The essence of the program is simple: a foreigner must find a German employer, and the employer must guarantee a minimum salary. For most professional groups, this threshold is 46,400 euros per year, for shortage occupations – 36,200 gross. If these conditions are met, after three years of legal residence in Germany, the foreigner and their family members receive a permanent residence permit.
If, in addition, the foreigner has attended integration courses and learned at least the basics of the German language, this period is reduced to just two years. Furthermore, the new law provides for the issuance of a special visa for up to six months solely for the purpose of job seeking. The only condition here is that the foreigner must prove they have sufficient financial means for this period.
At first, the Blue Card program was not particularly successful: residence permits were issued only in isolated cases. Most likely, this was due to insufficient 'advertising' of this legislative procedure. In the first year of the Blue Card's operation, according to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, there were 8,879 holders of Blue Cards in Germany. However, only 2,536 people (28.56%) actually entered the country under this program. In all other cases, it was a matter of changing the residence status of foreigners already in the country.
At the end of the year, the new results of the Blue Card were summarized. It turned out that by the end of October 2013, 12,199 such documents had been issued in Germany. According to the leadership of the German Federal Ministry of the Interior, the pace of issuing Blue Cards exceeded all expectations. As one ministry official put it, the cards have gained 'significant popularity both among high-level professionals abroad and among foreign graduates of German universities.' The largest number of foreigners using this program come from India, China, and Russia.
German labor market experts are also optimistic about this. The German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) states that the introduction of the Blue Card in Germany is a step in the right direction, but believes that other measures must follow in the near future. For example, critics of Berlin's current migration policy propose lowering the minimum salary required to obtain a Blue Card.
It is also pointed out that the average annual salary for a graduate of German universities is currently about 35,000 euros. A more flexible application model for the Blue Card would also help significantly increase the number of foreign specialists attracted to Germany. The goal is to include not only specialists with higher education under this program. After all, the need to eliminate the shortage of personnel in Germany is obvious. Given the current demographic development of the Federal Republic, experts at the German Federal Employment Agency (BA) believe that the number of working-age residents of the country will decrease by 6.5 million people by 2025.
Of course, there are other immigration programs in Germany to attract skilled personnel. However, they mainly apply to residents of EU countries. For example, the MobiProEU program is aimed at young Europeans, primarily from crisis-ridden EU countries, who want to start vocational training in Germany. The German state covers the main costs. As of November of last year, out of 3,800 applicants under this program, 1,400 young people had already started their vocational training in Germany.