On the draft bill of the Federal Government for a law on skilled labour immigration and on the motions of the parliamentary groups of the FDP, Bündnis 90/DIE GRÜNEN and DIE LINKE : Statement of the IAB on the public hearing in the Committee for Internal Affairs and Community of the German Bundestag on June 3, 2019

Abstract

"This statement refers to the public hearing in the Committee for Internal Affairs and Community of the German Bundestag on 3 June 2019 on the draft bill of the Federal Government for an Immigration Act for skilled workers. The draft bill of the Federal Government includes numerous changes while at the same time it sticks to the system and basic principles of the existing law. The most important change is the equality of skilled workers with vocational qualifications and skilled workers with academic qualifications. These two groups are the key target groups of the new immigration law. Moreover, the 'priority review', which examined whether the job could be occupied by a German or other EU citizen will be abolished. A few exceptions aside, the basic principle regarding the recognition of the equivalence of professional qualifications acquired abroad remains in place. Hence, the main obstacle to the immigration of skilled workers will persist. However, the options for recognition after entry into the country were extended. The draft bill suggests a number of procedural changes, which may lead to an acceleration of the recognition and visa procedures. It remains yet to be seen how that will stand the test of practice. The extended and newly created options for job search, apprenticeship search, and residence for recognition of professional qualifications are quite restrictive. To get a job search visa, for example, German language skills are required at B1 level. It is therefore unlikely that these actually useful instruments will be used on a larger scale. In contrast to the draft bill of the Federal Government, the parliamentary group of the FDP proposes a two-pillar system. Firstly, a revised Blue Card as a core instrument for the immigration of skilled workers with job offers and secondly, an 'opportunity card' with a points system to manage the delivery of visas for job search. The proposals to introduce an 'opportunity card' for job seekers are generally worth considering. Against the background of the low use of this access route, however, the question arises whether this access channel will be used more frequently after a reform. Similar to the proposal of the FDP, the draft law on the introduction of an immigration law by the Bündnis 90/DIE GRÜNEN parliamentary group support a dual system of access. The model of DIE GRÜNEN could have a greater impact than the FDP draft, since the main obstacle to the existing system, the recognition of professional qualifications, will be replaced by the criterion of 'qualified work'. The parliamentary group DIE LINKE calls on the Federal Government to withdraw its draft law and to fundamentally revise it. Instead, the parliamentary group advocates for a law facilitating immigration according to human rights, development policy and humanitarian aspects and not according to economic usefulness criteria or national self-interests. DIE LINKE also fears that the expansion of the labour supply through migration will lead to falling wages and rising capital incomes. However, this is an incorrect assumption, since this would only be the case in a static economy in which neither the capital stock nor the goods markets and international trade would adapt to changes on labour supply." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Brücker, H., Jaschke, P., Keita, S. & Konle-Seidl, R. (2019): Zum Gesetzentwurf der Bundesregierung eines Fachkräfteeinwanderungsgesetzes sowie zu den Anträgen der Fraktionen der FDP, Bündnis 90/DIE GRÜNEN und DIE LINKE. Stellungnahme des IAB zur Anhörung im Ausschuss für Inneres und Heimat des Deutschen Bundestags am 3. Juni 2019. (IAB-Stellungnahme 06/2019), Nürnberg, 27 p.