Here are the latest changes in the residence permit law making permanent residence easy for qualified workers and also for students. Please note that this law is only applicable after the Bundesrat approves it finally.

Major changes:

1. Introduction of Blue Card for qualified workers - Workpermit if you have a university degree and get a job with a salary of 44800 Euros (34944 in areas of extreme shortage like IT, medicine). After three years blue card can be converted into permanent residence (Niederlassungserlaubnis). If you speak B1 level German, this can be done after two years.

Once students finish their degrees at a German university and get a job here, also they can get a Niederlassungserlaubnis after 3 or 2 years.

2. Immediate Niederlassungserlaubnis für Hochqualifizierte (§19) for specialists and managers (spezialisten und leitende angestellte) which was based on a salary level of 67000 Euros will now be removed !

3. Qualified people (with university degree,also from other countries) can get a job search visa for 6 months and come to Germany if they can pay their costs of living themselves

4. Students at German universities can work 120 full days instead of 90 full days (or 240 halfdays instead of 180 halfdays)

5. Foreign graduates of German universities will now get a job search visa for 18 months instead of 12 months. During this period, they can work anywhere without any restrictions.

Details can be read here (please note this is not the complete law):
http://www.bundesregierung.de/Content/DE/Artikel/2012/04/2012-04-27%20Blue%20Card-Zuwanderung%20Hochqualifizierter.html

Disclaimer: this is not a legal advice but serves only the purpose of orientation. Final information should be requested from the foreigners office.

Will keep you informed on latest changes.

Supersid

Hi Supersid,

These news are great. I still have unanswered questions, however:

1. Will the Blue Card scheme limited to a named employer or will it be unbefristet?

2. If one gets a working permit using the current scheme, meaning - a permit bound to an employee (not the current Hochqualifiziert scheme, sorry for my lack of knowledge of law section numbers), will it be possible to convert it to a Blue Card visa? If so, in what timing - upon yearly renewal or immediately when the Blue Card scheme is available?

Thanks,
Nadav

1. I am not sure about this. But I think that it will be limited to an employer and only after two years employer name will be removed as it is under §18

2. Why would you change a NIederlassung to a Blue Card??? NIederlassung is already permanent.

@supersid

Thanks for describing it so well.

Another point of interest would be the discussion that Bundestag had (as far as I remember) regarding "the Spouse of the Blue card holder will be able to work, instead of 2 year waiting time currently on a dependent visa", any updates on that?

Really appreciate the effort of listing down all the points so clearly in this thread.

Thnx

I was referring not to the Niederlassungserlaubnis, but to a regular Aufenthaltstitel, which everyone can get today as well if the Arbeitsagentur approves it even if the pay is below 66.000 € per year.

Also, one of the goals of the Blue Card in the EU level is to allow employee mobility. How will this goal be achieved if the permit is bound to the employer?

@nadav

Yes you can change the normal Aufenthaltstitle to Blau Karte when law is finally implemented.

Regarding mobility in EU, if you want to work in any other European Country you have to apply for the work permit based on the laws of that country which means you cannot work with this Blau Karte issued in Germany.

Thanks for both of you for your answers!

Did the German government just manage to make immigration for highly qualified specialists less attractive than before?

The March 1 update on:

http://www.bluecard-germany.com/Welcome.html

seems to indicate a lower salary of 44.800€ per year will suffice to obtain an NE from day 1. It's not completely clear to me, but is it the case that with the new law passed 27.04.2012 (pending Bundesrat approval), a specialist now has to wait 2 years (with B1 German) for an NE, no matter how high his/her salary is?

Also, this article mentions 21 months instead of 2 years:

http://www.bmwi.de/BMWi/Navigation/Presse/pressemitteilungen,did=487118.html

Is it NE on day 1, or after 21 months, or after 2 years?

Thanks in advance for any clarification!


[Original post below]

Major changes:

2. Immediate Niederlassungserlaubnis für Hochqualifizierte (§19) for specialists and managers (spezialisten und leitende angestellte) which was based on a salary level of 67000 Euros will now be removed !

Dear Supersid,

thanks for your support!

Regarding the 'Niederlassungserlaubnis' from the beginning... yes, it seems that this is cancelled. From my practical experiences it is only a minor disadvantage, because only very few experts got it from the beginning, even with very high income.

I employed an engineer under § 19 last year and the alien office accepted § 19 and they did not ask the labour office for a labour market check, but they told us that they will give the 'Niederlassungserlaubnis' after 12 month.

So the main advantage was, that everything was very fast, because there was no need of the labour market check. And this will be the case for all workpermit applications now.

Have a nice weekend
Detlef :-)

Hi Detlef,

Just a matter of curiosity... when saying "very fast", how fast is it? Did/will the Ausländerbehörde issue the visa on the spot?

-N.

Hi Nadav,

very fast was 2 weeks :-)

Detlef

What about citizenship via Naturlisation? Does that become faster as well? Or does one have to wait for 8 years or in some cases due to integration in 6 years - that hell of a long time.....

Any thoughts on this.

Edit: on reading the law I found this:
Zu Artikel 2 (Änderung des Staatsangehörigkeits- gesetzes)
Zu § 10
Es handelt sich um eine Folgeänderung auf Grund der nach Artikel 1 vorgesehenen Einführung des neuen Aufenthalts- titels „Blaue Karte EU“. Der befristete, zur Ausübung einer hochqualifizierten Beschäftigung dienende Aufenthalts- titel, der nach fünf Jahren Aufenthalt zu einem Daueraufent- haltsrecht führen kann, soll auch eine Einbürgerung ermög- lichen.

Does this mean Einbürgerung for highly qualified after 5 years?

No it doesnt mean you can get naturalized faster but that also people having Blue Card are eligible for citizen. Reason to change the Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz is because the term 'Blaue Karte' didnt exist till now. So they need to includ it now.

------

You think 6 years is long, I think citizenship in 8 years is perfect. I am always dissappointed to see so many people getting the citizenship by just passing the B1 but not being able to speak decent German.

I think it is a good incentive for people who learn German, if they can get citizenship faster in 6 years.

BTW in countries like US it takes 15 years to get citizenship, in Scandinavian countries also its very long.

It takes 5 years in the US after obtaining a green card. The total is definitely way less than 15 years (for high-tech worker).

I believe in Canada it takes 3 years.


supersid wrote:

You think 6 years is long, I think citizenship in 8 years is perfect...
...
BTW in countries like US it takes 15 years to get citizenship, in Scandinavian countries also its very long.

And Australia is 4 years.....