Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/227268
Relocation Challenging Locations Source: 2013 Global Relocation Trends report Brookfield Global Relocation Services As previous years, China, Brazil, and India capped the list of countries with the most challenges for international assignees, reported by 16 percent, 12 percent, and 11 percent of respondents respectively. For Brazil, executives overwhelmingly noted immigration complexities and timing as posing challenges, whereas for China and India cultural and family adaptation, and quality of life issues were more predominant. The United States was fourth in the list of countries most commonly presenting challenges for international assignees. In the verbatim comments, respondents cited immigration regulations, taxation, and difficulty obtaining transportation without a credit record as common issues. Russia rounded out the top five locations, with immigration and cultural adaptation flagged as key challenges. [38] HRO TODAY MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2013 As companies push into a more diverse set of destinations and thereby support international assignments to a growing number of emerging markets, the number of countries being noted as challenging locations for assignments is also expanding. For example, Qatar, Romania, and the Philippines were countries that did not appear on previous years' reports but were reported by respondents as locations posing challenges to assignees. Immigration, security, quality of life, and housing are all areas that can pose considerable difficulties for international assignees. These difficulties can be exacerbated when program managers face parallel challenges in those countries, such as currency restrictions, changing regulations, and complex tax and legal issues. As the landscape of international assignments continues to grow in complexity companies will mostly take steps to better understand and prepare themselves and their candidates for what lies ahead.