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Germany’s New Work Visa Immigration Law

In its latest Parliament session, Angela Merkel’s government has been able to have the new immigration law passed on 9 May 2019 even after a heated debate. Germany’s new work visa immigration law opens the doors for skilled workers of non-EU countries to not only get a job offer and work here, but it also allows skilled workers to get a job seekers visa to come to Germany to find the job.

Interior Minister, Horst Seehofer presented the draft law and told the Parliament about its details and whom would it allow to come to Germany and work and under what conditions.

Germany is seriously facing a shortage of skilled workers in different occupations. According to an estimate, it may face a shortage of workers for up to 3 million by 2030. This is surprisingly a high number but surely there are many reasons for that, especially more and more aged people and less birth rate. Taking into consideration these issues, Germany government first announced this new immigration law on 02.10.2018 to overcome the shortage of skilled workers. Which was later on approved by the ‘Government Cabinet’ on 19 December 2018.

They announced, ‘the immigration policy is based on Canadian immigration model where priority will be given to skilled professionals with good qualification, level of professional experience, German/English language skills and age factor’. One thing that makes it different from the Canadian immigration model that it will be a non-points based system.

Key Points of the new immigration law

Germany’s new immigration law mainly brings the following changes into the old immigration system:

  • Suspension of the checks if there are available workers either in Germany or EU countries for the applied job of the foreigners. This will surely help to make the job offer process faster and more vocational and skilled jobs would be open for non-EU workers.
  • The previously exercised norm, immigration only for highly skilled ‘Academically Qualified’ persons is to be joined by the vocationally skilled workers. This will help even diploma holders and ones with having professional experience in skilled work to count.
  • Under some restrictions, students will be able to come to Germany to attend vocational training courses.

What about the law for Asylum Seekers

Labour Minister Hubertus Heil also defended Government’s other proposed immigration law for asylum seekers. Through this new law, the asylum seekers who could not be deported from Germany would be able to enjoy the longer ‘Tolerated Stay’ (beschäftigungsduldung) for up to 2 years. This will release upon them the fear of deportation.

Asylum seekers with already having ‘Duldung’ would be able to apply for this new visa having had 20 hours regular work per week for the last 18 months and knowledge of German.

The ones having had vocational training (Ausbildung) acquired would also be able to apply for a tolerated stay.

Who will be able to benefit from this program?

All Non-EU citizens having a skilled occupation will be able to get benefit from this new law. There will be more chances for them now to get settled (PR) in Germany after passing a few initial years in Germany. They may well be able to bring their family members as well upon a successful stay in Germany.

How to check the in-demand list of professions?

Germany also issues every year in-demand occupations white list that let the applicants know if they can apply for a certain category of their own interest. Some of these list jobs are:

  • Carpentry, roller shutter, and blind construction
  • Software development
  • Construction professions in plumbing (without specialization)
  • Professions in sanitary, heating and air conditioning

Check here the complete in-demand list of workers

Who can apply?

For these jobs, anyone having either higher educational qualification or vocational level education can apply. Main thing is that you must check before applying if your occupation is available in this list or not. Even if it does not exist in this list, do not worry, check with the passage of time as the list is updated from time to time with the demand in the market.

It is always advised to get a statement of comparability for your acquired qualification outside Germany. This makes it easier for the employer to consider your educational level and work experience you gained. The same applies to those who have acquired vocational qualifications instead of a proper degree to get it recognized in Germany. This will make sure that how you will be able to qualify for a certain job. Some occupations are properly regulated and for this such recognition, documentation is a must. However such are not so, for example, IT, Marketing or management jobs. Following are the respected authorities that provide you such certifications:

ZAB (organization for degree qualification recognition) Click here to open

Organization for Vocational Qualification recognition, Click here to open

How to find jobs in Germany?

You may well be able to find jobs in Germany while lying in your bed! How? Well, this is not that complicated. There are a lot of job portals in Germany that provide online job listings every day. These job postings are up to date and of good companies. Find below a way to find jobs either through government job portals or private job portals:

The government recognized job portals

Private job portals

Check here to check our complete guide for how to find English Jobs in Germany.

How to apply for jobs?

It is really important to apply for jobs online properly. Since you are not personally available in Germany for the employer, so your job application must be really good in order to have a good impact on the employer. You must apply for the job as advised in the online job posting. Some companies ask for a paper-based written job application that you can send them through the post. Some ask for applying through email and some through online portals (mostly used way nowadays). In all cases, you must make sure to add the following documents:

  • Cover letter
  • CV
  • Educational Certificates
  • Any professional references
  • Work experience proof

How to write a Cover letter?

Writing a convincing cover letter is not that difficult as it often considered to be. In your cover letter, you must give the company a first
impression of yourself. You should also explain why you are interested in the post and do describe your own strengths (true facts only). Do not forget to express yourself convincingly to set yourself apart from the other candidates.

Click here to online make a cover letter in a few minutes

How to write a CV?

Who denies the role of a curriculum vitae in acquiring a job? You must write a good CV to expect for a good reply from your intended employer. Before writing a CV, do remember the following things:

  • mention your personal and professional career
  • your CV does not have to be written out in full(include just main details)
  • you can list the most salient information in the form of a table (latest information such as work experience must be written first)
  • in Germany, applicants must include a photo of themselves in their CV

Click here to make a good CV online in a few minutes according to German CV patterns