New Delhi, Aug. 25 -- Taking up an overseas assignment can change how your provident fund is treated. Under EPFO rules, certain employees working across countries are classified as International Workers (IWs), with provisions that differ from those applicable to regular EPF members.

An IW broadly includes an Indian employee who has worked or is going to work in a country with which India has a Social Security Agreement (SSA). It also includes a foreign national holding a non-Indian passport and working for an establishment in India covered by EPF law.

Nepalese and Bhutanese nationals are treated as Indian workers under EPF rules and are therefore not classified as IWs.

There is no minimum stay requirement for an eligible foreign nation...