Episode 89: On global mobility and cat cafés

Episode 89 – On global mobility and cat cafés

This episode of the BAL Immigration Report is brought to you by BAL, the corporate immigration law firm that powers human achievement through immigration expertise, people-centered client services and innovative technology. Learn more at BAL.com.

In this week’s episode, BAL’s Gabriel Castro and Kristi Ngo discuss a recent end-of-summer event they attended with a group of global mobility professionals — and understanding what global mobility means. Plus, the latest immigration news.

From Dallas, Texas, I’m Rebecca Sanabria.

Although it is integral to the logistics of hiring foreign nationals, global mobility is not limited to the realm of employment-based immigration — and it’s more than just relocating individuals around the world.

So what exactly is global mobility, and what do global mobility professionals do?

Gabriel Castro, BAL senior associate and head of its Los Angeles office, and Kristi Ngo, a BAL associate in the Los Angeles office, join us to discuss what they learned at a gathering for global mobility professionals, including event highlights and what global mobility really involves.

Castro: So Kristi, we just got back from a boat trip.

Ngo: Yes.

Castro: We were invited on a boat trip by the Southern California Relocation Council. How was the experience on the boat? Was it smooth sailing?

Ngo: Don’t. Don’t even. I have motion sickness and I took two Dramamines. It was, uh, that was an experience. But the energy of the room, just getting to enjoy the people who were there, that made me forget the motion sickness and the seasickness.

Castro: I was right there with you. I took one Dramamine, not two, but I still needed it because it was a choppy day on the waters. Luckily we did have great company from professionals throughout the Southern California area to keep us engaged and keep our mind off of the motion of the waters.

Kristi, what is the Southern California Relocation Council?

Ngo: The Southern California Relocation Council is your local regional relocation professionals in the Southern California area.

Castro: So relocation professionals, they’re practicing a lot of global mobility but a little bit more. I did look up what global mobility even means, because I think as an immigration attorney, I was very focused on what we were doing every day and I didn’t consider all of these other things that go into the mobility world. But global mobility is defined as an HR function that enables companies to transfer employees across borders from one location to another. As I mentioned, this is all relocation, so it’s not just across borders but moving someone from one city to the next. And so we were able to meet relocation professionals from throughout the Southern California region.

Ngo: I’m with you on that. When I first started attorney SCRC events, I only thought of like, “Oh, us — we’re one portion of the entire relocation process.” And it’s a very cohesive, holistic process to get everyone over because, yeah, we’ll get them the visa, but then what?

Castro: What are some of the other areas that that are covered under relocation?

Ngo: Housing, temporary housing, permanent housing. Moving their stuff is certainly a big one.

Castro: What about tax, mortgage services? I don’t even — it’s pretty tough.

Ngo: You have banking, finance.

Castro: Banking and finance, right. I saw at one conference a pet moving company. They called themselves a pet travel agency. I thought that was pretty clever. I think I really like your term, “moving their stuff.” I believe that is the official term, the technical term.

I really appreciate the events the SCRC are able to put on, and this is something that’s really great about BAL and being able to go out into the community and interact with other members of the global mobility relocation space. I know immigration is such a big, important part of that, but it’s great to see what else lies out there. I’m always very happy to do these events.

Ngo: Yeah, they’re genuinely a great group that care about their clients and the people that they help. And it becomes almost like a reunion every time you go to an event and I’m like, “Hey, how’s it going? How’s your family?” So I look forward to it every time.

Castro: Yeah, it’s almost a community.

Ngo: It certainly is community. It’s a very tight-knit community

Castro: That’s the beautiful thing about the global mobility network is you engage with people from all over this wonderful function of HR. You’re dealing with people that are “moving stuff,” as Kristi liked to put it, but also you’re working with people that are tax professionals, accounting professionals, mortgage providers, people that are doing short-term housing, long-term housing. It’s a vast array of professionals that understand the relocation field and are experts in what they do.

There were some activities at this event. Kristi, what did we do?

Ngo: Let’s see. First off, we had a wonderful speaker who discussed about upscaling for global mobility professionals, assessing themselves, figuring out where they may want to move within their own industry or outside of their industry.

Castro: I really appreciated the talk that we listened to. She specifically had suggestions for improving your elevator pitch. I remember this is the first person I’ve ever seen who actually recommended limiting it down to almost nothing. It was a very question-focused elevator pitch in the sense that you should start with your name, maybe just your industry or your organization’s title, and then ask what that person sees in terms of issues in that industry. And then you pivot to what their needs are and can work with them on answering that — and that way, you’re not ranting on a bunch of stuff that that person might not even care about or might not even be pertinent to them. So you really learn what they’re looking for before you really start to make that pitch.

Ngo: I appreciated it because she was very clear: Do not memorize your pitch. That is something that I do. I get nervous and then I try to memorize and then I’m like, “What did I say?” And just knowing that you’ve got to go natural. You listen — you listen to what they’re saying, and then you have a dialogue, a conversation with them based on their needs. And that’s how you are most effective — when you’re authentic.

Castro: Yeah, actually, really love the do-not-memorize thing because personally I thought you had to memorize the elevator pitch, and I hate memorizing anything. I’m so good at just spurting off the top of my head, and I really hate having to follow a script. That’s why they put us on this one, this podcast — we get to just talk.

The speaker also ran us through a training on career assessment. She suggests evaluating your career to make sure you’re in the right career once every six months, which I do think might be a lot, but she was also kind of a recruiter, so she might have had a different set of interests there. But she was very good about asking us to identify things that we were good at, things that we liked, and even asked us to write down some of our dream job scenarios.

Kristi, what was your dream job?

Ngo: I want to run a cat rescue/cat cafe.

Castro: Cat cafe. I love it. Mine was be on a podcast, so this is kind of a of a very good convenience here, that BAL allows me to do this part of my job, so I do appreciate that.

She was actually pretty good about encouraging people to find ways to look into ways that could pursue these dream job scenarios, and was very realistic about it and sort of put small steps that could lead people in the right direction. Again, I didn’t need that direction because I’m on a podcast, I’m making my dream come true right now. But others did, and she was very supportive — one of the better speakers I’ve seen at an event like this, for sure.

Ngo: I agree. I think it was very eye-opening as well — just focusing on not only the things that you’re good at but the things that you enjoy, because something that you’re good at, you may not necessarily enjoy it. She also brought up this scenario where someone she’s been working with for years was doing a job he was just not good at and kept aspiring at it and failing every time because he was missing the skills necessary for the job. And when he realized that, he switched his role into and to something that did foster his attributes and his skills and is now thriving. She was very good at pushing not only the things you’re good at, things that you enjoy, but also, as you mentioned, how to realistically achieve it — rather than just having a dream, creating the steps in order to achieve those dreams.

Castro: Kristi, what’s something you’re good at and that you enjoy?

Ngo: Research. I love doing legal research. I love putting a little puzzle together.

Castro: Something that I’m good at and that I enjoy is definitely communication, and so it’s kind of the opposite of that. It’s exactly what gets us — that’s why we work together so well: Kristi, you do the research, I do the talking, and that’s how we achieve success.

For more insights on global mobility, visit Immigration News at BAL.com.

And now, the top U.S. and global immigration news.

Due to a U.S. district court’s preliminary injunction, the Department of Labor will delay implementing revised H-2A job order and application forms associated with the Farmworker Protection Rule until further notice.

The Farmworker Protection Rule was enacted in June and intended to strengthen protections for temporary nonimmigrant agricultural workers.

In global news, reforms under Ireland’s Employment Permits Act of 2024 that took effect on Sept. 2 include a new employment permit for seasonal workers, streamlining its labor market testing processes and modifying its “change of employer” rules.

Canada’s immigration authority has ended a temporary public policy introduced in 2020 that allowed visitors to apply for a work permit from within Canada as part of overall efforts to preserve the integrity of the immigration system.

Teaser

Find all of our news at BAL.com/news. Follow us on X at @BAL_Immigration. And sign up to receive daily immigration updates in your inbox at BAL.com/newsletter.

We’ll be back next week with more insights from the world of corporate immigration.

I’m Rebecca Sanabria. Thanks for listening.

Copyright

The BAL Immigration Report is provided by BAL. Copyright 2024 Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP. All rights reserved. Digital redistribution to the public is permitted only with express written permission of Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP. This report does not constitute legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship. Visit bal.com for more information.