A coming German law to make migration easier for non-EU skilled workers. The new law expected to take effect in November will make it easier for skilled workers from outside the EU to migrate to Germany.
A bill that intends to make it easier for talented employees from outside the EU to migrate to the country received approval from the German government in July 2023, with a portion of the regulation anticipated to go into effect in November this year.
The law is anticipated to take effect in 3 stages between November 2023 and June 2024, according to the government, which announced this after it was approved.
According to visa-guru.com, this means that some portions of the bill would allow skilled employees from other countries to travel to Germany will go into effect in less than a month, enabling work migration and addressing the labor shortage.
The German authorities have emphasized that the existing criteria for competent professionals with university degrees would also be reduced, even though the amendments to the Skilled Immigration Act will primarily focus on employees from non-EU countries with non-academic expertise.
The introduction of an “opportunity card” is one of Germany’s strategies for addressing the labor deficit, according to Euronews.
The opportunity card will employ a points system to make it easier for people with the necessary skills to relocate to Germany. Qualifications, age, professional experience, knowledge of the German language, and ties to Germany will all be taken into account by this point-based system.
Once received, the card will act as a residency permit. Every year, Germany will set quotas based on the industries that need workers, and individuals desiring to immigrate must satisfy three of the four requirements mentioned below to be eligible for the program:
- The candidate has a degree or vocational training;
- He has 3 years of professional work experience;
- He possesses German language proficiency or documentation of prior residence in Germany;
- He is not more than 35 years old.
The opportunity card will also enable individuals to enter Germany and hunt for employment there rather than applying abroad. Professional qualifications will also be recognized under more relaxed restrictions by the adjustments Germany proposes to implement.
Additionally, skilled job seekers with degrees or other credentials will be allowed to remain in the nation for up to a year to look for employment. Foreigners will be allowed to work up to 20 hours a week while they search for full-time employment.
Along with the aforementioned benefits, workers will find it simpler to bring their family to Germany. Additionally, it will be simpler for them to obtain residence. The program’s specifics have not yet been formalized. The opportunity card, on the other hand, is not anticipated to be made available until the end of this year, which means that the majority of the facilitated rules will begin to apply as of the second phase, which is anticipated to go into effect in March.
With the draft law, the existing salary thresholds for regular and bottleneck occupations would be noticeably lowered using the leeway offered by the corresponding EU directive. In addition, a low minimum salary threshold will be created for job starters with an academic degree, which will make it easier for those starting out to work. In the future, an EU Blue Card will also be issued to persons entitled to international protection who have received their protection status in Germany or another EU member state. Changes of employer would be simplified for holders of such a card, and regulations for exercising short- and long-term intra-EU mobility in Germany would also be created for holders of an EU Blue Card that was issued in another EU member state. In addition, family reunification with holders of an EU Blue Card and obtaining a permit for permanent residence will be made easier.
Read here for more details about category-wise visa requirements.