BEIJING, Oct. 24 -- The European Union is
planning a "blue card" to lure highly skilled migrants by offering financial and
housing benefits, and cutting red tape.
The 27-nation bloc is trying to compete with the U.S.
"green card" system and schemes in other Western countries for the
best-qualified migrant labor which is increasingly important to plug labor gaps
in the aging developed world.
The scheme, proposed by the European Commission
Tuesday, would offer candidates a fast-track procedure to get work permits.
It would make it easier for them to work in another
EU country, have their family join them, receive public housing and get
long-term residency status, a draft shows.
To qualify for a blue card, a migrant would need an
EU job contract of at least one year guaranteeing a salary of at least three
times the minimum wage in the country concerned plus health insurance, the text
shows.
The proposal "aims... to improve the EU's ability to
attract, and where necessary, to retain highly qualified workers," the draft
text to be approved by the EU executive says.
"The EU as a whole... seems not to be considered
attractive by highly qualified professionals in a context of very high
international competition," the text says, referring in particular to the United
States and Canada.
The scheme must gain approval from all 27 member
states and faces resistance in some countries, notably Germany.
The holder of a card would be able to have his or her
family join them, at the latest, six months after having asked for it and
without having to prove that he or she had reasonable prospects of obtaining a
permanent residence permit.
The holder of an EU blue card would be treated in the
same way as EU nationals regarding tax benefits, social assistance, and payment
of pensions when moving to another country.
The migrant should also be entitled to the same
access to public housing and study grants, although a member government could
chose to do so only after the person had stayed three years in its territory.
The blue card would be valid for up to two years and
could then be renewed. It could be revoked if its holder loses his or her job
and is unemployed for more than three months.
The EU executive will also propose making it easier
for young high-skilled migrants to get the blue card.
Those under 30 years old would need only to earn
twice the minimum wage to be entitled to the scheme. Governments could decide to
waive the salary requirement altogether if the migrant had obtained a bachelor's
or master's degree in an EU state.
If they agree to the law, EU states would then have
two years to implement it.
(Source: China Daily/Agencies)
