|
|
 |
Immigration to Germany
“German Green Cards for IT Professionals”
 Germany with the largest economy in Europe has the greatest shortage of IT staff. The German Information Technology Association estimates that twenty-five percent of IT vacancies remain unfilled. Germany and the UK together account for half of Europe's IT industry, and IT staff are among the largest beneficiaries of the c75,000 work permits issued each year by each of these countries.
To cope with the continuing shortage of highly qualified IT professionals the German Government in summer 2000 introduced the so-called ‘German Green Card’ for IT specialists. The programme launched by Federal Chancellor Schroder radically streamlined and sped up the process of bringing in non-EEA nationals to work as IT professionals in Germany.
In the end of July 2002, on the occasion of the German Green Card initiative’s two year anniversary, the German Government announced that it considered the programme a full success - c12.500 GGC’s had been issued. The Government believes that as a result of this, the German economy had become more competitive, and each Green Card holder had indirectly ‘created’ up to three additional jobs for Germans. It was furthermore announced that the German Green Card programme will be continued up to 31st July, 2003.
|
|
