EU agrees for "Blue Card"

[cnu]

source: http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1022/immigration.html



European Union envoys have agreed on a fast-track 'Blue Card' scheme to attract high skilled migrant workers from developing countries.

The Blue Card aims to make the EU more competitive in a battle with the US and other ageing Western societies for coveted technology workers and hospital staff from the developing world.

High-skilled foreign workers make up 1.7% of migrant workers in the EU, compared with 9.9% of migrants to Australia, 7.3% to Canada and 3.2% to the US.
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Analysts say the scheme will not be enough to lure top-end staff and compete with the US Green Card because it offers access to only one EU state at a time, not free mobility within the European single market.

After 18 months of working with a 'Blue Card' in one EU state, an immigrant would be allowed to move with his family to work in another EU state, but he or she would still have to apply for a new Blue Card there within a month of arrival.

This provision was required by countries such as Germany, determined to maintain national sovereignty over their labour market.

[bloody foreigner]

I've got a € that says Ireland and UK will opt out of this.
Any takers?

[sakura]

I've got a € that says Ireland and UK will opt out of this.
Any takers?

Well, the UK has its own new immigration system to implement. The Points-Based System (PBS). Also, since the UK seems to have much better immigration options for skilled migrants (I can only think of one other country that has a highly skilled visa anywhere in the EU: the Netherlands), then I don't see why they should participate.

Two things that concern me about the 'blue card':
1. citizenship. Unless the blue card scheme is coupled with the permanent residency scheme (the one where you can move your PR from one EU country to another?), then I would imagine that moving to another EU country would be a bad thing, becuase it 'resets' the clock for eventual citizenship of the EU. e.g. the migrant first starts in Spain, works there for three years, then moves to Germany. Since the time spent in Spain counts for nothing for German citizenship, he would still have to wait 7-8 years as required in Germany for citizenship, meaning, although he has some 'free movement', he would still have to wait much longer for citizenship. Of course this all depends on if a migrant decides to move at all.

2. following from that point, if a migrant has greater freedom of movement, wouldn't the desire to naturalise go down?? If a Tunisian can move around just (or almost) as easily as a German, why would they wish to take language tests, pay almost a thousand Euros, etc, for citizenship? They could well decide to remain permanent residents, especially if the PR can be moved across EU countries (of course, for the security of inalienable rights, citizenship would be better...but this is an interesting thought...does anybody else think this might happen?).

Maybe these are all silly points for an immigrant wishing to just obtain a work permit.....

[Christophe]

I am not sure if this blue card scheme is intended to provide a path to permanent status or not. Personally I think that mass migration schemes that do not provide a clear path to settlement (and ultimately to citizenship if desired) are fraught with danger. (I am not talking here, obviously, about work permits provided for individual people to do a specific, typically high-level job; nor am I talking about things such as working holiday schemes or even, perhaps, very short-term seasonal work schemes).

This is one of my objections to the new proposed UK scheme: I think that encouraging people to move to the UK for, say, 4 years (which is quite a long time, in fact) without any notion of settlement entitlement is asking for trouble.

[sakura]

I found this pdf document that answers my questions:

The proposal also includes the possibility for an "EU Blue Card" holder to move for work to a second Member State under certain conditions and after two years of legal residence in the first Member State. To facilitate intra-EU mobility, derogations from Council Directive 2003/109/EC are provided for, in particular the possibility to cumulate periods of residence in different Member States in order to obtain EC longterm residence status. Once this status has been granted, the provisions on mobility of Directive 2003/109/EC will apply, but Member States will have to grant preference to these professionals over other third-country workers applying to be admitted.

...

If Member States act alone, they may not be able to face international competition for highly qualified third-country workers.

There will be a series of different entry and residence conditions for these workers, each national system being closed and in competition with the others. This could lead to distortions in immigrants' choices, and more importantly would over-complicate the re-allocation of the necessary labour force as needs change on labour markets, with the possibility of losing a highly qualified workforce already present in the EU. Community action will better achieve the objectives of the proposal for the following reason(s).

The EU's main attractiveness compared to its competitors is the possibility of accessing 27 labour markets, and thus to grow professionally while responding to EU companies' concrete needs. But this can only be provided through Community action (also needed to derogate from EC acquis so as to create facilitated conditions for acquiring EC longterm residence) and can be implemented only if there is a common system for admitting such workers.

Can you really access 27 labour markets? The UK isn't participating, is it? Unless it will add it to tier-1...

I also found this article (my bold):

The draft legislation has been significantly amended since the European Commission presented its first proposal. Member states rejected the Commission's plan that the card should replace schemes that national governments already have in place to attract highly skilled workers. They have also changed the minimum criteria people must meet to qualify for the card. The Commission proposed that people should have a job offer with a salary at least three times the national minimum wage; member states have changed this to at least one and a half times the average gross annual salary (dropping to a multiple of 1.2 for certain professions). They have also rejected the Commission's idea that the criteria should be eased for people under 30. Member states, however, remain free to set higher salary criteria if they wish, and determine how many cards, if any, they want to issue.

Now...does anyone know the average gross annual salary for their respective country?