Germany to offer work visas against skill matrix

Seems the Germans believe that they are around 100,000 engineers and skilled workers short currently, in order to meet the needs of their technology companies.

With this in mind it is believed that an announcement is imminent regarding new Visa opportunities on either 16th or 23rd July.

This announcement will be based upon a poll of over 7,000 companies during which actual skill shortages have been identified.


Against a background of complaints from prospective employers of skilled personnel regarding draconian Visa req'ts, it seems the government have had to act in order to satisfy demand.


There is, however, a rider to this debate, the Government intends extending a ban on allowing former Eastern Bloc non-skilled workers to enter the labour market and thus dilute the current skill base and undermine the wage economy.

Does this mean Americans will lose out again?
It's not fair.

No, you're welcome to stay here.

Maybe we'll all go to Ireland instead.

Maybe this is a stupid question, but wouldnt American (and all non-eu) engineers benefit from this?

What's interesting is that they are talking about skill and not about formal qualifications recognized in Germany/the EU.

Meaning experienced engineers.

Yes, of course, those from outside the EU could benefit.

Having just landed an engineering job here when I can barely speak German (nothing to be proud of, but did not have much time before I came) I can attest personally to the strength of the market here right now. I also have a feeling (unconfirmed by any numbers) that part of the problem may be emigration of German engineers - they have a good reputation globally and there were heaps of them in my old company in Sydney, and I've met tonnes of German expats working in various different parts of the world.

Canada has been doing similar in the last few years in certain areas- engineering, nursing, long haul truck drivers, and skilled construction workers.

I suppose this is good news for High skilled migrants who are proficient in the German language (i.e. East Europe). For the rest it might look not that *WOW* once they put the "Zertificat Deutsch" as a prerequisite for the visa. Well asking for prior German knowledge is anyway not a bad idea but the problem is why would someone go through the trouble of learning a difficult language like German when they can migrate to an English speaking country (i.e The UK or Canada)