European Directive on intra-corporate transfers to the EU

Combined residence and work permit to be available for executives, specialists and trainees who are temporarily being transferred from outside of the EU to a European entity of their employer's group. On 15 May 2014 Directive 2014/66/EU was adopted. This Directive obliges EU Member States (excluding the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark) to provide a combined residence and work permit for intra-group transfers by the end of 2016. This is the first work permit that will allow its holders under certain conditions to work in multiple Member States for entities belonging to the same group and located in different EU Member States.

The permit will allow the holder to temporarily reside in the Member State that issues the permit and to work there for an entity belonging to the same group as his/her foreign employer. The family members of the employee will also receive a right of residence and a fundamental right to work. Furthermore the Directive provides a right to reside and to work in EU Member States other than the one that issued the permit for 90 days during a period of 180 days (possibly on condition of giving prior notice), for an entity that belongs to the same group as the foreign employer. For longer periods a new application will presumably need to be submitted.
The scope of the Directive is limited to executives, specialists and trainees who have already been employed by their foreign employer for a certain period of time. The total duration of the permit amounts to a maximum of three years for executives and specialists and to maximum one year for trainees. Permit holders will in any case need to receive the same salary as domestic employees with a comparable position. With regard to the other employment conditions the same rules apply as for employees who are being transferred inside of the EU.
The decision to grant a permit should in principle be made within 90 days after submitting the application. The Member States are free to provide simplified procedures for entities, companies or groups that have obtained a specific recognition.

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The Directive must be transposed into Belgian law by 29 November 2016. We will of course keep you updated on further developments in this regard.