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Mediaforum Media Forum Stuttgart

The 12 Media Forum Immigration held at SWR in Stuttgart, looked at 50th anniversary of the Recruitment Accord between Germany and Turkey, the Sarrazin controversy as well as the current effects on European immigartion and refugee policy of the political unrest in the Arab world. [mehr zu: Media Forum Stuttgart]

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Skills shortage Blue Card: future course has been set

The federal government has agreed on a draft bill that will put into German law an EU directive from 2009 which eases the immigration of highly-skilled workers. The so-called “blue card” can then be issued from next year onwards, providing both houses of parliament, the Bundestag and Bundesrat, agree to the proposals.

Skilled migrants needed to plug shortfall

American model

The European "Blue Card" has taken the American "Green Card" as a model, whereby skilled-workers are able to acquire an unlimited right to residence in the USA. The German bill takes occupation as the decisive criterion for the granting of a Blue Card.In around 60 professions where there is a dearth of specialist workers as in such areas as natural sciences and technology an envisaged annual salary of €33,000 will be sufficient to obtain a “Blue Card”.

Positions offering salaries from €44,000 upwards can be given to university graduates without going through the procedure of “priority review”, that is of ascertaining if a native German is qualified to take up the position. After three years in the job they are then entitled to an unlimited right of residence.

An annual income of €48,000 would entitle an immigrant to an unlimited right of stay.

Different assessments in industry and from the opposition

The Federal Employers Association, believes that the changes in the immigration law and the lowering of the minimum salary limits are essential in making Germany more attractive for highly-qualified workers from all over the world.

Currently a university graduate from a non-EU country has to show a starting salary of at least €66,000 to be entitled to a right of residence in Germany. The Green Party have criticized the new measures as not going far enough. The Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) has also attacked the new restrictions and proposals, the DIHK managing director Martin Wansleben calling them “the wrong way to send a clear welcoming signal".

Not just recruit but keep over the long-term

In the Federal Republic the starting salaries for university graduates lie substantially under €66,000. The planned lower starting salary figure is also intended to keep those foreign skilled workers trained at German universities in the country.

In addition, the cabinet has decided that Bulgarian and Romanian university graduates can come to work in Germany.