EU Blue Card
There has been rumours ongoing about a "Green Card" like system for the European Union for many years and the idea has been realised as "EU Blue Card". The European Union Blue Card is basically a simplified system granting you right to work and travel in European Union member states for 5 years.
Unlike the green card, EU Blue Card is carefully designed especially for skilled workers. There are strict requirement for application of Blue Card. You would need a job offer valued at least 1.7 times of the average wage of the member state, meaning that if you are dreaming of getting the Blue Card and going to Europe with the hope of finding a decent job, you are mistaken. After grabbing an official job offer with at least 1 year validity, you also need to have a health insurance (which would also be included in the job offer any way). You also need to prove your expertise, either by graduating from a high quality school or working for more than 5 years in the offered job.
The Blue Card also offers benefits such as family re-unification and residency rights after 5 successful years.
The Blue Card scheme was first presented in 23 October 2007. The directive has been legislated at 25 May 2009, since the law has passed the legislation the time is ticking and member states are expected to build up and activate the system by 2011.
Most of the EU countries already have a migration program in hand but those individual programs are usually have a complex bureaucratic structure and not very appealing for the employers and employees. The EU Blue Card is designed for solving that problem, bringing a transparent and efficient solution for the employer and the employee. Most of the skilled workers were choosing United States as they are more flexible with migrating skilled workers. The EU want to change the situation with the EU Blue Card and grab more skilled workers to E.U. for solving the aging and lack of skilled worker problems in the EU.
There is criticism that new Blue Card scheme will accelerate the brain drainage from third world countries and leaving them with more problems however EU is confident that they can prevent unintended results by safety directives.
Member States Participating in EU Blue Card Scheme
Belgium
Bulgaria
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
