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EU proposes ‘Blue Card’ for Third World professionals

BRUSSELS: There is good news for the thousands of highly skilled professionals in India and other Third World countries as the European Union (EU), faced with a rising shortage of highly qualified professionals and the low attractiveness of the national labour markets, has proposed an ‘EU Blue Card’ providing for residential and work permits to third country nationals on the lines of the ‘Green Card’ in the United States.

The proposal is aimed at making the EU more attractive for highly qualified immigrants who face difficulties in taking up such jobs in EU member-States, including the inability to carry along their families with them.

The proposal was introduced by the European Commission in October 2007 and is being negotiated by the member-States. Studies conducted by the EU have shown that EU as a whole attracts mainly low qualified immigrant workers while the highly skilled people prefer destinations such as the U.S., Canada and Australia.

“The proposal is under debate and discussion. There is a concern about migration and unequal treatment to migrant workers. All the member-States will have to agree so that unanimity is arrived on the Blue Card issue,”

Neena Gill, Member, European Parliament, and Chair of the Delegation for Relations with India in the EU, told visiting Indian journalists in Brussels, headquarters of the EU and European Parliament.

Ms. Gill said the perception in the EU about India has changed during the last two years and it is sitting up and taking notice of India. The focus is fast changing from the call centre jobs to other highly qualified service sectors.

India is a strong developing market and we need to respect and work with them, she said.

The ‘EU Blue Card’ proposal seeks to make the EU more attractive by accelerating and simplifying the procedures for admission of highly qualified immigrants; by introducing a special residence and work permit granting them – if admitted by a member-State – a very generous legal status and by facilitating their mobility throughout the EU.

It also would seek to set common criteria for being eligible to this particular immigration scheme.

This permit would provide the right to equal treatment with EU nationals in regard to a series of socio-economic rights, better conditions for family re-unification, as well as the possibility to move and work in all member-States.

“It is difficult to predict how quickly the member-States will agree on the content of the proposal, but taking into account previous experiences and the sharp division within the EU over such issues, this might take another two to three years to take off,” a senior EU official said.

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