While a cross-border workforce can assist with talent shortages, provide new markets for business and can enable employees to build their skills and capabilities, it brings significant challenges. Besides issues involving immigration, taxation and overall regulation, global mobility may bring heightened cyber risk, data privacy concerns, management oversight problems and longer-term issues involving the reintegration of employees after completing a cross-border assignment.

Employees assigned to work in the United States will need advice and support in many different areas, including advice concerning immigration limitations, the taxation of income and managing potential double taxation, cultural and language differences, and the logistics of resettling family and households, among other things. Depending on the location of a work assignment, the relative cost of living often requires a pay adjustment plus living allowance to make a move feasible.

Service providers assisting with global mobility need to plan ahead and offer a team strategy to implement each step in the appropriate sequence. This involves immigration and employment counsel, international tax counsel and local accountants, plus business and consulting advice for the range of issues involved.