Germany to change immigration laws to attract skilled labor
The shortage of skilled labor in Germany forced Berlin to take a hard look at existing immigration policies, and the government’s new plan designed to attract more more easilyk presented jointly by the interior and labor ministries was approved by the cabinet on Wednesday. He will still need to pass through both houses of parliament.
The new bill is part of a comprehensive migration package that the ruling coalition says will modernize the country’s immigration, residency and citizenship laws. Existing skilled labor immigration rules were established in March 2020, when Germany was governed by the so-called grand coalition led by Angela Merkel.
The bill estimates it could increase skilled labor migration from non-EU countries by around 60,000 a year, almost doubling pre-2019 COVID pandemic numbers.
The policy would be based on a new scoring system that considers attributes in five categories.
These are qualifications, knowledge of German, professional experience, connections with Germany (for example, relatives who already live in the country) and age.
Labor Minister Hubertus Heil said in December, when first releasing plans that people felt met three or more of those criteria would be eligible for further consideration.
The changes include reducing a number of obstacles that make it difficult for foreign workers to come to the country, something Germany must do if it wants to fill the historically high number of vacancies in its labor market. Berlin said the number of vacant jobs reached 1.98 million in the fourth quarter of 2022, the highest on record.
Source: DW
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