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4
September 2001
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL EUROPE
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Germany, prompted
by a desperate shortage of high-tech workers, is discussing
radically overhauling its immigration policy to incorporate
the U.S. approach of giving skilled foreign workers residency
for an unlimited period of time, an idea which has until now
been taboo in Europe. As Europe moves to harmonize immigration
law across the continent, the new German law could provide a
blueprint for a policy throughout the European Union policy to
attract highly skilled immigrants, experts say.
"We are witnessing a cultural change in Europe,'' says Jan
Niessen, director of the Migration Policy Group, a
Brussels-base
d NGO. "Europe wants to know what is the best (immigration)
system to meet labor market needs. There's a good chance they
will look to Germany as a kind of laboratory.''
Germany's policy revamp is the most striking example of a
deep-seated shift in thinking on immigration in Europe, which
until the last couple of years had focused on limiting the
inflow of migrants. "The whole debate in Europe was dominated
by restriction,'' Mr. Niessen says. Large numbers of
asylum-seekers meant that European countries were reluctant to
even consider encouraging further immigration. Now, Mr.
Niessen says, as European policy makers have become more aware
of the need to attract highly skilled immigrants from around
the world, "we are having a much more open and healthy
debate.''
From 'Whether' to 'How?'
"The debate is no longer about whether, it's about how,''
says Elspeth Guild, a partner in the London law firm Kingsley
Napley and coordinator of the European Immigration Lawyers
Network. German Interior Minister Otto Schily last month
published proposals which could give highly skilled immigrants
who receive work permits residency rights as soon as they
arrive in Germany, something possible in few European
countries. They are also flirting with the idea of in the
future issuing U.S.-style green cards, which would give an
indefinite residence permit not tied to a specific job, a step
no European country has so far taken. Applicants would be
selected on the basis of a points system, which would reward
them for educational qualifications, skills and German
language ability.
It's a big departure for Germany, which, although
traditionally liberal toward asylum-seekers, shut its doors to
immigration when it abandoned its "guest worker'' policy in
the early 1970s. According to Mr. Niessen, the proposal
represents an "enormous U-turn'' for the country.
"Germany
always claimed it was not an immigration country,'' he says.
"All of a sudden they jump the gun and say we are the
immigration country.''
Others May Follow
Selling a more open immigration policy to the German public
during a time of high unemployment and economic slowdown may
be difficult. But the dramatic turnaround by Europe's largest
economy could force other European countries to emulate the
German proposals as they compete for the world's best and
brightest.
Finland, like Germany, has traditionally not considered itself
a country of immigration but has come under pressure to
increase the inflow of foreign workers because of an aging
population and a burgeoning high-tech sector. "This is a
delicate question in Finland, because we still have high
unemployment,'' says Marvi Virtanen, director of immigration
in the Finnish ministry of labor. At present, she said, the
Finns consider their existing work permit scheme, which
usually issues visas for a year at a time, adequate to provide
high-tech labor for companies like Nokia Corp., which has
recruited from India and China in recent years. "But we are
aware that this may not be enough for the future,'' she says.
Helped by its language and established Asian communities, the
U.K. has until now been one of the most successful European
countries in attracting high-tech workers from the Indian
subcontinent. In recent years the British government has made
it easier and quicker for employers to apply for and renew
work permits. But it is now also examining a range of
immigration systems from around the world and considering what
further steps it might need to take, including the
introduction of a new category for highly skilled workers,
which does not yet exist in the U.K.
Rainer Muenz, a professor of demography at Berlin's Humboldt
University and a member of the 21-member commission whose
recommendations formed the basis of Mr. Schily's proposal,
says he thinks that, despite its natural advantages, the U.K.
may soon be under pressure to reform its system. "The British
system works because there is no competition from France or
Germany,'' he says. "As soon as British industry isn't
getting the people it wants, it will pressure the government
to change the system.''
Pressure From Big Business
The business community has been the driving force behind
Europe's new thinking on immigration. Pressure by business
leaders such as Heinrich von Pierer, CEO of Siemens AG,
prompted Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to introduce last year's
"Green Card'' scheme to encourage high-tech workers,
particularly from India.
The scheme was inspired by American H-1B visa program, but it
only offered immigrants a narrow residency permit with many
limitations.
The German government hoped the scheme would attract 20,000
immigrants in its first year, but it ended up issuing only
8,000 work permits. The U.K., in contrast, issued 102,000 work
permits last year, though it is unable to say how many of
those were to highly skilled workers. |
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