Companies that transfer you, more often than not, usually help you in the transition process and ease matters as much as possible, especially with regards to arranging for work permits, accommodation and transporting your belongings. There are services experts that offer relocation services and your company may even hire them for you, on your own they may be a tad too expensive for you to afford.
Employees should know what your company should be giving you and what a comprehensive relocation package should contain, apart from the mandatory airfare and moving expenses.
Use this check list to see what your employer should cover:
Accommodation & Lodging: You should be receiving help in determining where you should be living. Your shifting to an alien country, requires safety and wellbeing precautions to be put in place before you shift. Your company should help you with the lease documents once you have approved of your new abode. Furnishings, fittings and telephone connections are all part of your employers duty.
The relocation compensation package may also include a housing allowance, depending on where you are living and how much it is costing you. Moreover, the company must assist you in whatever you want to do with your current home, i.e. lease it, sell it or if you had leased it, provide assistance in terminating the lease.
Children's Education: This is one reason that most employers dread being relocated. The children's education gets disrupted and finding good schools out of the country can be an onerous task. The company should help you locate and review international schools and arrange for enrollment.
Certification & Credentials: The Company should arrange for a legal consultant to arrange for Visas, work permits and other paperwork related to the shifting.
Funds & Investments: The Company should provide assistance in opening bank accounts, orientation on the new country's fiscal policies and banking systems and the country's currency and its worth and value compared to the US dollar.
Returning To The US: The Company should ideally, provide you with the services of a relocation services firm, to help you plan your repatriation back home. This will include everything from transporting of your belongings, to terminating leases, phone service and bank accounts. Other services, if you need them, may also be included.
If your job is likely to include relocation and there are chances of you being transferred to postings within and out of the country, learn about the company's relocation package thoroughly. What services will be provided? Will a relocation services firm be provided? Taking the help of relocation services companies, may cost you or your company some money, but it will liberate you from umpteen hassles and allow you to concentrate on smaller things like saying goodbye to old acquaintances and friends.
