Immigration and working in European Union
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The rules have become unified in the EU following the implementation of the Intra-Corporate Transfer Directive (ICT) 2014/66/EU. The ICT directive provides third-country nationals to move and work within a group of companies situated in different EU Member States without restriction for a period of 90 days per half a year, provided that an ICT permit is issued by one EU Member States.
In Lithuania (as in Latvia, Germany, the Czech Republic and Romania), an executive and a specialist are required to work for at least 6 months in the sending company or in the company belonging to the same group before moving to the EU. Meanwhile, in Estonia, Poland, Cyprus, there is a maximum requirement of 12 month work record. The minimum requirement by ICT directive is 3 months, which is applicable in Finland, France, Sweden, Italy, etc.
The directive provides more favorable conditions for the arrival and work of the alien's family members to the EU. Lithuania has abandoned restrictions on the participation of alien’s family members in the domestic labor market. This means that, if an alien's spouse has a residence permit in Lithuania, he/she does not need a work permit. Similar regulation applies in many other EU Member States. The right to work for family members is not granted in Sweden, Luxembourg, Hungary, Croatia, Bulgaria, etc.
Compared with the previous regulation, the terms for issuing ICT permits in Lithuania have decreased by half. An ICT permit is issued to a manager or specialist within 10 weeks from the date of submission of an application (urgent procedure takes 5 weeks). Shorter periods for the issuance of ICTs have been set by Estonia, Latvia, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, etc. Longer periods are witnessed in Poland, the Czech Republic, Sweden, the Netherlands, Portugal, Malta, Cyprus, etc. The investment environment in Lithuania has also been facilitated by the fact that the foreign companies in Lithuania have the right to submit an application for the issuance of an ICT on behalf of an alien. Lithuania, like many Western European countries, did not set quotas for the issuance of ICT permits.
Although the ICT directive stipulates that transferred employees should not be prohibited from engaging in labor activities at the place of the client in the host EU Member State, however Sweden, France, Italy, the Czech Republic and Romania entail such restrictions.
The ICT directive has been implemented by the 24 EU Member States. Belgium is the only EU Member State that has not yet transposed the provisions of the directive into national law. The United Kingdom, Denmark and Ireland have not taken part in the adoption of this directive and are not covered by it. In Lithuania, the ICT directive was implemented through the adoption of amendments to the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens, which came into force on the 1st of September, 2017.
To find out more about impact of ICT directive in the Baltics (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia), please contact our lawyers at info@gencs.eu.
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