Grüezi mitenand...

I'm currently living and working in der Schweiz in an environmental science discipline, so I'm not a 'Green Carder' type. But anyway, you have a lot of useful discussion here about immigration law in Germany, and I'm interested in what chance the new Zuwanderungsgesetz might offer me, after my contract here runs out in December.

So, does anyone know *exactly* how the 'hoch qualifiziert' clause for obtaining a Niederlassungserlaubnis from "Day One" will work? I mean, will they require one to show proof of an actual employment offer before considering the special clause? I would tend to assume so, but... And if so, will it *have* to be a position that makes full use of the applicant's special qualifications? And if the latter is true, who/how will that be determined? Seems to me that there might be quite a lot of subjective judging there, as to whether one's potential job might be making full use of one's complete educational history. I've seen mention of a certain salary level being one way of meeting the "hoch qualifiziert" criterion, but I believe that this is only one way out of several.

The documents I've read so far are totally lacking in these sorts of critical operational details. And if the law doesn't go into effect until Jan. 1 '05, and my contract runs out the day before, that doesn't give a whole lot of time to work with to find an opportunity. To say the least. But if they were to consider people just based on their advanced education, then that would have a lot more potential for me. But I assume this is probably not the case, but nowhere can I see what exactly needs to be prepared in advance of making the application.

Thanks for any and all help...Keith

Hi Keith

First of my email is agmmza2002@yahoo.com. I worked 15 years in environmental sciences, in GIS and Remote sensing and I would like to contact people like you in this kind of related disciplines. Can you tell me what kind of work do you do to that address?

Second, your answers.

The best way to be considered "Hochqualifizierte" with no doubts about it is to earn more than twice the limit of public/private health insurance. This is a value between 82000 and 84000 yearly. If you earn this money, no problem, since first of january 2005 you will get a Niederlassungserlaunbnis, german courses and so on.

There is another possibility written in the new law, mentioning "researchers" and no remember exactly what more. About this second category, I guess by now only God knows how a people will be judged to be in or out. There is some people in the forum working in research but, for example, is not till today clear if you have to research, to research for the government, research for the university or how anybody could be considered to fit in one of this categorys.

You have to wait till the regulations for the law comes. It has to be in this month or the next one.

So, this was the only things I knew about this point.

Bis Bald

YO