Quick Updates from Expat Women

Hi Everyone, I hope you have all been really well? Whilst our main Expat Women site is still on an indefinite "break", we wanted to share the following quick updates which might be of interest to you...

Permits Foundation International Mobility and Dual Career Survey
Dual career and partner employment concerns impact on the ability to attract employees to international assignments. That is one of the key findings of the latest International Mobility and Dual Career Survey 2012 conducted by the Permits Foundation. Two thirds of employers report that partner careers have an impact on mobility and more than half said that employees had turned down assignments. Click here to see the full survey report.

Women's International Networking (W.I.N.) Conference 2012
This year's W.I.N. conference will be in beautiful Rome, Italy, 3-5(6) October. The theme this year is "Make Space: Find Possibilities". For more details, please visit their main website.

Global Campaign To Empower Americans Abused Abroad
- South America
The Americans Overseas Domestic Violence Crisis Center is headed to South America: Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. If you would like to attend one of their sessions please email Brooke Galloway, brookeg@866uswomen.org for more information.
- Worldwide
In addition, they are running free webinars from September to December, for American women based all over the world. Please rachelp@866uswomen.org for further details.
(Remember, if you are concerned that someone might be tracking your emails and website searches, perhaps use a computer other than your own to enquire about these webinars.)

Families in Global Transition (F.I.G.T.) Conference 2013
Do you have a personal history to share, a work philosophy, a special expertise, research findings, or strategies for successful international relocation? If so, then think about attending and speaking at next year's F.I.G.T. conference in Silver Spring, Maryland (March 22-23). If you are interested, the deadline for speaking proposals is September 10, so hurry here to get started on your proposal.

Blog Directory
Our Expat Women Blog Directory is still very active. New blogs are added all the time. If you have not submitted your expat blog yet, please consider doing so here. We would love to see it.

Twitter
Another channel that is still actively sharing expat headlines, social media tidbits, motivational quotes and tips from writers around the world is our/my Twitter account.

Thanks and best wishes for your week, Everyone,

Andrea (Martins)

Permits Foundation Looking For More Company Support From CEOs in India

Hi Everyone, Last week I finally had the pleasure of meeting Kathleen Van Der Wilk and her colleague Francoise van Roosmalen from the Permits Foundation.

Kathleen and Francoise are currently in need of more CEOs and local MDs in India to co-sign the executive summary they wish to present to the Indian authorities, with regards to the issue of employment visas for accompanying spouses, to demonstrate a wide basis of support among companies operating in India.

Do you know someone who could help? If yes, please urgently email Kathleen and Francoise. Many thanks.

Work Permits For Expatriate Partners

Hi Everyone, Items of note in today's Permits Foundation newsletter:

(1) Ireland: Employment Permit Regulations for Spouse and Dependants Tightened

"The Irish Department of Enterprise,Trade and Employment has announced new tighter measures for green card and work permit workers. They have also announced that with effect from 1st June, spouses of intra-company transferees and work permit holders will no longer be eligible for the special arrangements that previously allowed them to apply for a work permit for all occupations without a labour market test and application fee. The spouses of Green Card holders are not affected by the change. This means that it is worth using the Green Card scheme where possible (employee salary over euro 60,000 or shortage occupations with salary euro 30,000-59,999). Full details of the changes are published here. Details of the revised spouse and dependant regulations are given here. We are disappointed to report this change particularly in the light of the current review in the UK."

(2) Ireland: De Facto Partners Recognised

"On a positive note, the DETE recently announced that recognised facto partners may apply for an Employment Permit. Details here and here."

(3) Japan: Permits Foundation Steering Group Makes Initial Proposals to Cabinet Committee on “promoting highly skilled foreign nationals in Japan.’’

"We are pleased to report that our Japanese steering group has met with a high level committee of the Prime Minister’s Cabinet, which is conducting an investigation into “promoting highly skilled foreign nationals into Japan.”

This was an excellent first step to advocate a relaxation of spouse work permit regulations in Japan and was followed up by a brief written submission to the committee, which will conclude its investigations in June.

http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/index-e.html (Prime Minister’s Cabinet Office in English)
http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/jinzai/jitsumu/dai4/sankou.pdf (Permits Foundation submission in Japanese.)"

**

On a side note, the following is a great resource on the Permits Foundation site: Work Permits for Expatriate Partners - Country Summary (last updated January 2009) if you would like to know the current stance on this issue by each of the following entities:

• Argentina
• Australia
• Belgium
• Canada
• Denmark
• European Union
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Hong Kong
• Ireland
• Japan
• Malaysia
• The Netherlands
• Sweden
• United Kingdom
• United States

Thanks go to the Permits Foundation for all of their ongoing lobbying for expatriate partners!

Permits Foundation Survey - Expat Spouses/Partners - Can You Help?

Hello Everyone, Kathleen van der Wilk-Carlton from the Permits Foundation has written to us to ask for your help...

The Permits Foundation is an international non-profit corporate initiative to promote access of accompanying spouses and partners of international staff to employment through an improvement of work permit regulations.

They are running an online survey (until Sept 30) for expat spouses and partners, "to learn about your wishes in relation to employment, the challenges you face and possible solutions... you can take part if you are interested in working, whether or not you are working at present".

Kathleen:"the survey is a great opportunity for expat spouses to speak up and get their needs with respect to employment heard by employers and governments."

To help Kathleen and fill in the survey, please Click Here. Thank you.