How will Germany's green card system work?
0How will Germany's green card system work?
Germany wants to make it easier for non-EU employees to work in Germany with an application similar to the US's Green Card. So how will this system work?
In Germany, the world's fourth largest economy, trade unions and employers' associations have long complained of labor shortages. The Ministry of Labor also warns that the shortage of labor is hampering economic growth.
The German government, which has been trying to cause problems for the lack of qualified workforce for a long time, is preparing to put into effect an application that will enable qualified workforce from outside the European Union (EU) to work in Germany with the "Chancenkarte", which can be translated as an "opportunity card" in Turkish. This is likened to the US "Green Card" or "Green Card" in English.
Labor Minister Hubertus Heil announced his plans for the "opportunity card" planned by Germany within the week. Thanks to the said card, foreign qualified employees will have the chance to work in Germany without any concrete job offers. In this context, candidates who will be subject to a scoring system will be required to have fulfilled at least three of the following four conditions:
University degree or professional skills
At least three years of professional experience
Knowledge of German or previous experience in Germany
Being under the age of 35.
Labor Minister Heil also underlined that there will be certain restrictions on the distribution of cards. Accordingly, a certain number of cards will be issued each year according to the needs of the job market. Therefore, there will be no unlimited distribution of the "opportunity card".
Speaking to West German public broadcaster WDR on Wednesday, Heil said, "We are talking about a process free of skilled immigration and bureaucracy. That is why it is very important that those who receive the opportunity card can cover their own expenses when they come to Germany."
YOUNG POPULATION IS DECREASING
Sowmya Thyagarajan, who came to Germany for her doctorate in 2016 and founded her own company there, pointed out that Germany's "opportunity card" move is a positive development for the country's immigration and labor policy. Evaluating the government's plan to DW, Thyagarajan said, "I think the point system is a very good opportunity for those who want to come here from abroad. Especially considering that the young population in Germany is gradually decreasing."
Noting that his company also gives priority to Germans and EU citizens in their recruitment processes, Thyagarajan cited the bureaucratic obstacles in front of candidates who are not EU citizens as the reason.
THE OBSTACLES DO NOT END WITH THE NEW CARD
Some experts are of the opinion that the "opportunity card" announced by Heil and received with great interest will not solve the problems.
"The new system makes it even more complex by creating unnecessarily high barriers," said Holger Bonin, research director at the Bonn-based Institute for Labor Economics. According to Bonin, Minister Heil's scoring system will bring more bureaucracy.
In his assessment to DW, Bonin suggested, "Why don't they just make it a lot simpler? Give people visas to look for jobs, so if they can't find a job within a certain period of time, they'll have to leave." The researcher said, "If these conditions are important to employers, they can take care of them in the recruitment process. They do not need a pre-selection to meet these conditions."
CRITICS IN THE SCORING SYSTEM
Emphasizing that some of the conditions expressed by Minister Heil are of no importance to most employers, Bonin underlined that, for example, in many international companies, the working language is English, so employees do not need to speak German or have lived in Germany.
Thyagarajan, on the other hand, criticized the planned age restriction and work experience prerequisite. "You don't have to be under the age of 35. The important thing is what qualifications you have," says Thyagarajan. "For some job profiles, you don't need experience."
Germany's shortage of skilled labor is not a new problem. Gesamtmetall, the federation of employers' associations of the German metal and electrical industry, says that two out of every five companies operating in their sector have production problems due to lack of personnel. The German Craftsmen's Association (ZDH), on the other hand, states that the country lacks a skilled workforce of 250 thousand.
The number of skilled workers immigrating to Germany from non-EU countries is still quite low, although it has increased in recent years. According to the data of Mediendienst Integration (Media Compliance Services), which provides services on migration and integration in Germany, the number of skilled workers who came to Germany in 2019 was just over 60 thousand. This number corresponds to only 12 percent of the total immigration to Germany from outside the EU that year.