Climbing count of foreigners at work in Germany on an EU Blue Card

Are you wondering what’s happening on Germany immigration front involving skilled and qualified professionals? Here’s news for you! Destatis, the German Federal Office of Statistics, has revealed lately that around 70,000 highly qualified foreign professionals who held an EU Blue Card were at work in Germany in 2021.

What does this indicate?

On the obvious side it says that despite the restrictions triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of highly qualified professionals did increase by over 6% in 2021. This is in comparison to the number of such professionals in 2020.

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What has to be learned along with this positive news is that the rate of increase in qualified professionals with an EU Blue Card has slowed down compared to 2019, the pre-pandemic period. In 2019, the increase in the number of such professionals who work in Germany was around 20%!

Destatis also revealed that close to 3 out of 10 professionals who are highly qualified and at work in Germany holding an EU Blue Card completed their studies at a higher education institution in Germany. Here are some other interesting details:

• 36,400 professionals holding EU Blue Card were at work in Germany in standard jobs. The remaining workers were employed in occupations identified as ones with a shortage of skilled workers.
• The German city of Berlin had the highest number of EU Blue Card holders in 2021. Berlin had 13,700 workers, Munich had 8,050, Frankfurt had 3,080, and Dusseldorf had 2,395.

The German Federal Office for Migration & Refugees had announced at the beginning of 2022, that from Jan 1, 2022, the requirement of least annual gross salary for EU Blue Card holders has been dropped by 0.7%. So, applicants for an EU Blue Card must have at least €56,400 as their annual gross salary.

What is the EU Blue Card?

 

The EU Blue Card is a work cum residence permit that’s issued to non-EU/EEA nationals. For you to be eligible for this special permit, you have to be a foreign academic looking for a job in Germany. Here are the conditions to meet for eligibility for this permit:

• You must hold either of the following:
  • A German degree
  • A foreign higher education degree that’s recognized in Germany or a foreign higher education degree that stands equivalent to a German degree.
• You must have a fixed job offer in hand from a company in Germany.
• The job position offered must match your higher education qualifications.
• You must be paid a minimum gross annual income of €56,400. If you are an employee in one of the following fields, your request for a job must get the approval of the German Federal Employment Agency and your minimum annual gross salary must be €43,992:
  • IT
  • Mathematics
  • Engineering
  • Natural sciences
  • Human medicine

The EU Blue Card is issued with a validity period that can be as much as the duration of your work contract in Germany. In a standard case, the permit is issued for 3 years, extendable through renewals. If your work contract is for a period of under 3 years, the EU Blue Card will be issued for the period of the work contract itself.

If you are willing to work in Germany, talk to Y-Axis, the leading immigration and career consultant in the UAE.

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