Germany needs skilled immigrants in thousands

Indian techies get the option of being offered the EU Blue Card in Europe, giving them an opportunity to work and eventually settle down there. In Germany alone, there are huge skill shortages, especially in the areas of IT, Mathematics Engineering, Healthcare and Natural Sciences, which the country is looking to fill with foreign skilled workers. A study conducted by the Institute for Employment Research in 2011, which is based in Nuremberg,  revealed that with the current skilled labour shortage and the contracting German population, it is expected that the country’s labour force will decline by almost 7 million by 2025.  For Germany to maintain its economic power, the study estimated that the country would require adding about 400,000 skilled immigrants to its workforce every year. To be eligible for a blue card here, a techie needs to bag a job offer from a German employer with a gross salary of €39,624 per year for shortage occupations and €50,800 per year for occupations, which do not have skill shortages. Germany has also on offer a job-seeker visa, allowing professionals to enter the country and search for a job there. Successful candidates can later convert this visa to a long-term work visa or a PR.