Billed as the European equivalent to the United States Green Card, the new European Union Blue Card proposal and the secondary directive establishing basic rights for workers aim to strengthen the European market by encouraging highly skilled non-EU national workers to seek employment in the European Union (EU). This Commentary, written by Natasha Chell and Meghan Vozila, of Laura Devine Solicitors, London, provides an analysis of the recent proposals and their ramifications for Member States from the perspective of UK immigration practitioners.
Excerpt:
Impact of the Blue Card Proposal on Current Immigration Legislation. The implementation of such a scheme would greatly infringe on each Member State’s sovereignty to regulate and control economic immigration within its borders. Already, the implementation of European Directive 2004/38 allows EU nationals who exercise treaty rights (e.g., work and study in another Member State) free movement rights outside the remit of the Member States’ immigration control.
The Scope of the Criteria Is Too Narrow to Accommodate Economic Immigration.
Practitioners must be cautioned that all foreign skilled workers will not fit easily into three objectively strict criteria. The criteria proposed under the Blue Card are too narrow in scope and cannot serve as a blanket covering all potential skilled applicants seeking to immigrate to the EU.
The Requirement That the Applicant Must Have an Employment Contract Is Too
Onerous. The Blue Card requirement that the applicant posses an employment contract will burden the potential skilled applicant, who may be unable to secure employment in advance of entering the EU. Practitioners should also take into account that, under the current proposal, the qualified worker would be tied to one employer/employment contract for the initial non-settlement period of two years, unless the directive provides arrangements to switch employers without the worker’s losing the Blue Card holder status.