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| Schwerin Castle, Germany Photo by Harald Hoyer |
From the article:
Die im Sommer eingeführte "Blue Card" hat bislang kaum ausländische Fachkräfte nach Deutschland angelockt. In den ersten zwei Monaten wurden lediglich 139 Blue Cards vergeben, wie die Welt am Sonntag unter Berufung auf Daten des Bundesamtes für Migration und Flüchtlinge berichtete.
Davon gingen 112 an Ausländer, die bereits vor 2012 nach Deutschland eingereist waren. "Der Massenansturm von Fachkräften bleibt aus", sagte laut dem Bericht Gunilla Fincke, Geschäftsführerin des Sachverständigenrates deutscher Stiftungen für Integration und Migration. Deutschland hänge nach wie vor der Ruf an, Zuwanderer seien nicht willkommen, obwohl das Zuwanderungsrecht liberaler geworden sei.In English (and trying to smooth out the rough edges of Google translate):
The launch of the "Blue Card" in the summer has not attracted many foreign workers to Germany. Only 139 Blue cards were issued in the first two months, citing data from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees.
Of the issued cards, 112 were awarded to foreigners who had already entered Germany before 2012. "The massive influx of skilled workers is waiting," reported Gunilla Fincke, director of the Expert Council of German Foundations on Integration and Migration. Germany still has the reputation of immigrants not being welcome, even though the immigration legislation has become more liberal.I can actually think of a few different issues causing the problem. First and foremost, it was reported after the law had been in effect only two months! I'm surprised that a brand new program taking time to get started is actually newsworthy, particularly when you consider that it can take months to find a new employee locally, much less internationally.
More interesting to me, though, is the person who emailed me complaining that the German Labor office told them to apply for a Blue Card but the Immigration office denied them a chance to even apply for the German Blue Card because they didn't have a residency permit! That's completely contrary to my reading of the German Blue Card law. How can the Germans expect to have people to navigate the waters of German Immigration law if the German Immigration officials don't know the law?
It might seem like the people behind it should know how it works, but like in any large, complex system, there will be cases where the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. I had the pleasure of discovering, after paying unemployment insurance for one year, that I wasn't eligible to receive unemployment benefits during the gap until my next job. That's because my residency permit was tied to my being employed. And since I was no longer a valid resident, I wouldn't be allowed to receive unemployment. Kinda makes sense in hindsight, but you also can't have that unemployment contribution refunded, because, well everyone pays that. The real issue is simply that there are a very small number of people that find these bugs in the system. And those are often people that don't have much of voice.
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