The experience led Hammond to write a book on how to thrive as an expatriate employee. She also gives speeches on the topic, which is of increasing interest to companies that find themselves sending more U.S. citizens abroad and seeking more foreign employees for specialized assignments here. The use of expatriate employees raises a wide range of legal, cultural, and business issues. Because of the expense of moving workers across borders and the key business issues riding on these employees, companies need to take extra care to ensure that legal requirements are met and that the employees will be able to adjust well to their new environment. With so many companies operating internationally, many corporations see little difference in whether an employee is working in New Delhi or New Brighton.
Governments view immigration differently, however.
Their concept of the available labor pool has radically changed over the past few years. But corporations need to recognize that just because they have made the decision to hire someone from a business point of view, there may not be a visa available for that worker, or the bureaucracy may not be able to allow the immigration on the company s timeline. In addition, companies in Minnesota sought to obtain temporary work authorization for 1,700 foreign employees in the H-1B professional worker category. Many of the H1-B workers filled jobs in the high tech industry, in which there is a shortage of U.S. workers, says Tom Romens, employment program director at the Department of Economic Security. About 75 percent of these jobs are in computer-related fields, Romens says.