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VISAS

COMPARED: Germany’s Chancenkarte vs. Austria’s Red-White-Red card for skilled non-EU workers

In their race to recruit expert workers, Germany and Austria have recently announced overhauls to the visas skilled non-EU citizens can get. Germany’s Chancenkarte or 'opportunity card' and Austria’s 'Red-White-Red' card both aim to make it easier for skilled non-EU workers to take up jobs in the two countries. But how do they compare?

Is it possible to get a working holiday visa in Switzerland? Photo by ConvertKit on Unsplash
One reader recommends mapping out which visa to apply for and when, before you ever arrive. Photo by ConvertKit on Unsplash

The skills shortages in Germany and Austria have become recent and urgent priorities for both governments. At least 124,000 jobs need filling in Austria and the government estimates the actual need could be double that number. Germany’s Labour Ministry estimates it currently needs to recruit around 400,000 foreign workers a year – just to keep up.

As two German-speaking countries, Germany and Austria are competing for a lot of the same skilled talent. So aside from the other aspects of living in either country – which one is offering a better visa regime?

Here, it depends a lot on your situation and priorities. As an example, each country’s EU Blue Card scheme works a little bit differently. Germany’s generally requires a higher minimum salary than Austria’s. But Germany’s also makes getting permanent residence later a little bit easier – so potential applicants have to consider some trade-offs.

READ ALSO: Germany or Austria: Where is it easier to get an EU Blue Card?

The new German Chancenkarte, or ‘opportunity card’ – how it’s set to make looking for work in Germany easier

For those who aren’t necessarily eligible for an EU Blue Card in Germany or Austria, other types of work or jobseeker visas exist.

Foreign specialists looking for a job in Germany typically need a job offer related to their professional qualification, and the German employment agency must approve the job offer. Applicants older than 45 must also have an annual salary of at least €46,530 (2023 values) – if they are coming to Germany for the first time. Even this minimum salary is lower than the threshold needed for an EU Blue Card in Germany.

But what if you don’t have a formal job offer?

The current traffic light government of the Social Democrats (SPD), Greens, and liberal Free Democrats (FDP) wants skilled people to also be able to come to Germany to look for work. The Chancenkarte – set to pass the Bundestag in the next few months – is designed to help non-EU nationals do this on a points basis.

German Bundestag

The German Bundestag is set to pass the new “opportunity card” or Chancenkarte – in the next few months, allowing some skilled workers to come to Germany to look for work even without a job offer. Photo: Felix Mittermeier/Pixabay

To be eligible for it, applicants have to broadly fulfill three out of these four conditions – meaning that applicants could still be considered for the Chancenkarte if they don’t have a formal job offer and are still missing one of these:

  • A university degree or professional qualification
  • Professional experience of at least three years
  • German language skills or previous residence in Germany (higher language skills give more points)
  • Under 35 years-old

The Chancenkarte thus differs from the current jobseeker visa, which lets people come to Germany to look for work if they have:

  • a qualification recognised in Germany and a practice permit for a regulated profession
  • proof a German language skills (typically to B1 level)
  • proof of ability to pay living costs

Designed to be more flexible, in the right circumstances, a future Chancenkarte holder could end up including a young person who has no university degree but both language skills and work experience. The German employer may be able to then hire this person, if they can work out a plan that allows the employee to upgrade their qualifications accordingly for the German job market.

Other future Chancenkarte holders might also include someone who doesn’t yet speak German but who is young with both a university degree and job experience, or a recent graduate with no experience but has appropriate language skills.

The government is looking to give Chancenkarte holders the ability to look for a job in Germany for one year. That’s longer than the current jobseeker visa’s six-month term. Holders are also allowed to engage in part-time or trial employment, allowing the employer to get to know the potential employee before hiring them on full-time.

READ ALSO: How to apply for Germany’s new ‘opportunity card’ and other visas for job seekers

Austria’s “Red-White-Red” card – the advantages for certain professions

Because Germany’s Chancenkarte is still in the draft law phase – even if expected to be approved soon – we know a lot more about the specifics of Austria’s Red-White-Red card.

Firstly, Germany’s Chancenkarte is designed for flexibility and is intended to allow potential skilled workers to come to the country even if they don’t have a job offer. By contrast, most applicants for an Austrian Red-White-Red card must have a job offer. Austria’s Red-White-Red card is also more specifically targeted, maintaining different points schemes for different types of skilled workers. 

Furthermore, Austria’s point system for the Red-White-Red card gives additional advantages to graduates in STEM subjects like math, engineering, natural sciences or technology – if they are applying under the “Very Highly Qualified Workers” scheme of the Red-White-Red card.

At the same time, a Red-White-Red applicant in a “shortage occupation,” may find it slightly easier than other applicants to get enough points to qualify for a Red-White-Red card. Shortage occupations include many types of experts who will have had a high level of academic advanced education – like engineers or physicians. But many shortage occupations in Austria also include skilled workers with vocational training, such as roofers, masseuses, bakers, and carpenters. Some shortage occupations are Austria-wide, while others are region-specific. You can find the full list at the available links.

Most non-EU applicants for Austria’s points-based Red-White-Red card will need to secure a job offer before getting the card, unlike with Germany’s planned Chancenkarte. Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko from Pexels

Certain “Other Key Workers” may also be able to apply for a Red-White-Red card, provided they have enough points, no equally qualified registered jobseeker at the Public Employment Service can be placed, and they are paid a minimum monthly salary of €2,925. Certain seasonal workers can also apply if they’ve worked for at least seven months of the last two years in that occupation and have at least A2 level German. These people also need job offers.

The only potential Red-White-Red applicants who don’t need job offers are self-employed key workers and start-up founders. Both of these applicants though, need to prove a minimum level of capital, amongst other requirements.

Successful applicants for a Red-White-Red card may then work in Austria for up to two years, at which point they may apply to extend their work permission through a Red-White-Red Plus card, which gives the holder unlimited access to the Austrian labour market that isn’t bound to any specific employer.

READ ALSO: How Austria is making it easier for non-EU workers to get residence permits

German – and English – language skills: How the Chancenkarte and Red-White-Red value languages

The other big difference between the German Chancenkarte and the Austrian Red-White-Red revolves around the points awarded for German or English skills.

In general, Austria’s Red-White-Red tends to require a lower level of German language skills in order to achieve points in an applicant’s favour. For example, applicants in shortage occupations will get five points for the most basic level of German – A1. That increases to 10 points for A2 and 15 points for B1 – to a maximum possible 15 points from German language skills.

By contrast, the current draft plans for the German Chancenkarte would require an applicant to have C1 German – the second-highest possible level – to get maximum points under language skills. Even B2 German – an upper intermediate level where speakers can begin to make advanced arguments – only yields a Chancenkarte hopeful partial points.

A German for Dummies language book sits atop a desk next to a pen and a cup of coffee. Photo by Jan Antonin Kolar on Unsplash

Getting points for language skills is generally easier under Austria’s Red-White-Red card system than Germany’s proposed Chancenkarte. Photo by Jan Antonin Kolar on Unsplash

Furthermore, Austria places English language skills on a mostly equal footing with German language skills – with basic A1 English being enough to get some workers partial points under the Austrian Red-White-Red scheme. A skilled worker looking to apply under Red-White-Red who can speak both English and German at a B1 level would already achieve the maximum number of points an applicant can get from languages under the Austrian Red-White-Red system.

By comparison, the German government has not announced plans to give out points under the Chancenkarte system specifically for English language skills, even if some applicants will be able to get enough points to get one even without speaking German at a high level. We should stress though, that the German Chancenkarte legislation is still in the draft phase and could change in some ways before it’s passed.

Flexibility and language trade-offs

The German Chancenkarte may ultimately end up being a more flexible option for skilled workers who want to come to Germany first before they commit to any one particular employer. It may also end up being more favourable for people who don’t come from the shortage professions that Austria is specifically targeting, for example. By contrast, getting a Red-White-Red card in Austria almost always requires a specific job offer.

Yet some applicants who snag a job offer may find it easier to qualify for Austria’s Red-White-Red card if they have a lower level of German language skills – particularly if they can speak English – which Austria’s points system values in a way that Germany isn’t considering.

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For members

GERMAN CITIZENSHIP

What are the next steps for Germany’s long-awaited dual nationality law?

Germany's new citizenship bill had its first reading in the Bundestag on Thursday after months of waiting. What did we learn from the key debate and what's next for the landmark reform?

What are the next steps for Germany's long-awaited dual nationality law?

After months and months of waiting, “I’ll believe it when I see it” has become many people’s response to hearing about the upcoming dual nationality law.

But on Thursday, November 30th, the bill finally made its way to the Bundestag for its first reading and entered the last furlong in its journey to becoming law. 

If you’re one of the people waiting on tenterhooks to see Germany’s citizenship rules eased up, the good news is: it’s coming. In fact, it even looks like dual nationality and shorter residence requirements could become a reality in spring next year. 

But before the law comes into force, there are a few more hurdles it needs to clear.

What happens after the Bundestag debate?

Thursday’s debate marked the first of three readings that the citizenship law will need to pass in the Bundestag.

The first is always the main opportunity politicians have to debate the law and argue for changes – or, in the case of the opposition conservatives, to say the bill is terrible and needs to be thrown out completely. (Don’t worry, that’s not going to happen!)  

After this first reading, the bill then gets passed on to various committees. Unlike the parliamentary debate, which is mainly about political grandstanding, it’s here behind closed doors that the real work starts to happen. Politicians will chew over what the bill looks like and discuss what kind of amendments need to be made – if any at all.

This means that when the bill returns to the debating chamber for its second reading, it may look different from when it arrived there the first time around.

READ ALSO: TIMELINE: When will Germany push through the new dual citizenship law?

Having just cleared its first reading on Thursday, the citizenship reform bill is currently in that all-important committee stage. If we’re going to see any tweaks to the law, those will happen in these committee meetings over the coming weeks. 

So when will the citizenship bill get its next outing in public? Well, at the moment it looks like that could be next year. 

Turkish and German passport

A German and Turkish passport are held up in parliament in Kiel. Photo: picture alliance / Carsten Rehder/dpa | Carsten Rehder

With politicians jetting off to their favourite ski resorts for Christmas after December 15th, there’s only a very narrow window for any changes to made and for the bill to return to the debating chamber. That means that the next reading will probably happen once MPs return from their break on January 15th.

If that feels like a long time, the good news is that the second and third reading can often happen in very quick succession. In fact, if there are no extra amendments proposed during the second reading, the third happens directly after that. This is when the bill goes to a vote. 

Then all it takes is for the bill to be rubber-stamped in the Bundesrat and by the Chancellor and President before it finally becomes law. There’s usually a three-month delay while public officials try and get organised and implement the changes, which means we’re hopefully going to see the new citizenship law enter into force in April. 

Did we learn anything new in the first reading? 

Yes! The debate may be a bit of a formality, but some interesting things did slip out during the speeches made by MPs. 

We knew that the government has become intensely focussed on the issue of anti-Semitism with regards to the citizenship law, but we learned that it is now making some big strides in trying to tighten up this part of the legislation. 

In her speech on Thursday, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser covered many of the usual talking points, saying that the changes to citizenship the government is planning are overdue and are a crucial step in making Germany a modern country of immigration like Canada, Australia or the United States.

READ ALSO: German politicians clash over dual citizenship law at first debate

What was new this time around, however, is that the bulk of her speech was dedicated to highlighting Germany’s liberal democratic principles and underscoring that people with racist or anti-Semitic views have no chance of becoming German.

She even gave a nod to proposals to include some kind of declaration acknowledging Israel’s right to exist as part of the citizenship process – an idea put forward by both the CDU and FDP in the wake of the October 7th Hamas attacks. 

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser Bundestag

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) presents the dual citizenship law in the Bundestag. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Melissa Erichsen

“Denying Israel’s right to exist is anti-Semitic and if there is a need to change the law in this regard, I am open to it,” Faeser said.

Justice Minister Marco Buschmann of the FDP also gave an interesting insight into the way the government is thinking.

He said that in many ways, the citizenship law was actually making naturalisation more challenging for immigrants rather than less. 

As an example, he said people who had claimed any kind of social welfare payment would not be able to naturalise as Germans – with the exception of people from the guest worker generation who had worked and paid taxes all their lives.

He also said that in the past, minor offences listed in the federal police register had pretty much no impact on applications for citizenship. 

In future, though, case workers at citizenship offices will be compelled to ask prosecutors if there was an anti-Semitic or racist motive behind even the most trivial offences. If there is, the offender is barred from becoming German.

READ ALSO: How Germany wants to toughen up dual citizenship law around anti-Semitism

Another key thing we witnessed was that the CDU remains vehemently opposed to the bill and wants to add clauses that would allow dual nationals to be stripped of their German citizenship if they are found to be anti-Semites.

In a heated speech during the debate on Thursday, the CDU’s Philipp Amthor said the party would oppose the bill “with all our might”. Though they have very little chance of stopping the process, expect to see the opposition kicking up a fuss at every possible opportunity. 

What’s this law all about anyway?

For many foreigners, the most significant change to Germany’s citizenship laws will be allowing people to hold multiple nationalities at once.

Currently, most non-EU citizens have to give up their existing passport when they become German – a painful decision that many would rather avoid.

When the new law comes in, all this will be a thing of the past, and people will no longer have to choose between different parts of their identity.

INTERVIEW: What is the biggest problem foreigners face when applying for German citizenship?

As well as dual nationality, the bill also slashes the residence time required for naturalisation to just five years as opposed to eight. For people who can prove they’re very well integrated, with C1 German and a career in public service, for instance, this can be dropped to three.

A woman shows the booklet with her naturalisation certificate at Neukölln town hall in Berlin in April 2016.

A woman shows the booklet with her naturalisation certificate at Neukölln town hall in Berlin in April 2016. Photo: picture alliance / dpa | Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert

Other key changes include automatic citizenship for the children of non-EU foreigners after the parents have lived in Germany for five years or more.

People will also have to prove they are financially stable and not dependent on state welfare such as Bürgergeld (long-term unemployment) to survive. This doesn’t include Arbeitslosengeld I, which is generally treated as insurance rather than welfare

Many of the other criteria will stay the same, but people over 67 can dispense with formal language tests and there will also be a hardship clause for people who don’t have time to learn German due to caring responsibilities, for example.

For a full breakdown of the law and what it means, check out our explainer below: 

The key points of Germany’s draft law on dual citizenship

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