In 2009, the EU launched its blue card visa programme for skilled workers, which was not a real success since only 30,480 visas were approved by 2014. 90% of them were delivered by German authorities. For many, this visa program was considered as too complicated and not enough promoted. In a press conference the 7th of this month in Strasbourg, EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos indeed called the programme “unattractive, unknown and fragmented”1 . According to the European Commission, technology and healthcare sectors are those that encounter the most difficulties to fill jobs. As reported by the Commission, there will be close to 800,000 unfilled tech jobs by 2020 and 1 million healthcare vacancies. EU is also less popular than other Western countries such as United States, Canada or Australia for foreign workers. Mr. Avramopoulos considers that reforming the visa programme could add between 1.4 and 6.2 billion euros to the EU’s economy per year. As an answer, Commissioner Avramopoulos proposed to simplify some blue visa rules that prevented people from applying until now. The waiting period for obtaining a visa will be shorter: Member States will be forced to process applications within 60 days. The job duration condition will also be shorter: it would be now possible for applicants to get a visa for a six months offer. The salary threshold will also be lower event if it still must be higher than the average income in the country where a person applies. This threshold is supposed to prevent social dumping and avoid workers to move to the EU for poorly paying jobs. The final decision regarding the visa approval will be at discretion of Member States which will also be able to prioritise applications for jobs they need. This does not apply in the UK, Ireland and Denmark, which are exempt of this visa programme. For further information, please contact our secretariat.
