US has "green card", EU set for "blue card"

[JODO 2]

EU pins skills hopes on 'blue card'

By Alix Kroeger

BBC News, Brussels

The European Commission is hoping a new scheme will make it easier for skilled workers from outside the EU to get jobs in Europe.

Unemployment in many EU countries is high (10% in Belgium, 15% in Poland), but at the same time, many businesses are having trouble recruiting the skilled workers they need.

Like the American green card, the EU "blue card" will operate on a points system for skills and languages, with some weight given to family ties.

An engineer who speaks English and French, and who has family in France, would have a better chance of getting a permit than an unskilled labourer who speaks only a little English and has no family in the EU.

The areas worst affected by skills shortages are engineering, information technology, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, and education, according to the European Commission.

Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Ireland and Sweden are among the countries reporting shortages.

The EU's population is ageing. Many of the immigrants to the EU come in on humanitarian grounds, such as asylum or family reunification.

As a result, the EU's new arrivals do not necessarily have the skills the labour market needs.

At the moment, 50% of skilled migrants worldwide go to the US. Only 5% go to Europe.

The idea of the blue card is to create a channel of legal migration, making Europe more attractive, and more welcoming, to migrants with sought-after skills.

The Commission's proposal will enter the EU's legislative labyrinth later this year.

It is likely to be two years or more before it is adopted in whatever final form it takes.

"We're doing this because there are no clear national channels for legal migration to the EU, unlike the US, Canada and Australia," an EU official told the BBC.

Crucially, the blue card will be attached to the individual, not to the job, the official said.

At the moment, employers have to seek work permits for non-EU nationals.

Rules vary from country to country, but usually the employer has to prove that no EU citizen is available to fill the job.

And if the permit-holder wants to move to another job, his or her new employer has to apply for a new permit. It is a cumbersome system for businesses, but one which reflects public anxiety about greater immigration at a time when many EU countries are struggling with high unemployment.

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7057730.stm

Published: 2007/10/23 09:39:01 GMT

[peejay 327]

So the Blue Card will be a permanent residency card for immigration purposes? The article makes it sound like a work visa. Unfortunately most people don't know the difference.

Neither do the incompetent twits that administer the "temporary" worker visas in the USA. They do not even have a clue as to who is still in the USA, who has gone home, or how many visas have been issued over the cap.

Maybe the EU will administer their progams more competently than the USA...or maybe not?