The Blue Card – based on US Green Card – is a residence and work permit that enables citizens of states outside of the European Union (EU) to legally reside and to take on highly qualified employment in an EU member state. It is limited in time from one to four years and is the implementation of the basic principles according to which the migration of highly qualified workers will be controlled in the European Union in future.
The EU states have at present an unsatisfied demand for highly qualified workers, which will become even greater in future due to demographic changes.[2] To help Europe compete successfully for engineers, programmers and other specialists, the president of the European Commission José Barroso and the former Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security Franco Frattini introduced the idea of a Blue Card, which was intended to implement common recruitment policies EU-wide for highly qualified workers. Through simplified admission procedures and a harmonisation of the conditions for entry and residence throughout the EU, Europe was intended to become more attractive in comparison to the classical immigration countries, the US, Canada and Australia, and to attract more workers from other countries to pursue highly qualified jobs in the EU member states. In May 2009 the EU states agreed on the introduction of the Blue Card, which regulates the migration of highly qualified specialists from third countries EU-wide.
Directive 2009/50/EC applies to highly qualified citizens of third countries that apply for admission to the territory of a member state in order to work longer than three months.
Requirements for the receipt of a Blue Card are
The Blue Card allows its holders equal treatment – in terms of social and employment law – with the citizens of the host country and authorizes the holders to bring in members of their family. It is temporary – limited to one to four years – with the possibility of extension. After an 18-month stay in the country, the card holders can apply for work in another EU country of their choice. The new target country decides on whether a work permit is issued or not. After five years a Blue Card holder can receive an unlimited residence permit.
The Blue Card does not entitle the holder to receive social benefits. It can be withdrawn if the holders do not have sufficient funds to support themselves or their family members without having to rely on state social benefits. Also with longer term unemployment the Blue Card loses its validity.[4]
With the introduction of the Blue Card the immigration rules of the national governments – also the right of the individual country to determine how many third-country nationals may enter the country with a Blue Card – remain unaffected. The individual EU states also decide independently on the possibility of migration into their country – European immigration quotas are not established.
From 2013 on, the EU member states will provide the European Commission with statistical data on the number, citizenship and professions of the third country nationals to whom a Blue Card has been given, extended or withdrawn.
Whether the Directive is successfully implemented and leads to making European countries more attractive for specialists from third countries is doubtful. This is because the Blue Card does not grant its holders access to the EU labour market as a whole. It does not replace already existing national procedures in the member states for the migration of highly qualified workers but offers the members an additional possibility for the recruitment of specialists from third countries. Every EU country may decide whether it will only grant national work and residency permits or whether it applies the Blue Card model. The national procedures remain intact and are not replaced by the Blue Card-regulations. In Germany it is expected that the national regulation, the Labour Migration Control Law , will continue to play a leading role.
[1] Denmark, Great Britain and Ireland do not participate in the Directive. They fear that the Blue Card-regulation would conflict with their national migration laws. These countries control the migration of highly qualified workers with a point system that defines the qualitative demands placed on the immigrants. Here the target countries assign points for particular qualities and knowledge of the applicants according to the priorities of their immigration policies. Whoever reaches a certain number of points is allowed to immigrate. [2] In a survey carried out by the DIHK in July 2010 among approximately 1,600 German enterprises 70 percent of the companies complained of general or at least partial problems in finding suitable specialists for their vacant positions. [3] In professions that have a great need for third-country nationals, the EU countries can lower the salary threshold for employment by 1.2 times. [4] Unemployment may not last longer than three consecutive months or may occur more than once during the period of validity of the Blue Card.
Document of the European Union: Directive 2009/50/EC “On the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purposes of highly qualified employment”
Law enacted by the German Bundesrat, Drucksache 861/08: Gesetz zur arbeitsmarktadäquaten Steuerung der Zuwanderung Hochqualifizierter und zur Änderung weiterer aufenthaltsrechtlicher Regelungen (Arbeitsmigrationssteuerungsgesetz)
DIHK, Mitarbeiter dringend gesucht! Fachkräftesicherung – Herausforderung der Zukunft, Unternehmensbarometer, Deutscher Industrie- und Handelskammertag, Berlin, Brüssel, August 2010.
Angenendt, Steffen and Roderick Parkes, "Blue Card – (noch) kein Erfolg?“, SWP-Aktuell 34, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, April 2010.
Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge, "Zuwanderung von Hochqualifizierten aus Drittstaaten nach Deutschland“, Working Paper 28, 2009.
"„Blue Card“ oder nationale Qualifikationsoffensive – was wird aus dem Wissenschaftsstandort Deutschland?", Beiträge von Annette Schavan, Bernhard Kempen, Jürgen Wuttke, August-Wilhelm Scheer, ifo Schnelldienst 61(2), 2008, 3–15. (Abstract)
Weizsäcker von, Jakob, "Welcome to Europe", bruegelpolicybrief, April 2006. (Download)
Ochel, Wolfgang (with Marcus Lampert), "Bleiberecht für ausländische Hochschulabsolventen", ifo Schnelldienst 58(15), 2005, 47–49. (Abstract / Download)
Munz, Sonja and Wolfgang Ochel, Fachkräftebedarf bei hoher Arbeitslosigkeit: Studie im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums des Inneren, Unabhängige Kommission "Zuwanderung", ifo Forschungsberichte 5, ifo Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, München 2001. (Abstract)
Ochel, Wolfgang, "Selektive Einwanderungspolitik: Punktesystem versus Auktionsmodell", ifo Schnelldienst 54(8), 2001, 32–38. (Abstract)
Ochel, Wolfgang, "Einwanderungspolitik: Ein Wettlauf um Skills - die Praxis Australiens, Neuseelands, Kanadas und der USA", ifo Schnelldienst 53(31), 2000, 30–36. (Abstract)
Ochel, Wolfgang, "Rekrutierung hochqualifizierter Arbeitskräfte im Ausland – zur Praxis anderer OECD-Länder", ifo Schnelldienst 53(8), 2000, 9–14. (Abstract)
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