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IMMIGRATION

EXPLAINED: The 2022 salary requirements for Germany’s EU Blue Card

The salary requirements for EU Blue Card visa holders in Germany have fallen slightly this year. Here's a look at what you need to know.

Published: 10 January 2022 17:33 CET
Updated: 15 January 2022 10:10 CET
People walk in Cologne.
People walk in Cologne. Many third country nationals want to join the EU Blue Card scheme to live and work in Germany. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Oliver Berg

Many third country nationals want to apply for the EU Blue Card visa to work in Germany, or another EU country. 

The residence permit is aimed at attracting and enabling highly qualified third-country nationals to live in the EU. Authorities in Germany also want to plug the shortage of skilled workers in many employment sectors.

It comes with lots of benefits, including options to move around more freely within the EU, the right to to request and bring family members to the country they live in, and shortcuts for applying for permanent residency. 

But there are high salary thresholds that can make it difficult for people to get their hands on this visa. 

This year, the new salary requirements mean a few more people may be able to take advantage of the Blue Card scheme. 

When applying for a Blue Card in Germany in 2022, the applicant has to earn a minimum gross salary (before tax) of €56,400 – down from €56,800 in 2021. 

In so-called shortage occupations (Mangelberufe), where there is a high number of unfilled positions in Germany, the minimum gross salary is €43,992 – down from €44,304 in 2021.

Shortage occupations include employees in the sectors of mathematics, IT, natural sciences, engineering and medicine.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: How to get a ‘Blue Card’ to live and work in Germany

Britt Posey-Thomas, co-founder of Munich-based site Jetztpat, which helps foreigners settle into life in Germany, told The Local that the lower salary requirements were a sign that the new government is trying to attract more talent from around the world. 

“While expats – and their employers – can usually expect a 1-5 percent annual increase in the minimum salary for a German EU Blue Card, this year the threshold decreased by 0.7 percent.

“Part of the decrease reflects the national salary changes due to the pandemic, but it can also be seen as proof that the new administration is working hard to attract talent from around the world to come to Germany.”

Posey-Thomas said the decrease may seem small, “but we believe the impact will be felt by companies and individuals”.

“Out of the residence title options, Blue Cards give expats the most agency – accelerating the process towards permanent residency,” she said.

“What we’ve seen at Jetztpat, from both our personal and client experiences, is that this transition from visa to permanent settlement helps expats feel not only empowered but more invested in their life in Germany.

“Without the worry of having a visa, they are freer to live on their own terms, switching jobs, moving cities, or even founding their own companies. These benefits are invaluable to individuals who want to make Germany their home for the long term.”

In 2020, the salary requirement for EU Blue Card holders was €43,056 for those in shortage occupations, and €55,200 for workers in other industries and occupations. 

In 2020, the average income in Germany was €47,700 before tax, which corresponds to a monthly gross salary of €3,975 for a full-time job (35 to 40 hours a week is common for full-time in most companies). But there are large differences in earnings between different regions of the country.

REVEALED: How much do employees really earn across Germany? 

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WORKING IN GERMANY

Germany ranked fifth most popular destination for foreign workers

Germany is among the most popular destinations in the world for foreign workers to migrate to, according to a new study. But Germans themselves are reluctant to move abroad.

Published: 24 April 2024 11:32 CEST
Germany ranked fifth most popular destination for foreign workers

Encouraging skilled workers from abroad to migrate to Germany is a key issue right now, with the government aiming to transform the European powerhouse into a “modern migration country”. 

But according to the results of a widescale survey published on Wednesday, the Bundesrepublik already ranks highly as a desirable location for international workers to migrate to.

Management consultancy Boston Consulting Group, the job portal Stepstone and its umbrella organisation The Network surveyed 150,000 employees in 188 different countries to try and gauge the willingness to work abroad and the most attractive destinations to do so.

They found that Germany was the fifth most popular country for foreign workers to move to, coming in behind Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. Among non-English speaking countries, meanwhile, Germany ranked the highest.

In terms of cities that foreigners wanted to move to, Berlin landed in sixth place. London was the most popular city for foreign workers, followed by Amsterdam, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and New York.

According to the researchers, however, attractive jobs and a healthy job market were much more important to foreign workers than the desire to move to a particular country or city.

This was especially relevant for Germany: for almost three quarters of respondents (74 percent), job quality was the reason they choose Germany, while the healthcare system, for example, was only relevant for around a third (34 percent).

“In the competition for workers from abroad, the companies that offer talented people attractive working conditions as well as organisational support – for example when applying for work permits – will win,” said Jens Baier, a senior consultant at BSG who worked on the study.

“Unfortunately, this is often still very laborious in Germany.” 

READ ALSO: Why German companies want faster permits and more housing for foreign workers

Support with the immigration process was also expected by the majority of workers, with 77 percent saying they thought employers should offer significant help with relocation and applying for work permits.

Germans ‘relatively sedentary’

On a global level, researchers found that the willingness to move to a foreign country was high, coming in at around 60 percent of respondents.

Between October and December last year, almost a quarter of respondents were actively seeking work abroad.

For residents of Germany, however, relocating for work didn’t appear to be a high priority: just seven percent of the 14,000 people surveyed were looking for a job in a foreign country, with Austria and Switzerland ranking as the top destinations.

This was less than half the percentage of people from the UK, Italy and USA who said they dreamt of working abroad.

People from African countries, meanwhile, were most likely to want to relocate, while more than half (54 percent) of Indians also expressed a desire to live and work in a foreign land.

The results are likely to give a boost to Germany’s current government, which has recently passed sweeping citizenship and migration reforms with the aim of attracting an influx of skilled workers. 

READ ALSO: Germany’s plans to improve digital access to the labour market

However, there are signs that Germany may be losing some of its lustre as a destination for foreigners: back in 2018, the country managed to land in second place in the international rankings.

For Stepstone Group labour market expert Dr. Tobias Zimmermann, who co-authored the study, both the private and the public sector should be involved in making immigration easier for workers.

“Without immigration, we will not be able to maintain our prosperity,” Zimmermann said. “It is a huge opportunity that so many people are keen to move to Germany for a good job. Politics and business should work even more closely together to promote more flexible and faster labour market integration.”

Vocabulary

Migration of workers – (die) Arbeitsmigration

Attractiveness – (die) Anziehungskraft

Willingness – (die) Bereitschaft

Proportion – (der) Anteil

We’re aiming to help our readers improve their German by translating vocabulary from some of our news stories. Did you find this article useful? Let us know.

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