That is the fact everything else in this guide hangs off. It is also the fact most often reported wrongly, because the right in the statute and the mechanics in the LMRA's transfer service are not the same thing, and the mechanics are what actually happens on the day you try to move. The box below is the difference.
The rule that decides whether you can actually move, and the trap at the end
The LMRA's Expatriate Employee Transfer service works on a twelve month line drawn against your current work permit, not against your contract:
- Before you complete 12 months on the current permit: your new employer files the transfer, your current employer is notified through the Expat Management System, and the current employer may approve it outright, approve it at the end of your notice period, or reject it.
- After you complete 12 months on the current permit: the current employer may approve outright or approve at the end of notice, and if the employer does not respond within seven days the system approves the transfer for them once the notice period has run. Silence is consent.
- The trap: "If the transfer request is made within the last three months of the work permit's validity, the transfer will not be allowed unless the current employer consents." A two year permit that has four months left is a permit you can still move on. One with two months left is not.
Source: LMRA, Expatriate Employee Transfer, service page updated 9 September 2026, checked 20 September 2026. Notice is "30 days, or as specified in the employment contract, provided it does not exceed 90 days from the date of notifying the previous employer".
Two official LMRA pages do not read the same way on this. The older explanatory page on Article 25, last updated 14 October 2025, says a worker may transfer "only after completing at least one calendar year" with the current employer. The live transfer service page, last updated 9 September 2026, does not impose twelve months as an eligibility condition at all: it uses twelve months only to decide whether your employer keeps a veto. Trust the service page. It is the more recent of the two, it is the one the case officers work from, and it describes the outcomes the Expat Management System actually produces. LMRA pages 30 and 194, both checked 20 Sep 2026
The self-sponsorship route: what happened to the Flexi Permit, and what replaced it
