Sending employees abroad is one of the first steps towards the global expansion of a business. And naturally, it presents some challenges. Plus, you have to decide whether to make it an expatriation or a temporary assignment. Hopefully, the following article will shed some light on this issue.
In contrast, sending employees abroad on expatriate assignments means that French Social Security will not cover them during the time of their stay. So, the expatriate employee would not be paying their contributions to the organization.
In the case of this expatriate assignment, the residence in the foreign country is fiscal. And the employee wouldn’t be on the payroll of his/her French employer. Rather, the new employer in the country of expatriation will be paying this salary.
However, if an employee desires, he or she may voluntarily maintain his or her relationship with French Social Security. They can do this via the Fund for French Nationals Abroad.
Differences between Temporary Assignment and Expatriation
Sending employees overseas can be done in two ways: You can either send them on a temporary assignment, or on an expatriation or secondment. As the French Social Security defines it, the distinction between the two exists. There might be some confusion regarding the differences. So let’s try to clear that up. An employee on a temporary assignment is referred to as ‘détaché’ by French Social Security. In such a case, the employee will be carrying out the assigned task on foreign ground on behalf of his employer while remaining on the payroll of the French employer. In other words, the French social security system will still be covering this employee who is at the time not working within France. So, he or she will continue to make their due contributions to society while they are away . Society determines the length of the temporary assignment. And it is not the same for every country. For example, within EU, if an employee goes on a temporary assignment to another European Union country, he or she can benefit from the Social Security of his or her home country for a maximum of two years (1 year, renewable one time). If the criteria allows, he or she may renew this stay once. Whereas in the case of a non-European-Union country, the length of stay depends on the agreement with that host country.