A sign of the difficulty of resolving disagreements within the EU on immigration and asylum issues (with the exception of visas and border controls) is that no new legislation has been adopted on these issues since 2016 (this was the revised Directive on the admission of students, researchers and trainees discussed here). This five-year drought could soon come to an end with the recent agreement on the revision of the Blue Card Directive on highly qualified workers from third countries. (Note that the latest agreement still needs to be formally approved by the Council and the European Parliament. This blog post is based on the full legal text of the agreed revised policy. UPDATE, May 21, 2021: The full text of the agreed policy has now been published by Statewatch). From August 2020, European countries will differ significantly in the number of Blue Cards issued. Cyprus, Greece and the Netherlands have not yet issued cards, while Germany had issued 27,000 at the top, followed by France with 1,500. [11] After receiving the Blue Card, the applicant must inform the immigration authorities if he changes jobs within 2 years and is not allowed to work in other EU countries for 18 months. On 20 November 2008, the European Parliament supported the introduction of the Blue Card, recommended certain safeguards against the brain drain and called for more flexibility for EU Member States. [8] However, many of these proposals were ignored in subsequent legislation passed on May 25, 2009. Some compromises have been made, such as “Member States set quotas for Blue Card holders or ban them altogether if they see fit”. [Citation needed] Blue Card rules could also pose problems with the EU`s Permanent Residence Directive. Some EU Member States do not respect the implementation of the EU Blue Card programme.
Although Austria, Cyprus and Greece were notified in July 2011, they have not yet transposed the provisions of the Blue Card Directive, which should have been transposed before 19 June 2011. [9] Today, the revision of this map is a much debated subject. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the aging and declining of healthcare professionals. Attempts have been made to make the Blue Card more attractive to solve this problem, but so far none have been successful. [10] Even years after the transposition deadline [When?], some Member States (such as Spain and Belgium) are not yet required to adopt the law in its entirety or to fully grant the rights promised in the Directive. Think tanks have already presented ideas to complete the Blue Card and its weaknesses. [12] The European Parliament and the Council have not yet formally confirmed the political agreement by adopting the EU Blue Card Directive. Following the formal adoption of the Directive, Member States will have 2 years to transpose the rules into national law.
The United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark voted against the 2009 Directive and the 2016 proposal. However, once the current Directive has left the EU, it is relevant and the revised Directive will be relevant for UK citizens who wish to move to the EU after the end of the transition period provided for in the Withdrawal Agreement, i.e. from the beginning of 2021. EU Member States have not yet approved the new rules. They then have two years to bring their own laws into line with the European Parliament`s directive. Many European countries, including Germany, are experiencing a huge shortage of skilled workers – a shortage that has been exacerbated by a drop in migration due to the coronavirus pandemic. Population ageing also contributes to concerns about labour shortages. The Council of the EU and the European Parliament have reached a provisional agreement on amendments to the EU Blue Card Directive to make the authorisation, which targets highly qualified local staff, more accessible and attractive. Among the main changes proposed are: Ylva Johansson, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, said: “Migrant workers are already making an important contribution to the EU economy. But our aging and declining society means we must continue to attract skills and talent from abroad. Today`s agreement is a key element of the new Pact on Migration and Asylum, which will allow us to normalise our migration policy. Revisions to EU legislation (Blue Card Directive) were adopted in May this year, five years after they were initially proposed.
The Blue Card proposal was adopted on 23 September. Presented at a press conference in Strasbourg in October 2007 by the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso and the Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security, Franco Frattini. Barroso explained the reasons for the proposal as follows: the future shortage of workers and skills in the EU; the difficulty for workers from third countries to move between different Member States for professional purposes; adversarial admission procedures for the 27 different Member States and the “legal gap” between EU citizens and legal immigrants. [4] The proposal was presented at the same time as another proposal, COM(2007) 638, which includes a simplified application procedure and a common set of rights for legal third-country nationals. .