Council Adopts Intra-Corporate Transferees Directive

On 13 May 2014, the General Affairs Council formally adopted the proposed directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on conditions of entry and residence of non-EEA nationals in the framework of an intra-corporate transfer. The directive will now be published in the Official Journal and member states will have to transpose it within two and a half years of its publication.

The directive is aimed at making it easier and quicker for multinational companies to temporarily assign highly skilled non-EEA employees to subsidiaries situated in the EU, to facilitate mobility of intra-corporate transferees between member states during their assignments, and to avoid exploitation and distortion of competition by laying down a common set of rights for such intra-corporate transferees when working in the EU. According to the Commission, 15,000 to 20,000 non-EEA national intra-corporate transferees will be admitted annually in the framework of this directive.