Foreign highly qualified specialists can move to work in Germany, although there is still no law on this matter
The influx of refugees to Germany this year is significantly less than in 2015, when almost one million people applied to the German authorities for asylum. But the count is still in the hundreds of thousands, and experts do not rule out that next year the number of refugees in Germany will increase again.
So the migration crisis remains the main topic of political discussion here, Germans' dissatisfaction is growing, conservatives from the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) demand that the chancellor set an upper limit on the acceptance of refugees at 200,000 people. And in such a situation, the German Social Democrats, who are part of Angela Merkel's government, unexpectedly came up with an initiative to also adopt an immigration law that would simplify relocation to Germany for certain categories of applicants.
Debates about turning Germany into a classic immigration country like the USA, Australia or Canada have been going on here for about 20 years. Some measures allowing foreign highly qualified specialists to move to Germany for work have been adopted. But there is no law on this matter.
Two years ago – in January 2015 – the topic was raised again by the Secretary General of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) – the chancellor's party – Peter Tauber. On his initiative, the then CDU congress voted for a resolution on the advisability of adopting a special immigration law. But then the refugee crisis erupted, and the issue was postponed to a better time. Voters, they say, would not understand.
The Social Democrats thought differently. Last Tuesday, November 8, the chairman of the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Thomas Oppermann, presented a draft immigration law and said he expects to coordinate it with the conservative partners in the ruling coalition in the coming months, and to adopt it before the next parliamentary elections in September 2017.
The basis of the Social Democrats' bill is the Canadian points system. The maximum possible number is 100, and the minimum allowing an applicant for a residence permit and work permit in Germany to join the queue of applicants is 65 for a person with higher education, and 60 for those with vocational training.
Points are awarded according to certain criteria. For example, having a specific job offer from a German company gives 25 points at once. Appropriate qualification and education level – from 20 to 35, and knowledge of the German language – 15 points. Additional advantages, according to the bill, are given to candidates who are younger, as well as those who have relatives in Germany, previous work experience in Germany, or have studied at one of the German universities.
The Social Democrats gave such an example. According to their system, a 25-year-old female engineer from India, with a master's degree and a job offer, fluent in German and English, would achieve 75 points.
According to the SPD's plan, the Bundestag will have to set an upper limit on immigration to Germany every year and decide which professions to give preference to. For starters, it is proposed to set a quota of 25,000 people. Those with families who receive a residence permit and work permit will be able to bring their wives and children if they receive a salary sufficient to support them. During the first five years, they will not be able to claim unemployment benefits or social benefits in case of dismissal.
The conservatives' reaction to the Social Democrats' bill was – as expected in the midst of the migration crisis – negative. The chairwoman of the CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Gerda Hasselfeldt, believes that the implementation of the SPD's plans will lead to an "import of unemployment," and the SPD, in her words, "simply does not understand that after 2015, German citizens do not want an increase in immigration." The managing director of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Michael Grosse-Brömer, also said that the Social Democrats' proposal "leads not to a limitation, but to an expansion of the influx of migrants into Germany." And even the CDU Secretary General Peter Tauber, although he himself had previously advocated for an immigration law, is now against it. "We have enough topics on the agenda concerning migration and integration," he said. "We must first finally agree on what we are already discussing and implement decisions, and only then talk about further steps."
Thomas Oppermann, however, considers it wrong to mix the two topics – the refugee problem and the problem of the shortage of skilled workers. According to his calculations, by the middle of this century, Germany's population will shrink from today's 82 to 60 million people, and in the next 10 years – due to age – the number of employed will decrease by more than 6 million. Because of the shortage of skilled workers, he added, many positions are already vacant for months.
"When it comes to refugees who seek asylum in Germany, we have no ability to manage this process," says Oppermann, "it is our humanitarian duty; it is unacceptable to decide who we need and who we don't." But he is not a philanthropist. The existence of an immigration law, the Social Democrats believe, will reduce the influx of refugees. And here's why.
"Many people arriving in Germany under the guise of refugees are actually not fleeing persecution or war," Oppermann points out. "They are simply looking for a better life." This is a legitimate desire, but he considers the path to achieving it through the asylum procedure wrong, and besides, it is impossible to manage this process. But if such people had a real prospect of legal immigration to Germany, the Social Democrats believe, they would not bother the German authorities by flooding them with asylum applications.
As an example, the SPD cites citizens of Balkan countries. Among refugees, their share was disproportionately high last year, but has now become very insignificant. The reason is not only that all Balkan countries are considered safe, but also the opportunities for legal labor migration to Germany provided to their residents.