Open door for IT workers

Citation

(2000), "Open door for IT workers", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 24 No. 8. https://doi.org/10.1108/jeit.2000.00324hab.003

Open door for IT workers

Open door for IT workers

Keywords: Information technology, Specialists, Recruitment

The German Cabinet has approved the so-called "green card" measure for foreign IT specialists which would permit the entry to Germany of up to 20,000 skilled computer staff from abroad over a period of three years.

Those to be allowed in will come from non-EU countries as there is already free movement of labour between Germany, Britain and the other European Union members. By 31 May, the German authorities had already received 5,700 applications, among them 1,200 from India, 500 from Algeria and 300 from Russia.

Although the ceiling is 20,000, the scheme will be re-examined after an initial 10,000 people have been recruited to see if any more specialists are really needed. Under the legislation, a specialist is someone with a university or polytechnic degree in IT and communications technology, as well as anyone employed as an IT specialist earning at least DM 100,000 a year.

The scheme keeps bureaucracy to a minimum. Employment offices must provide written assurance of a work permit within a week of the relevant papers being sent in.

The government is also promoting the training of more native German IT personnel. Together with the IT industry, it has agreed to boost the number of job training opportunities in new IT occupations by at least 20,000 to a total of 60,000 by the year 2003. In this way, it will help to cut joblessness and at the same time make the economy more competitive.

For more information, visit www.german-embassy.org.uk