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Migration and Home Affairs

Intra-corporate transfers Directive

Globalisation of business, increasing trade and the growth of multinational groups has increased the posting of managers, specialists and trainee employees of multinationals, temporarily relocated to other units of the company.

Such intra-corporate transfers of personnel result in new skills and knowledge, innovation and enhanced economic opportunities for the host companies, thus advancing the knowledge-based economy in the Union.

Intra-corporate transferees (ICTs) from non-EU countries also have the potential to facilitate transfers to companies outside the EU and to put the EU in a stronger position in its relationship with international partners.

Facilitation of admission of ICTs enables multinational groups to tap their human resources best, while intra-EU mobility allows them to profit from the advantages of the internal market.

Legal framework

The Directive on intra-corporate transferees (ICT) sets the conditions under which non-EU nationals can enter and work in the EU for an intra-corporate transfer (i.e., a posting from a company operating in a non-EU country in a branch in the EU).

More information on the key provisions of the Directive is available in the Summary of EU legislation – Intra-corporate transfers Directive.

Objectives

  • contribute to the attractiveness of the EU for highly qualified workers and for foreign investment, facilitating the posting in the EU of managers, specialists and trainee employees
  • create a simplified procedure for admission of ICTs, based on common definitions and harmonised criteria in all EU countries
  • ensure an attractive package of rights for the ICT and his/her family members
  • make it easier for the ICT to move and work in other EU countries, profiting from the conditions offered by the internal market

Policy timeline

  • 2014: Directive on intra-corporate transferees (2014/66/EU) is adopted.
  • 2010: Proposal for a Directive of the European parliament and of the Council on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals in the framework of an intra-corporate transfer. Executive Summary and Impact assessment to the proposal (SEC(2010)884 and 885).

Documents