Germany plans to attract more foreign skilled workers
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Xinhua, December 2, 2011
Germany plans to lower its threshold for attracting more skilled workers and professionals from other countries to fill in its increasing deficiency, an expert commission's report said on Thursday.
A joint action plan, which was drafted by the cross-party and independent commission, made it clear that immigrants are soon to be exempted a work contract upon their entrance into Germany, only if they conform to the specific criteria for their expertises are truly in need.
"More and more German citizens become increasingly aware of the fact that immigration of alien talents into Germany bears positive effects on the country," according to the expert commission, led by former North Rhine-Westphalia integration minister Armin Laschet and former defense minister Peter Struck.
It vows to offer more generous and attractive appeal to overseas university students to stay to work in Germany after their graduation, by providing more conveniences for their residency permits and ensuring that they feel being welcomed in Germany.
The ban on non-European Union workers should be compromised to some degree, like the USA, from where the skilled workers can be in favor of to work in Germany, in terms of their targeted and managed immigration, according to the report.
The German government will also cut down the minimum income as a prerequisite for a permanent residency from 66,000 euro to 48, 000 euro a year, as foreign students shall be more likely to stay after graduations.
The vacancy of post for enough job applicants with special expertise become increasingly more acute in Germany, as a recent survey showed that the job vacancy would amount up to 3.5 million by the year 2025, and the huge gap must be filled in by enough immigrant workers from other countries.
Germany is not favorable as an ideal destination to foreign talents in comparison with the United States, Canada or Britain, partly due to the language barrier.
There are some 60,000 to 70,000 people from eastern Europe now live and work in Germany, far behind the original expectation, and there have been less foreign workers choose to work in Germany, even after the labor force restrictions were rescinded early this year.
In addition, some relevant restrictions will be imposed on immigrants for their accessibility to the country's social welfare system in the first few years of their settlement.
