocation.

"You have to plan your recruitment well in advance," says Desigar, "You can't just rattle it off in a week. You must go through the appropriate channels." n