The model schedule lowers the bar on intra-corporate transferees by advocating temporary entry of up to a year for a wider category of employees who provide assistance, advice or service to a foreign client, or receive business training, irrespective of their place in the organizational hierarchy. Furthermore, there is no requirement of a period of prior employment. The key point is that where firms have a commercial presence abroad, the proposed intra-corporate route – liberated from quotas, wage-parity and other burdensome requirements – may be a more efficient way of servicing foreign markets than by seeking new employment-based movement. The scope for exploiting this avenue would be greatly enhanced if intra-corporate movement were defined to include a wider class of skilled employees as in the model schedule.

There is bound to be political opposition to the lowering of the threshold for intra-corporate movement. Concern has already been expressed in the United States about the subsidiaries of Indian firms bringing in lower skilled workers on the L1 visa not subject to the LCA. But if this pressure can be resisted, then a wider liberalizing dynamic could be created: domestic firms, that face even greater competition from foreign multinationals able to employ foreign employees unconstrained by a wage parity condition, would push for greater employment-based movement.

# **CONTRACTUAL SERVICE PROVIDERS**

The other categories included in the model schedule pertain to natural persons who move to fulfill services contracts. This type of movement, like employment-based movement, is attractive for developing countries because it is not contingent on commercial presence in the host country. The assumption here is that in the current services negotiations, it may be more fruitful to focus on the strictly temporary movement of natural persons to fulfill prior service contracts. This implies deepening and generalizing the EU’s contract-based offer rather than the US’s H-1B employment-based offer (both are available from the WTO website).

There are two main reasons why a negotiating focus on a contract-based approach may be preferred, relating respectively to its greater desirability and feasibility. First, contract-based movement is more likely to be temporary than employment-based movement. If the movement is temporary, then we can be fairly confident that _both_ the host and home country will gain. The benefits of permanent migration are less clear: the gains from remittances, networks, investment, etc. must be weighed against the possible costs of “brain drain.” Second, it may be easier to seek more liberal access on strictly short-term contractbased movement through trade negotiations than on longer-term employment-based movement. The former is more closely identified with trade in services per se while the latter is seen as a direct entry into the labor market and likely to be determined by the needs of economies for such type of movement.

The greater feasibility of contract-based movement itself has two implications. First, it may be easier to create a separate fast-track non-immigration visa category for strictly temporary contract-based movement than for employment-based movement. Hence, the suggestion for a “service provider visa” in the model schedule. Second, it may be easier to liberate contract-based movement from economic needs tests (e.g. in the EU offer) and wage-parity requirements (e.g. in the US offer). Hence, the provision in the model schedule to eliminate both for contractual movement.

One key question must be addressed: is there a meaningful difference between “employment contracts” and “services contracts”? The following advice from Work Permits (UK), a website that provides information on how work permits may be obtained in the United Kingdom, helps clarify the distinction: “As recruitment agencies are not able to sponsor work permits, the Work Permits (UK) are particularly meticulous in scrutinizing applications for candidates who will be working on client projects – especially where the work will occur at client sites. In order for you to obtain a work 15