The European Union is set to unveil a Blue Card for skilled immigrants, based on the Green card in the United States.
The EU has said that it needs 20 million skilled immigrants over the next 20 years
Telmo Baltazar, a spokesperson for EU’S Vice president, Commissioner Franco Franttini explained, that the proposal will help tackle the demographic problem resolving from Europe’s aging population which has affected the highly skilled labour force. The creation of the EU blue card will introduce a single application procedure based on a set of common criteria.
Immigrants applying for the blue card will be highly qualified individuals who will be employed on a set of criteria such as the existence of a job contract, a salary threshold and possibly the existence of specific or professional qualification from the individual. The primary idea is to deal with the aging population with demographic challenges ahead while remaining competitive.
Moavia Ahmed of the Greek forum of Migrants says the Blue card will not really help because the main problem is not another kind of resident permit but the outline of the whole immigration policy that the EU adopts. Europe has different kind of permits, in Greece there are 34 kinds of resident permits. The basic issue is giving rights to the immigrants. Besides, what kind of rights will these immigrants have? This is just a band aid as the most salient issue is yet to be addressed. Is Europe really willing to accept other cultures and races?
Posted in Immigration