After Canada made way for more immigrants due to the rising demand for skilled workers, it is now Germany’s turn. The German government said that it plans to ease entry rules for immigrants from outside the European Union.
Europe’s biggest economy needs about 4,00,000 skilled immigrants each year as the country’s ageing workforce shrinks, particularly to fill vacancies in the health care, IT and construction sectors.
“We’ve known for years that we’re going to have a demographic problem but nothing was done about it,” Economy Minister Robert Habeck said in Berlin.
Cabinet agreed on a draft proposal that would help would-be immigrants from outside the EU get their skills and qualifications recognised and lower bureaucratic hurdles — such as language requirements — for some sectors such as IT.
Labor Minister Hubertus Heil said that apart from providing more language training abroad, Germany would also have to do more to highlight what it has to offer if it wants to compete with other countries for skilled workers.
The proposal needs to be debated in parliament before lawmakers pass a bill reforming immigration law.
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