Anticipated EU-Blue Card Reform to overcome the shortage of skilled workers in Germany
Germany is facing enormous hardships for obtaining skilled workers especially in the ‘STEM – fields’ (Science, technology, engineering & mathematics) and medical sector.
The new regime is actively introducing contemporary measures to overcome the scarcity of skilled workers.
Therefore, since the implementation of ‘The skilled immigration Act, 2020’ (hereinafter referred as ‘Act 2020’) the laws pertaining to the skilled workers immigration particularly with regards to ‘EU Blue Card Reform’ has been curtailed once again.
In the following, we will discuss the new anticipated EU Blue Card Reform which would potentially reduced the bureaucracy workload in Germany.
Two years of Act 2020: Preliminary assumption drawn by BAMF
In march 2020, the previous German regime promulgated the Act 2020 for attracting qualified immigrants from all over the world. Since the enforcement of the Act 2020 there are many questions raised by supporters and critics; whether this law really helps as it promised?
Results are quite disappointing if we look into statistics. As per the DIHK (Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce) survey report in 2021[1], almost 51% of the companies faced bureaucratic hurdles and therefore, were not been able to fill the vacancies up with suitable skilled workers for a longer period of time, which in fact sharply risen by 19% as compare to the last year.
According to several studies by private and government sectors, Germany would require around 260,000 new qualified skilled workers with great potential to increase up to 400,000 workers every year. Even The Head of the BA ( Federal Employment Agency), Detlef Scheele, said that ‘soon there will be a shortage of skilled workers everywhere in Germany and that can only be solved by qualifying unskilled workers and people whose jobs have been lost due to technical change– and above all by bringing immigrants into the country’,[2]
- Expectation and reality: Huge Immigration expectations from the Act 2022 significantly contrast with mere 30,000 skilled worker visas issued by German foreign offices across the globe from march 2020 to 2021. Although, The Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge (Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, hereinafter referred as ‘BAMF’) took a shelter of Covid 19 for this stagnation but highlights the importance of skilled immigration and emphasized that irrespective of strict border controls more visas should have been granted. As per BAMF, more than 100,000 consultations for skilled immigration had been conducted via telephone or written applications in the last 2 years and those consultations were not only on individual level but also on institutional level as well.
Anticipated policies by this coalited Government:
In light of the above mentioned situation new coalition government has to face many major challenges.
Therefore, current regime is very keen to introduce a necessary ‘paradigm shift’ in migration policies in order to boost immigration of qualified skilled workers form non-European countries.
- Simple and less administrative procedure:
One of the utmost priority of the current German regime is to introduce less bureaucratic, simple, fast-track and time effective visa issuance procedures for non-European citizens.
For attaining these targets, this Government is strongly focused to digitalize the Visa application procedure, reducing administrative work and making accountable to respective authorities for granting residence permits.
- Recognition of foreign degrees:
All the necessary steps for the recognition of foreign degree without any legal consultation are under consideration for providing ease to the public at large in the future.
- Opportunity card:-
A new residence title is also expected to be launched very soon under the name of ‘Opportunity Card’ which will enable skilled-workers to enter into the German market even without a concrete job offer.
For making opportunity card more effective, a ‘point system’ based on ‘Canadian model’ will be introduced and all the potential qualified skilled worker applicants will be evaluated mere on the basis of past work experience, level of education and on language know-how.
Upcoming EU Blue Card Reform:
New federal government announced the extension of the EU Blue Card Reform for the admission of non-academic professions into National law for filling up the shortage of skilled workers, until now, which was only restricted to highly qualified professionals from non-EU states for accessing the German labor market.
Moreover, in the beginning of 2022 minimum salary threshold was also reduced by 0.7% : which indicates the slight reduction in the minimum annual gross salary requirements for the STEM fields.
Germany is keen to implement new EU Blue Card Reform for qualified skilled workers immigration and issuing of EU Blue Card Reform with fewer requirements than before.
However, Germany is already ranked first with 84.5% when it comes to issuing EU Blue Card Reform in the European Union.
Today, the issue of lack of skilled workers is not only limited to Germany but also the propelling issue of European union level.
Therefore, the European Union is also adopting new EU Blue Card Reform with regards to issuance of EU Blue Card Reform with more abridged conditions for non-European states.
Now the question is how these EU Blue Card Reform will applied in the German immigration law? It remains yet to be seen. As approval of the reforms are highly anticipated,
Not just by the general public, but KLA as well, we assure our valuable readers that we are on a constant lookout for all relevant developments, and will be updating you all as soon as new enactments will be introduced.
Our readers are, therefore, recommended to stay connected with our blog to know all the latest happenings!
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[1] https://www.dihk.de/en/ahk-world-business-outlook-spring-2021-51000
[2] https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/german-labour-chief-says-germany-needs-400000-skilled-immigrants-yearly-to-tackle-skilled-workers-shortage/
