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Emerging Trends: ‘Best & Brightest’ Schemes Impact Recruitment andImmigration ComplianceB Y G L E N N F A U L K A N D K A T H A R I N E S A L E M , G M S

The beginning of the 21st century has ushered in a forever-changed job market. The digital information age has displaced millions of traditional workers while creating a new class of highlymobile professional immigrants willing to bring their expertise to myriad global markets. Faulk andSalem reveal how countries, not companies, are sweetening the deal to lure these highly-specialized workers to enhance their economies while placing the onus of immigration compliance squarely onthe host company, and what this means for human resource and global mobility professionals.

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Who are the “best and brightest?” In 2007,while appearing before a committee of theU.S. Senate to discuss immigration restric-

tions, Microsoft founder Bill Gates commented thatCanada was attracting the “best and brightest” immi-grants through that country’s more favorable immigrationpolicies. “Best and brightest” generally is used to describethe most valuable human capital—individuals who haveexcelled in science, technology, engineering, and math(STEM) professions. Gates astutely identified for the U.S.Senate what has now become a growing global trend—the international competition for the best and brightestthat is now being waged by global immigration policiesintentionally designed as a double-edged sword, to lure intop talent while holding the company liable for strict reg-ulatory compliance. This growing trend is significant forhuman resource and global mobility professionals, as thisis yet another way in which companies must be informedand well-prepared to do business abroad.

The Global Talent PoolHaving a sophisticated information economy with the

attendant infrastructure is the gold standard by which allemerging and established economies will be measuredfor the foreseeable future. Information economiesencompass a wide range of professional services, frombanking to scientific research. Gaining the best andbrightest candidates from the global talent pool, as isrequired to support these skilled labor needs, is becom-ing a hard-fought battle by not only companies, but thevery countries that have fostered the transformationfrom a manufacturing economy to a services economy.

Countries that are able to attract the best and brightesttalent reap the rewards through economic, technological,and scientific advancements, along with education andtraining contributions to the local workforce. Further -more, while these top professionals may come into thehost country on a work assignment, they also are viewedmore favorably for permanent residency and naturaliza-

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tion down the road. Thus, theirachievements may ultimately bolsternational recognition. For example,according to the Nobel PrizeFoundation, in 2009, several NobelPrize winners were immigrants livingin the U.S. In recent years, severalU.S. citizens who have won NobelPrizes were born in India, and atleast three were born in China.

Because many professional service-level jobs now require applicants tobe technology-savvy workers withconsiderable academic qualificationsand professional experience, thismakes for an extremely portable jobmarket for economic immigrants. Inthe United States, the averageemployment tenure for most workersis roughly estimated at 4.4 years withany one employer, according toJanuary 2010 U.S. Labor Bureaustatistics. The traditional standard of staying in a job for years has nowbeen replaced by workers havingmultiple employment tenures and,with a global market, the ability toreadily transfer their educations andskills abroad.

The countries that supply a grow-ing majority of the global talent poolare those that emphasize educationin mathematics, cutting-edge tech-nologies, and sciences. While theU.S. has traditionally ranked high insupplying skilled migrant workers,according to the United Nation’s2010 “World Migration Report,”Bangladesh, China, India, Mexico,and Pakistan comprise the majorityof the top 10 countries having thelargest emigrant populations. Thecommon factors each of the coun-tries share is that their best andbrightest workers are generallyyounger, have highly technical edu-cation backgrounds, and are eager to emigrate either to other knowledge-

intensive economies or to rapidlyemerging markets.

Governments Compete for Top ForeignTalent

During the past decade, as compa-nies established themselves abroad,the digital age ushered in start-ups,virtual workplaces, and the creationof niche jobs to accommodate theexpanding “long-tail” economywhere creative minds firmly believethat technology will take on theestablishment. In addition, the greatunspoken trend occurring in manyfirst-world economies is an agingworkforce that is not keeping pacewith rapidly changing technologies,increasingly hesitant to relocate,and/or entering retirement. Finally,since the global recession of 2008,many countries’ governments areunder great political pressure to pro-tect their domestic workforce andlimit immigration to only the bestand brightest migrants.

Since the mid-part of the lastdecade, several countries recognizedthat to balance the needs of main-taining stable domestic job growthwith being globally competitive,preference must be given to a new,ideal economic immigrant: young,high-income earning, medically fit,and university-educated in specificdisciplines. Thus, applicant character-istics are increasingly being viewed ashaving equal, if not greater weight,than the traditional “intra-companytransferee” executive/senior managerexpatriate profile of the 1990s andearly 2000s.

While intra-company experienceremains an easier path to obtainingexpedited processing of work per-mits, countries are now increasinglyinterested in offering “fast-track”processing of work permits for these

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skilled young migrants who can fillshortage-occupation, nation-buildingjobs in specific industry sectors.Sectors that many countries identifyas having a short supply of skilledworkers are in engineering, medicine,research, and information technologydevelopment.

As governments are using theirimmigration systems to dictate tocompanies their ideal job candidates,countries also are controlling thetype of host sponsor that will receivepreferential treatment in receivingwork authorizations. Higher spon-sorship standards are being imposed

on host companies by requiring com-panies to apply to the migration ser-vice as being qualified to sponsor for-eign workers, raising the minimumor market salary requirements, andimposing ratios of domestic workersto foreign workers. As governmentsalso take much more seriously border

On the WebThe complexities of international assignment compliance are broad and far-reaching, from entry refusal and fines to irreparable reputation damage. Human resource and global mobility professionals are welladvised to review these and other resources, available at www.WorldwideERC.org:

Blind Man’s Bluff: The Perils of Overlooking International Assignment Compliance Issueswww.WorldwideERC.org/Resources/MOBILITYarticles/Pages/0708rosenzwaig.aspx

At Your Own Peril—Short-term Assignments and Immigration Compliancewww.WorldwideERC.org/Resources/MOBILITYarticles/Pages/0407jimenez.aspx

Managing Mobility Risk: The Importance of Immigration Compliance for Short-term Business Travelerswww.WorldwideERC.org/Resources/MOBILITYarticles/Pages/0109ryan.aspx

Tax and Legal Update—United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) Compliancewww.WorldwideERC.org/Resources/MOBILITYarticles/Pages/0211-tax-and-legal-update.aspx

Recruiting Foreign Workers in the United States—How to Remain Competitive and EnsureCompliance in a Climate of Increased Government Scrutinywww.WorldwideERC.org/Resources/MOBILITYarticles/Pages/0810-Riberio.aspx

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control and labor market protections,company sponsorship will requirehigher immigration compliance.

Latest DevelopmentsWith the recent near-collapse of

the U.S. economy and the seemingparalysis of the federal government’sability to develop a comprehensiveimmigration policy to attract the bestand brightest immigrants, othercountries have taken, or are taking,steps to redesign their immigrationsystems to accommodate skilledoverseas workers while ensuring thatcompanies are evidencing a specificand true need for specialized foreignlabor.

The ways in which countries are revamping their immigration sys-tems range from a points-based sys-tem, identifying shortage-occupa-tions or professions, and economicinvestment. The following is a brieflook into how these systems adjudi-cate who is “best and brightest” anda representative sample of thosecountries that currently use these systems.

Points-based systems. Points for receiving work authorization areawarded based on a possible combi-nation of several of the following criteria:

• Personal characteristics: a for-eign national’s age, medical health,academic qualifications, and potentialfor social integration (e.g., fluency inthe host country’s official language);

• Earning potential: the amountof the foreign national’s currentsalary or the expected future earn-ings;

• Personal maintenance: ability ofthe foreign worker to evidence thatsufficient funds are readily availableto accommodate the worker andfamily during the initial months orfirst year of stay;

• Professional characteristics: theforeign worker’s professional experi-ence is relevant to the proposed jobor shortage-occupation job; the for-eign worker is an intra-companytransferee;

• Secured job offer: a qualifiedcompany sponsor has extended avalid job offer to the foreign worker;

• Investors/independententrepreneurs: Foreign businessper-sons committing minimum capitalrequirements and assurance toemploy host-country workers; pro-posed new business in an industrythat promotes a knowledge-basedeconomy.

Countries: Australia, Canada,Denmark, Hong Kong, Netherlands,New Zealand, and the UnitedKingdom.

The above criteria also are used byother countries’ immigration systemswhen assessing work authorizationunder the following programs orschemes:

Highly-skilled migrant programs. These are sponsorship-connected immigration schemeswhereby the host country migrationservice sets aside “fast-track” pro-cessing for highly-skilled workers,even in countries where work permitquotas exist.

Countries: Netherlands—“Knowledge Migrant Program;”Russia—“Highly Qualified WorkerProgram;” Singapore—“Enhanced

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Employment Pass;” Spain—“Unidadde Grandes Empresas” (LargeBusiness Unit).

“Card” schemes: a reference tothe U.S. green card concept, certaincountries extend work authorizationto highly-skilled migrants applyingfor shortage-occupation jobs ordeveloping entrepreneurial opportu-nities in specific growth areas.

Countries: Denmark and Ireland—“Green Cards; France—“Compétenceset Talents” (“Skills and Talents”)Card.

Most notable of the “card”schemes is the European Union’s(EU) advancement in requiring its27-member countries (Editor’s note:please see page 140 for a list of EUcountries) to implement their own“EU Blue Card” programs to skilledmigrants who are not nationals of anEU country or Switzerland.

The EU Blue Card scheme isdesigned to permit skilled migrantsto apply for “fast-track” work autho-rization in other EU countries aftermeeting certain work/residence con-ditions in the EU country that grant-ed the original status.

Student work permits. Accordingto the Organization for EconomicCooperation and Development’s(OECD) “International MigrationOutlook 2011,” “one long-termtrend which is holding up throughthe jobs crisis is international studentmigration. It has been increasingsteadily over the past decade andthere are now more than 2.3 millioninternational students in OECDcountries. About one in four will stayin the countries in which they stud-ied, providing an increasingly impor-tant source of skilled workers.”

Above all of the aforementionedways in which countries are trying toattract the best and brightest, the

granting of viable work opportunitiesfor graduating university and voca-tional students in critical occupationswill be one of the most effective andimportant ways that countries cancombat an aging workforce and highunemployment. By harnessing theenergy and abilities of younger gen-eration workers, new and sustainablebusinesses can be created.

Countries: Many countries offer“Working Holiday Visas” that,unfortunately, limit many students intheir ability to maximize their fullpost-education potential. Countriesare grappling with how to matchgraduating student’s skills withappropriate work opportunities.Recently, a controversial law, theCalifornia “Dream Act,” was intro-duced by the California Legislatureto retain foreign student talent byallowing young, undocumented stu-dents access to private grants andpossibly state-funded scholarships toattend California state colleges anduniversities.

Host Companies on the Hook forCompliance

Many countries have learned that“if companies offer it, the immigrantswill come.” However, according torecent International Labor Statisticsproduced by the U.S. Labor Bureau,joblessness in many first-worldeconomies is well north of tradition-ally sustainable unemployment ratesin their countries. These statisticsshow the levels of significant unem-ployment (http://www.bls.gov/ilc/intl_unemployment_rates_monthly.htm#Rchart1).

The political mood for govern-ments to protect the home-countrylabor market has forced countriesthat are initiating new schemesdesigned to attract foreign skilled

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workers to also put in place strongerimmigration compliance require-ments and to increase both civil andcriminal penalties for companiesthat do not adhere to the regula-tions.

Compliance requirements.Stronger compliance requirementsinclude, but are not limited to, thefollowing:

a) Host companies must registerwith the immigration service as quali-fied sponsors of foreign workers(Argentina, Australia, Brazil,Netherlands, Russia, and the UnitedKingdom). This will require certainbenchmarks be met, such as a mini-mum amount of paid-up capital,minimum annual gross income oroverall turnover; paid corporate taxcertifications; and company certifi-cates of good standing.

b) Host-company HR must ensurethat foreign talent meet specific aca-demic and professional qualificationsdirectly related to the proposed job.In addition, other factors such as thecandidate’s medical health, age, flu-ency in the host country’s spoken and

written language, and earning poten-tial also may factor into identifyingthe best and brightest immigrants.Immigrants from certain countries,such as China and India, may possessuniversity certificates that require fur-ther credentialing by the host coun-try’s education authority.

c) Host-company HR must care-fully assess what types of specializedskills positions are being offered.This will involve assessing whetherpositions can meet the requirementsof shortage occupations or specificpositions that a host country’simmigration and labor authorityidentify as qualifying for certainexemptions or “fast-track” process-ing. Of primary importance is ensur-ing that a proposed position gen-uinely requires such specializedknowledge that there are no readilyavailable candidates in the domesticlabor market.

d) Host companies must designatea dedicated company immigrationcompliance representative to liaisewith the home country’s immigra-tion service to answer questions

regarding work permit applications,meet with labor inspector officers,and maintain immigration compli-ance files.

Strong Compliance Penalties.With the instability in the globaleconomy and increasing rate ofunemployment, countries areresponding through stricter immi-gration compliance enforcement. InCanada, the UK, and Australia,compliance audits will become morelikely, including inspection of theemployer’s documents for foreignworkers. Inspections may includerequests for immigration papers forforeign workers, company payrolls,and corporate documents evidencingeligibility to sponsor foreign work-ers.

Strong penalties for immigrationnon-compliance vary per country,ranging from fines and penalties forthe employee and employer, to crim-inal sanctions. Examples of companypenalties include:

a) company fines ranging fromUS$20,000 to over US$100,000 peroffense;

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b) debarment from sponsoring foreign workers;

c) debarment from continuingbusiness operations in the country;

d) disbarment of company directors and officers;

e) cancellation of sponsorshiplicenses; and

f) damage to the company’s reputation.

In the United Kingdom, companypenalties include up to £10,000(approx. US$16,300) per worker,loss of company license, and for theworst cases, can include imprison-ment and/or unlimited fines. InAustralia, companies may be fined upto AU$66,000 (approx. US$69,000)per illegal worker along with othersevere accompanying civil and criminal fines/penalties per individu-al worker. Canada has even imple-mented public posting of offendingcompanies on the CIC’s TemporaryForeign Worker Program’s IneligibleEmployers website (As of the date ofthis article, no companies have been listed.).

What Global Mobility Must Do toPrepare

The mantra of “think globally, actlocally” has now truly come full circlefor many countries. The global econ-omy demands and requires globaltalent, but local governments mustprotect their national workforce inthe face of seemingly long-term,structural unemployment.

What companies can do to takeadvantage of the existing and futuretalent schemes is to have a unifiedapproach between the company’sHR and their global mobility profes-sionals in identifying qualified candi-dates. This will include discussionswith the host company HR to reviewa candidate’s qualifications and theproposed job duties against the hostcountry’s immigration requirements.

As evidenced above, recruitmentof best and brightest talent also car-ries an increasing responsibility forcompanies to submit accurate andverifiable applications. When select-ing foreign candidates, some govern-ments are requiring companies to beincreasingly self-policing and self-

compliant when attesting that thereare no qualified host country nationalworkers readily available to fill jobvacancies. In exchange for quicklyapproving qualified candidates,migration authorities are expectingcompany sponsors to observe specifictalent scheme requirements andundertake appropriate internal com-pliance measures to prevent submis-sion of fraudulent work permit appli-cations.

Global mobility and HR profes-sionals can take proactive steps byworking with their global immigra-tion suppliers to assess potentialcandidates, prepare necessary docu-mentary evidence, and, should thecountry’s government conduct anaudit, assist the host company’s HRin meeting all regulatory compliancerequirements.

Glenn Faulk is manager, knowledge management for Pro-Link GLOBAL, Inc.,Atlanta, GA, He can be reached at +1 941 462 2942 or e-mail glenn.faulk@pro-linkglobal.com.

Katharine Salem, GMS, is practice managerfor Pro-Link GLOBAL, Inc., Grand Prairie,TX. She can be reached at +1 941 462 4041or e-mail katharine.salem@pro-linkglobal.com.

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