Europe Immigration News

The European Union Single Permit Directive is one step closer to being approved. This week the Civil Liberties and Employment Committees of the European Parliament backed the Single Permit Directive, which would give non-EU migrant workers in the EU the same status as EU nationals, allowing them to benefit from comparable working conditions, social security and access to public services. However, it remains to be seen how this will work in practice.

The European Union unveiled a new immigration strategy last week that outlines plans to attract more foreign workers in the coming years to deal with skills shortages and make it easier for immigrants to obtain visas.Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom announced several programs that she said would make it easier for legal immigrants to enter the EU; There will be a stronger focus on mobility and visa policy.

As the one year anniversary of Ireland's 85 billion euro international rescue bailout approaches, Ireland continues to experience high unemployment rates and financial difficulties, with an estimated 100 people emigrating to other countries every day.Irish emigration rose to the highest since the 19th century with an estimated 76,400 people emigrating in the year to April 2011; an increase of 11,100 on the 65,300 recorded in the year to April 2010, according to the Central Statistics Office of Ireland.

The European Union Blue Card allows entry of highly skilled migrants to work in an EU Country. The Blue Card is the EU's bid to attract highly skilled workers; The EU hopes that the EU Blue Card scheme will enable the EU to compete effectively against the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand for skilled migrants.

The European Commission has said that six European Union Member States had not complied with the Blue Card rules and had failed to implement the scheme by the deadline.

According to the Commission's press release, by not complying with EU rules, several Member States are making it too hard for highly skilled people to come to the EU for work. The Commission formally requested 6 Member States to comply with the rules of the Blue Card Directive, whose deadline for implementation expired on 19 June 2011.

Hungary has introduced the European Union blue card scheme which allows entry of skilled non-EU nationals to Hungary and certain other EU member states.

The EU blue card is issued to highly skilled workers who obtain a job offer and meets the requirements of the scheme. However only certain member states have agreed to take part in the scheme. Hungary will issue a blue card for up to four years to qualifying applicants.