The EU Blue Card Directive and its Review

European Commission - DG Home Affairs

Unit “Immigration and Integration”

This presentation does not represent the official position of the European Commission. The views expressed are those of the authors. Please do not quote or use any part of it without the authors' permission.

30/11/2015

Jan Saver

The need for a labour migration policy• Migration, including for work, is inherent to a large, open economy

such as the EU: a question of management and optimisation

• EU is popular among highly-qualified (potential) migrants, yet relatively few make it here• Current: 60 % of low-educated migrants choses EU, 60 % of highly-

educated choses non-EU OECD destinations• Potential: 33 % of all highly-educated intending to migrate prefers the

EU/EEA vs 19 % preferring the US

• Net immigration cushions the effect of demographic ageing

• EU economy needs to address labour shortages, including through migration if necessary, to remain competitive• Top bottleneck occupations are in health, ICT, engineering, sales and

finance• Low mobility of EU citizens

1. The Directive

History of the Blue Card Directive 2007: Proposal for a for a Council Directive on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purposes of highly qualified employment

Relatively long negotiations (under pre-Lisbon rules): • Opposition of some MSs• More optional “may”-clauses and references to national law• More restrictive provisions than in proposal

May 2009: final adoption of the Council

December 2009: Lisbon Treaty into force

1. The Directive

Purpose

1. The Directive

• Improve attractiveness of EU

• Facilitate admission and mobility

• Harmonise entry and residence conditions

• Simplify admission procedures

• Improve legal status

EU attractiveness: multifaceted

Legislation: not just admission

But, also:• Wages and working conditions• Economic situation• Educational systems, family support• Attitude towards migrants• Prospects for career and personal development

1. The Directive

• Applicable in 25 Member States (not in UK, DK, IE)

• Third-country nationals (TCN) = non-EU citizens• different from "mobility" of EU citizens/workers

• Highly qualified workers: • higher professional qualifications: higher education qualification (studies of min. 3 years) or at least five years of relevant professional experience.

• Paid employees• Not self-employed workers, service providers or entrepreneurs

1. The Directive

Scope

Main elements• Work contract or binding job offer (min. 1 year)• Minimum salary requirement

• At least 1,5 times the average gross annual salary in the MS concerned

• Optional for MSs: lower salary threshold of at least 1,2 times for bottleneck professions

• Relevant higher professional qualifications (and for regulated professions: meet the legal requirements in MS)

• Valid travel document, proof of health insurance

• Possible grounds for refusal:• Threat to public policy, public security or public health, labour market test,

ethical recruitment restrictions and caps on volumes of admission

• Extensive rights for Blue Card holder and family

• Several optional provisions giving Member States flexibility in implementation

1. The Directive

Comparison EU Blue Card with national HSW schemes

Source: Eurostat

2. Statistics

  2012 2013 2014

  Blue CardsNational schemes

Blue Cards National schemes

Blue Cards National schemes

EU28   33.321   32.458   35.527

EU25 3.664 19.755 12.964 21.940 13.724 24.913

BE 0 95 5 73 19 2.484

BG 15 0 14 0 21 0

CZ 62 69 72 69 104 46

DK not applicable 4.088 not applicable 5.730   5.698

DE 2.584 210 11.580 11 12.108 13

EE 16 0 12 0 15 0

IE not applicable 1.408 not applicable 1.707   2.438

EL 0 0 n.y.a. 0   0

ES 461 1.231 313 1.480 39 2.137

FR 126 3.037 371 2.667 597 2.561

HR in force: 2013 n.y.a. 10 565 7 0

IT 6 1.695 87 1.543 165 1.066

CY 0 600 0 385 0 469

LV 17 106 10 82 32 122

LT in force: 2013 0 26 0 92 0

LU 183 21 236 0 262 0

HU 1 0 4 0 5 0

MT 0 0 4 0 2 0

NL 1 5.514 3 7.046 0 7.123

AT 124 1.158 108 1.228   1.083

PL 2 206 16 387 46 688

PT 2 313 4 767 3 989

RO 46 0 71 0 190 0

SI 9 0 3 0 8 0

SK 7 0 8 0 6 0

FI 2 749 5 971 3 1.120

SE in force: 2013 4.751 2 4.666 0 5.012

UK not applicable 8.070 not applicable 3.081   2.478

EU Blue Cards by citizenship in 2014- Top 20

Source: Eurostat

117 nationalities in total

1 India 2.585 18,84%

2 Russia 1.175 8,56%

3China (including Hong Kong) 998 7,27%

4 United States 837 6,10%

5 Ukraine 761 5,55%

6 Syria 554 4,04%

7 Egypt 464 3,38%

8 Turkey 442 3,22%

9 Iran 426 3,10%

10 Serbia 402 2,93%

11 Brazil 289 2,11%

12 Mexico 269 1,96%

13 Tunisia 260 1,89%

14 Canada 223 1,62%

15 Pakistan 219 1,60%

16 Japan 199 1,45%

17 Jordan 176 1,28%

18 FYROM 169 1,23%

19 Belarus 163 1,19%

20 Australia 162 1,18%

2. Statistics

Source: Eurostat

EU Blue Cards by occupation, 2014Total 2014 13.724    Unknown 12.309 89,69%ISCO08 Known

occupation1.415 10,31%

OC1 Managers 434 30,67%OC11 Chief

executives, senior officials and legislators

32 2,26%

OC12 Administrative and commercial managers

163 11,52%

OC13 Production and specialised services managers

232 16,40%

OC14 Hospitality, retail and other services managers

7 0,49%

OC2 Professionals 981 69,33%OC21 Science and

engineering professionals

576 40,71%

OC22 Health professionals

15 1,06%

OC23 Teaching professionals

12 0,85%

OC24 Business and administration professionals

162 11,45%

OC25 Information and communications technology professionals

136 9,61%

OC26 Legal, social and cultural professionals

80 5,65%

Professionals

Managers

2. Statistics

Based on available data on thresholds in 2013 (where not available 2012 data)

3. Implementation

Policy choices by Member States: salary threshold

BC > 1,5 average salary in MS

BC = 1,5 average salary in MS

BC < 1,5 average salary in MS

• 1 year: BG, CY, ES, LT, MT and PT• 13 months: BE• 2 years: AT, CZ, EL, FI, IT, LU, PL, RO, SE and SI• 2 years and 3 months: EE • 3 years: FR and SK • 4 years: DE, HU and NL • 5 years: LV

Duration work contract + 3 months if the work contract or binding job offer covers a period less than the standard period of validity: All MS except BE, FR and ES

3. Implementation

Policy choices by Member States: validity

Who can apply?• TCN applicant: majority of MS • Employer: CY, ES, FR, IT and MT• Applicant and employer: BE and LV • Applicant or employer: NL, AT, PT and SI • Lawyer: allowed in AT and NL

Where?• Outside or in the MS with valid residence permit or national long-stay visa: most MS• Derogation: legally present in MS: all MS except BG, EL, ES, FR, IT, LV, PL and RO

3. Implementation

Policy choices by Member States: who can apply from where?

The Blue Card as a political priorityPresident-elect Junker's Political Guidelines (July 2014)“I want Europe to become at least as attractive as the favourite migration destinations such as Australia, Canada and the USA. As a first step, I intend to review the “Blue Card” legislation and its unsatisfactory state of implementation.”

European Agenda on migration (May 2015)“A review of the Directive will look at how to make it more effective in attracting talent to Europe. The review will include looking at issues of scope such as covering entrepreneurs who are willing to invest in Europe, or improving the possibilities for intra EU mobility for Blue Card holders.”

President Juncker’s State of the Union speech (September 2015) “The Commission will come forward with a well-designed legal migration package in early 2016.” > Legal migration package in March 2016

•

4. The Review

Evaluation• Examination of functioning of the existing EU Blue Card Directive• Assessment of the baseline situation as reference point for potential further policy measures

Impact assessment analysis for potential revision of EU Blue Card Directive• Develop policy options• Assessment of the impacts of the policy options

Support instruments• Stakeholder consultations• Expert consultations• Study to support evaluation and impact assessment

Review of the Blue Card

4. The Review

Online open public consultation• On the EU Blue Card and the EU’s labour migration policies• Targets broadest public possible• 27 May – 30 Sept 2015• Online, in all official EU languages• 626 contributions

Member States• Public consultation• Bilateral meetings• European Migration Network• Trade Policy Committee

Businesses• Public consultation• Expert Group on Economic Migration• 5 November 2015: Meeting with and targeted consultation of German business associations

Social partners• Public consultation• Expert Group on Economic Migration• 3 December 2015: Presentation for and targeted consultation of Labour Market Observatory (LMO) of European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)

(potential) Blue Card holders• Public consultation• Large-scale survey & research project by DE (BAMF) on Blue Card holders

Others (EU citizens, third countries, NGOs, IOs,…)• Public consultation

Stakeholders

4. The Review

Issues under consideration

Increase the role for employers in the admission process: facilitation for accredited employers

Revising the procedures: faster, on the territory,…

Expanding the scope: medium

skilled workers, entrepreneurs,

investors, service providers, highly-

skilled (potential) applicants of

international protection,…

EU-wide point-based

system with fast-track

procedure

Combinations of legislative & non-legislative policy options

Ensuring the effective implementation of current legislation: guidelines on interpretation, enhanced MS cooperation

Boost promotion of the EU Blue Card

scheme to employers and potential

migrants: targeted websites, online

visibility, roadshows,…

Facilitating the

recognition of foreign

qualifications Better matching of

employers and third-

country national job-

seekers

Enhancing third-country

cooperation: mobility

partnerships

Relationship with national schemes for highly skilled: complementary or competition?

Expression of interest

system creating an EU-wide

pool of skilled migrants…

Revising the admission conditions:

salary threshold and/or higher

professional qualifications (higher

education qualifications and/or 5 years

equivalent experience

Revising the intra-EU

mobility: easier

mobility for new job;

allow working in other

MS for same employer

for limited periods

Revising the rights: grant faster access to LTR status, family reunification,…

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Next steps: define policy options & assess their impacts 4. The Review

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