Cabinet decides on Wednesday: Traffic light plans points system for immigrants

Cabinet decides on Wednesday
Ampel plans points system for immigrants

In order to attract skilled workers from all over the world, the federal government is planning a points system based on Canada. According to the draft, anyone who already speaks German or works in shortage occupations should be allowed to enter the country without proof of a job.

With a points system based on the Canadian model, the federal government wants to allow immigrants to stay in Germany, even if they can’t show they have a job yet. According to the t-online portal, this emerges from the “key points on the immigration of skilled workers from third countries”, which the cabinet wants to decide on Wednesday. According to the 23-page paper, people with “good potential” should be able to “stay there to look for a job”. The government wants to decide who is eligible for such an “opportunity card” “on the basis of a transparent, unbureaucratic points system”.

According to the report, the paper goes on to say: “The selection criteria can include qualifications, language skills, professional experience, a connection to Germany and age.” T-online writes that it has not yet been explained exactly how the point system is supposed to work, whether weaknesses in one criterion can be compensated for by strengths in another. “Germany urgently needs skilled workers across all sectors,” says the introduction. “Therefore, all potential at home and abroad must be leveraged.” To this end, the federal government has identified three “pillars” on which it primarily wants to start. In addition to the “potential pillar” with the so-called opportunity card, there are the “skilled workers pillar” and the “experience pillar”.

In the “Skilled Workers Pillar”, for example, a “recognized qualification should in principle entitle you to any qualified employment in non-regulated professions”. The “Blue Card”, an EU instrument for the highly qualified, is intended to become “more immigrant-friendly” by lowering the salary limits that an applicant must meet. In the future, only “1.25 times the average annual gross salary” should be required as a regular salary limit. For occupations in which skilled workers are urgently needed (“bottleneck occupations”) and for job starters, “1.0 times the average annual gross salary” should be sufficient.

No funding yet

Skilled workers who are unable to present their documents for professional qualifications “for reasons for which they are not responsible” should be allowed to enter Germany in future to have their skills checked in Germany. The regulations on immigration, some with equivalent qualifications, are to be simplified and made more practicable.

In the “experience pillar”, under certain conditions, qualified people should be allowed to immigrate to work without formal recognition of their qualifications. In non-regulated professions, for example, “two years of proven professional experience in the profession” should be sufficient, provided that you have a professional or university degree. In addition, qualified persons should be able to work “in the professional context of the prospective target occupation” even during their recognition process.

The reform of the immigration of skilled workers, which also includes advertising and language courses abroad, has apparently not yet been financed. In the key points it says: “If the budget legislator does not provide additional funds, the measures that lead to expenditure in the federal budget can only be implemented if they are counter-financed within the individual plans of the respective departments.”

source site-34