globalresidency.com » Work Permit

Germany eases immigration laws for professionals

GRNews — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 05:15:42 +0000

On March 23rd Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet has passed legistlation that aims to make it easier for foreign professionals to get their qualifications recognized and use their skills in Germany.

“You can still find the doctor from Israel or Turkey whose job qualifications are not being approved,” Education Minister Annette Schavan told reporters in Berlin. “We need different rules, rules that do justice to today’s globalized world and mobility.”

The new law still needs to pass Germany’s lower and upper house of parliament later this year.

The law targets foreign professionals from all over the world and will apply to those already living in Germany as well as prospective newcomers. Citizens from fellow European Union nations are already overwhelmingly allowed to work freely in all of the bloc’s 27 member nations.

“There is a young generation out there today that naturally plans its careers as taking place on different continents,” Schavan said, implying that Germany no longer wants to lose out on international high achievers, who often prefer the United States, Canada or the United Kingdom over Germany.

Germany’s booming economy is especially aggravated by a shortage of engineers — there were some 80,600 open jobs in the profession last month, according to the Association of German Engineers.

Physicians are also desperately needed. A doctors association, Marburger Bund, says the country lacks 12,000 physicians at hospitals and 3,000 general practitioners.

“We now have a lack of 400,000 engineers, master craftsmen and skilled workers,” Hans Heinrich Driftmann of the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce DIHK said recently. “We’re already losing one percent of our economic growth and in the future this shortage will only get worse.”

Of Work Permits, Green Grass, and Landscaping in Bermuda

GRNews — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 18:08:10 +0000

Aren’t work permits about the green grass on the other side. Here is a grassy story from Bermuda that was in the news last week.

There is a grassy storm brewing in Bermuda, around the country’s decision to stop issuing work permits for certain occupations. Employers are concerned that the lack of staff will force them to shut down. The issue might actually get the landscaping companies to organize as the Bermuda Landscaping Association.

UK firms feel adverse impact of immigration cap

GRNews — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 21:16:06 +0000

The immigration cap introduced in UK is having a significant negative impact on businesses, as per a survey recently conducted.

The survey was done with 550 senior HR professionals, with a combined workforce of over 2 million.

The recently introduced restriction on the number of visas, has compounded the challenge of an increasing skills gap in the nation. While in 2009, one in five organizations were experiencing a shortage of key staff; in 2010 the problem grew to one in three organizations.

Increased staff turnover and sickness absence were identified as the consequential challenges of having skills shortages.

Download the State of HR survey (pdf format)

Read the full press release.

globalresidency.com » Work Permit

Germany eases immigration laws for professionals

Related External Links

Of Work Permits, Green Grass, and Landscaping in Bermuda

UK firms feel adverse impact of immigration cap