Global Mobility Dispatches with Ray Rackham
Date: 20 October
Last week, Ireland’s Law Society Gazette highlighted the Workplace Relations Commission’s increasingly assertive approach to immigration compliance. Of the WRC’s 78 convictions in 2025, 60 arose under employment permit legislation.
It’s a striking statistic. But Ireland isn’t an isolated example. All countries have their own employer sanctions and sponsor compliance frameworks. With policy adjustments, statements of changes and Executive actions, these frameworks evolve and respond to changing public will, political sentiment and workforce dynamics. Something rather extraordinary is happening: governments are transitioning swathes of enforcement into the workplace.
So, how should talent and global mobility teams respond?
FIRST, MOVE FROM IMMIGRATION PROCESSING TO IMMIGRATION INTELLIGENCE.
We need a reliable, continuously updated picture of who is working where, under what conditions and with which permissions.
That means connectivity between immigration data and wider HR/corporate systems. The most effective mobility functions don’t simply process applications. They use technology, data and reporting to mitigate risk.
SECOND, BUILD COMPLIANCE INTO THE EMPLOYEE LIFECYCLE.
In 2009, I remember setting up a room in HSBC’s Canary Wharf HQ to do our “Annual Right to Work Review”. We ticked boxes. We were very pleased with ourselves. In 2026, this just isn’t sufficient.
Every aspect of employer lifecycle might have immigration consequences; and only a combination of clear ownership, documented processes, automated triggers and regular internal audits will address those consequences.
Ideally, the business should understand when their decisions create immigration obligations. To achieve this, talent mobility must build compliance into the business, not retrospectively impose it.
THIRD, MAKE THE EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE PART OF THE CONTROL FRAMEWORK.
Better compliance shouldn’t mean more bureaucracy for employees. Digital document management, transparent communications, self-service tools and proactive renewal processes can simultaneously strengthen compliance and improve the experience. The objective should be to make immigration obligations almost invisible to employees, without making them invisible to the business. After all, a system that employees understand and trust is more likely to secure their cooperation than one that treats them as a risk.
In framing out response around intelligence, lifecycle and experience, we have an opportunity to do something rather more sophisticated: combine technology, process and a genuinely human approach to compliance.
Parts of the border may now sit in talent mobility. But how we manage it is increasingly our decision.
