With Canadian points system
Traffic light wants to accelerate qualified immigration
06/23/2023, 07:49 am
The shortage of skilled workers runs through almost all sectors in Germany. At the same time, many people are not allowed to work for reasons of residence law. The traffic light now wants to change that with the amendment to the Skilled Immigration Act and hopes for more qualified immigration.
Since March 2020, Germany has had a Skilled Immigration Act. The law was passed by the black-red coalition to facilitate the influx of qualified workers from non-EU countries. It is now to be reformed because there is still a lack of staff in many places. This amendment to the law is flanked by a second proposed law by the traffic light government. This should help young people to find an apprenticeship. At the same time, this draft provides more support for workers at risk of losing their jobs. The most important questions and answers:
What should change in the Skilled Immigration Act?
What is new is the introduction of a so-called opportunity card based on a points system. This was an important concern for the FDP in particular. The selection criteria for immigrants willing to work who choose this path include language skills, work experience, age and connection to Germany. Canada has been doing this in a similar form for many years.
In addition, IT specialists should also be allowed to come if they do not have a university degree but can prove certain qualifications. Because there is a particularly large lack of skilled workers here. But they are urgently needed if Germany is not to fall even further behind in digitization. Asylum seekers who entered the country before March 29, 2023 and have a qualification and a job offer should – if they withdraw their asylum application – be able to apply for a residence permit as a skilled worker. Until now, you first had to leave the country and then apply for a work visa from abroad. Anyone who comes to Germany as a highly qualified specialist from a non-EU country should in future not only be allowed to bring their spouse and children with them, but also their parents and parents-in-law. However, the prerequisite for family reunification is that the livelihood of the relatives is secured. Parents cannot apply for social benefits.
Who benefits?
Companies that cannot fill positions and therefore have to accept economic losses. Qualified workers from abroad who are hoping for a higher salary and better career opportunities in Germany. For people who would actually have to leave Germany, it is becoming easier to get a secure place to stay through training or by taking up a job as a specialist.
What are the chances of success?
The fact that the Skilled Immigration Act of 2020 did not have the desired effect was also due to the corona pandemic, which restricted international mobility. In addition, the bureaucratic effort for foreigners who want to come to Germany as migrant workers is still high. The process is so complex that the job seeker or the company in Germany will eventually give up and reorient themselves, the head of a Tunisian employment agency recently reported to Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser during her visit to the North African country. The German embassies and consulates are a bottleneck. There you sometimes have to wait a long time for an appointment to apply for a visa.
What’s next?
The special representative for migration agreements, Joachim Stamp, should also be given the opportunity to offer individual countries certain quotas for employment migration to Germany. That already exists for the Western Balkan countries. No special qualification would be necessary here, only an employment contract. In return, these states should cooperate better in taking back their nationals who are required to leave Germany.
During the lengthy negotiations between the coalition partners on this law, the now well-known pattern emerged once again, that the FDP and the Greens get caught up in one another and the SPD is the moderator in the middle. The SPD would have liked to bring the reform into parliament together with the planned amendment to the citizenship law. But the FDP in particular did not entirely agree with the proposals that were initially on the table. It was therefore decided to tackle the amendment to the Skilled Immigration Act in parallel with the changes to the funding of training and further education. Also to show that the traffic light does not just want to solve the problems on the labor market through migration.
What is the purpose of the Education and Training Act?
Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil regularly emphasizes that “all stops” must be pulled out in order to attract workers, including in Germany. Example of training: Many companies are looking for trainees, and at the same time thousands of applicants remain without an apprenticeship position every year. A “mobility subsidy” for two free family trips per month should make it easier in the future to accept apprenticeships that are further away. Something similar is also planned for internships for career orientation after school: the Federal Employment Agency can in future cover travel costs to the internship location and also accommodation costs if the internship is further away from the parental home. If young people cannot find an in-company training place, they should be offered training outside of the company.
And what should happen when it comes to further training?
A “qualification allowance” is planned here, a wage replacement that the Federal Employment Agency is to pay. It is intended for employees “who are particularly at risk of losing their job as a result of the transformation of the working world, but for whom further training can enable future-proof employment in the same company,” says the explanatory text to the law. The Federal Ministry of Labor mentions, for example, the car industry by switching from combustion engines to electric drives. It is also planned to give small and medium-sized companies more support in further training by fully covering the course costs.