Europe Immigration News

Germans are leaving their country in record numbers, but unlike previous waves of migrants who fled 19th century poverty or 1930s Nazi terror, these modern day refugees are trying to escape a new scourge -- unemployment.

Going as far away as the United States, Canada and Australia as well as Norway, the Netherlands and Austria more than 150,000 Germans packed their bags and left in 2004 -- the greatest exodus in any single year since the late 1940s.

Workpermit.com brings you a summary of what we consider to be the most monumental immigration news of 2005.

Australia launches biggest immigration drive in 40 years

The European Commission said that it wants the EU to welcome a limited number of legal immigrants by the end of the decade. Most EU member states are resisting the plan. The commission argues, however, that the EU needs workers, and that legal migration would help curb the scourge of people trafficking.

Behind the sterile white brick walls of Brunnenplatz school, Ahmet Ruhi Cosgun dreams of a professional soccer career - not at a German club, but at Galatasaray in Istanbul.

At 15, this son of Turkish immigrants knows just how unlikely that is. But international soccer stardom still seems more feasible than college in his native Germany.

The European Commission on Dec. 21 unveiled new plans on economic migration to the European Union aimed at creating legal alternatives to illegal immigration.

In order to boost Europe's attractiveness to highly qualified workers, the Union is considering introducing an EU work permit, it added. The scheme would be introduced by one member state but be valid throughout the 25-nation bloc.