I know this question is very hard to answer as it is different from company to company. But lets say i get my education in my home country (Sweden), im going for a masters in computer science at KTH. Lets say that after the education i get a job at Ericsson in Stockholm and i work there for 2 years. In this case, what would be needed to transfer to another location (Ericsson Texas)? Would i need to be some super important guy in order to be eligible for a transfer? Do companies mainly transfer employees because they are needed in another location? Or could there be other reasons for it aswell? As the company have to sponsor the transfer with work visas i guess they gotta have a good reason for it? Could you simply just request a transfer to another location? Im mainly asking about transferring to another country.
You have a healthy understanding that it varies dramatically by company.
Some companies want to enable their employees to be mobile. My last company has a process by which you could transfer internally based simply on expressing interest, and not only would they help guide you through the process, but they would also pay for your legal fees to gain a visa, they would match your salary to the location you are going (i.e. if your $20,000 a year in SE Asia was worth $80,000 in spending power in the US Mid-Atlantic, your new salary would be $80k), AND they would pay your relocation costs as well as additional vacation to give you time to pack and move.
Other companies want their employees to set down roots and, therefore, don’t go out of their way to support movement, but they will almost certainly work with you if relocation is related to promotion (i.e. you qualify for promotion to the next level, and that position is open in a different country).
Other companies treat their organizations in different countries as completely different companies. If you work for a company out of its Stockholm office, you may report up to a Swedish CEO who has no relation to his U.S. counterpart. In this case, transferring internally may require an identical process as applying for a brand new external job.
At the end of the day, yes most companies will enable you to transfer across countries, assuming immigration issues can be addressed, but the process has varying levels of formality and financial backing.
I agree with chrisw. The company I was just hired into has a model that is a mix of the first two he described, where international opportunities are available fairly easily but there also needs to be a business reason (both from a development standpoint for the employee and a need for your skills in the new location) to send you to a new country. But expats are treated very well in terms of compensation and perks while they are abroad.
It really depends on the individual company.