EU Blue Card to come? - update from Europe

On July 24, 2008 the responsible minsters of the EU member states have discussed the commission’s guideline proposal regarding immigration law which is dated October 23, 2007. Amongst other things the Commission has proposed to the Council to facilitate the immigration of highly-qualified staff from third countries by implementing a so called “Blue Card” in order to make Europe attractive for skilled employees, cf. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2007:0638:FIN:EN:PDF. Throughout Europe standard requirements shall be implemented with view to the immigration of skilled employees. Besides a recognised diploma for the blue card it is also required to furnish proof of a minimum professional experience of three years and a one-year contract in the European Union with salary amounting to not less than triple the minimum salary. Then the applicant and his/her family are granted a residence permit of up to two years which can be extended. At the same time the regulations providing for facilitations of entry as currently applied in the member states shall be retained. With view to this fact the implementation of a blue card will in the first instance have no factual influence on the legal situation in Germany. In Germany numerous special rules have already been enacted with view to the entry of highly-qualified. The proposal shall even have been accepted by the member states French EU Council Presidency by the end of the year 2008. Therefore the unanimity of the European Council is required.