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WORKING IN GERMANY

What happens to your EU Blue Card if you lose your job in Germany?

Losing your job can be an unpleasant experience at the best of times. But if it’s tied to your residency title, things can get much more stressful. Here’s what EU Blue Card holders in Germany need to know.  

Published: 31 January 2023 16:40 CET
Updated: 1 May 2023 07:03 CEST
Two Blue Cards for foreign skilled workers are on a table at the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees in Bavaria.
Two Blue Cards for foreign skilled workers are on a table at the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees in Bavaria. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Daniel Karmann

What is the EU Blue Card?

The EU Blue Card is a temporary residence title that is available to university graduates from non-EU countries. It is generally issued for a period of four years, or, if the employment contract is for a period of fewer than four years, it is issued for the duration of the employment contract plus three months.

In Germany, the EU Blue Card has been the main residence title for qualified professionals from abroad since August 1st, 2012.

Who can get an EU Blue Card?

In order to get an EU Blue Card, foreigners moving to Germany need to have a university degree, an employment contract or a binding job offer for a position with a minimum annual gross salary of €58,400.

READ ALSO: How to get fast-track permanent residency rights in Germany

For jobs in the fields of mathematics, computer science, natural sciences, engineering and human medicine (excluding dentistry), a reduced minimum annual gross salary of €45,552 applies in 2023 (salary limits are adjusted for each calendar year).

Will I lose my Blue Card if I change or lose my job?

You won’t automatically lose your Blue Card if you lose your job or decide to move to another company.

However, if you change jobs within the first two years of being employed in Germany, you will need to get approval from the local foreigners’ authority, who will check if the conditions for issuing a new Blue Card are met.

If you lose your job, you have a three-month period during which you can look for another qualified position. If you find a new job within this time, you will then have to get a new German Blue Card updated with your new employment details.

READ ALSO: ‘Traumatising’: Foreign residents share stories from German immigration offices

If you don’t manage to find a new job within the three-month time frame, you can apply for a residence title for a job search – an Aufenthaltserlaubnis zur Arbeitsplatzsuche – which can be issued for a maximum period of six months. Within this period, you will need to find a job that relates to your qualifications. 

How many Blue Card holders are there in Germany?

According to the figures from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, at the end of 2021, there were around 70,000 EU Blue Card holders registered as living in Germany.

Member comments

  1. For jobs in the fields of mathematics, computer science, natural sciences, engineering…, a reduced minimum annual gross salary of €45,552 applies in 2023. We do this in the US too. We offer STEM workers from India low wages. Once they’ve gotten a green card, they can hop employers and they don’t have to put up with the abuse. Then they are offered a more appropriate wage ($80,000-$150,000) for their work. It takes 20 or more years to get a green card if you’re from India. Indentured servitude.

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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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