In order to counteract the shortage of skilled workers, Germany wants to make the immigration law more attractive. With a new points system, people from non-EU countries should also have a better chance of gaining a foothold. You can not only score with a good education.
With easier recognition and a new opportunity card, the federal government wants to attract more workers from abroad. This is what a draft bill for the planned new Skilled Immigration Act envisages. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, Labor Minister Hubertus Heil from the SPD, Economics Minister Robert Habeck from the Greens and Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger from the FDP had already presented key points in November after they had been decided in the cabinet.
Among other things, an opportunity card based on a point system is to be introduced for people with a foreign professional qualification of at least two years when looking for a job. “The selection criteria include language skills, professional experience, age and connection to Germany,” says the draft law. “The opportunity card offers opportunities for trial work or part-time work.”
Someone from a non-EU country should be able to receive the opportunity card if he or she achieves at least six points in a new point system. For example, there should be four points if someone has a specific professional qualification. Good knowledge of German or at least three years of relevant professional experience should be able to earn three points. There should be two points each for only sufficient knowledge of German or only two years of relevant professional experience or for an age of up to 35 years. According to the plans, there will be a point in the future if someone has been in Germany lawfully for at least six months at a time.
Further simplifications are planned with an accompanying ordinance from the labor department. Among other things, a limit of 25,000 people per year in the so-called Western Balkans regulation is to be lifted. The news portal “The Pioneer” was the first to report on this draft, which is also available to the dpa.
The quota for nationals of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia is to be increased to 50,000 approvals per year. With the innovations, tens of thousands of people from non-EU countries should be able to find their way onto the German labor market and live in Germany every year. This is intended to counteract the glaring shortage of skilled workers in numerous sectors.
