The Intra Company Transferee visa applies to corporate groups temporarily transferring their non-EU nationals, employees of a group of the company, to their Italian company.
Italian companies that are part of multinational groups with branches or headquarters registered abroad can choose to avail of the workforce employed by their foreign branches or headquarters instead of hiring local wor kers and using Intra Company Transferee Visas. They can do so by temporarily transferring the foreign worker to Italy through a secondment process.
What is Transfer?
A transfer is an action of moving money, people, or assets from one location to another, within the company but of different location .
A transfer is an act of changing the location of workers to another. In some situations, it’s the change that occurs in staff or workers based on the jobs or the duties allocated to them in the place of work. This word transfer is viewed from a different angle, pending on the area you are looking at.
Either the employers or the employees, changing their jobs locations or different company branches.
However, in this concept, we are looking at the company transfer. Therefore, let’s look at what this company transfer is all about.
What is a company Transfer?
Transfer of company is relocating the position or the environment of the company to a different destination. For example, if your company existed in the USA, you can change the location from the United States of America to Italy as a country. That is the transfer we are talking about.
What is Intra-company Tranfer?
An intra-company transfer is where a company reassigns an employee to work in a different physical office space. Many countries offer expedited processes to obtain travel visas and work permits for intra-company transfers if the applicant performs specific categories of work. These categories of work may include executives, managers, long-term employees, and those with specialized expertise.
What is Seconding non-EU workers through Intra Company Visa?
This notion of the secondment of non-EU workers was set by Italian Legislative Decree no. 276/2003. It refers to cases where an employer temporarily assigns a worker to another party to satisfy their business interest. This is for the execution of a specific work activity. Therefore, the secondment process entails cooperation among three parties:
- the employer (or sending company);
- the worker employed by the sending company;
- the Italian hosting company.
Eligibility for the Intra Company Transfer Visa in Italy:
The workers who will be temporarily seconded and are eligible for an Intra Company Transfer Visa are:
- The senior Staff might have served the company for eight years or above.
- Executives;
- Highly specialized workers (i.e., employees holding the mandatory and specialist know-how requested for the business area, techniques, and management of the hosting company);
- Trainees (i.e., employees holding a degree who transfer to Italy for their professional career or the acquisition of corporate methods and techniques).
Furthermore, the EU ICT Work Permit applies even to those workers who already possess an ICT work permit for another European country and are subsequently transferred to Italy.
On the contrary, such a permit does not apply to students who aim to complete short-term internships within their study course or to workers who transfer to Italy to provide services to companies. Different visas and work permits categories are available for these workers.
Intra-Company Visa Application Requirements:
For a successful immigration process in Intra-Company Transfer Visa, the company and the worker must comply with specific requirements and supply specific documents.
The Compulsory Requirements for the Company Transfer (for EU workers):
- The must be connectivity between the hosting company and the foreign sending company.
- There must be a secondment agreement between the sending company and the worker.
- The equipment for the company must be of standard.
- The company must be registered and recognized at home and in other European countries.
- The work activity in Italy must comply with the same local law provisions as an employee locally hired in the receiving company, as seen below:
- Maximum and minimum working hours permitted
- Minimum duration of the annual paid leaves
- Minimum wage level
- Health and safety in the workplace
- Payment of the due social security contributions
- Non-discrimination due to sex
The Compulsory Requirements for the Company Transfer (non-EU worker):
- The worker must have been employed abroad by the same company and in the same sector for at least six consecutive months before the transfer (3 in case of the EU ICT Work Permit);
- The worker must have the qualifications, professional experience, and educational degree suitable for the role. If the educational degree is issued in a foreign country, it must be correctly legalized in Italy. For further information on this, check out how the legalization of documents works.
- Another point is how will a secondment legally last? Under the National Intra-Company Work Permit, the worker can be on secondment for up to 5 years (including extensions), after which the hosting company can hire him locally. In the case of the EU ICT Work Permit, on the contrary, the secondment can last for up to 3 years (1 year in the case of trainees), after which the worker must return to the home country.
Application Process for the Italian Intra-Company Transfer Visa:
The general procedures to obtain a work permit and the correspondent residence permit are the following:
Work Permit application:
This is the Italian company or their authorized third party that applies. Processing time varies according to the Italian province, but it is, in general, up to 2 months;
Work Visa obtainment: after the work permit release, the worker shall apply for a work visa at the diplomatic representation in their country of origin. Processing time varies according to the Consulates and Embassies, but it is, in general, 15 days;
Entry to Italy and local registrations: within eight days of entry to Italy, the worker must report his entry to the local Immigration Office. The worker will attend an appointment to sign the relevant contract of stay (where applicable) and file the residence permit application;
Residence permit obtainment: The foreign shall attend the other two appointments in person—the first aims to release the biometrics, while the second aims to collect the final residence permit. Processing time for obtaining the final residence permit card is up to 2-6 months.
Consequences for noncompliance to the requirements:
The Italian Immigration Law provides for severe consequences in case of noncompliance. Specifically, if the authorities establish that the company or the employee does not comply with the law provisions, they can deny or revoke the work permit authorization. This may happen, for instance, if the authorities ascertain that the hosting company was set up with the sole purpose of facilitating the immigration of workers to Italy.
Furthermore, art 27-inquires of the Italian Immigration Law, foresees the application of the criminal sanctions specified under Art. 22, c.12 of the same Law. That is to say, imprisonment from 6 months to 3 years and fines of €5.000 for each employed worker. These can be increased per the same article in case of aggravating circumstances.
Read also Italy work visa here.
Bottom Lines:
Intra-Company Transfer Visa in Italy is an article that how a foreigner can have access on how to transfer their company to the country of Italy.
The article further explains the meaning of transfer, the meaning of company transfer, the meaning of intra-company transfer, the eligibility for company transfer visa, the compulsory requirements for non-European citizens, the compulsory requirements as well for European citizens, the application process, and consequences for non compliance with the requirements of this company transfer in the country of Italy.
