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Saturday, January 8, 2011

Blue Card (European Union)

The Blue Card aka Blue European Labour Card is an approved EU-wide work permit (Council Directive 2009/50/EC) allowing high-skilled non-EU citizens to work and live in any country within the European Union, excluding Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom, which are not subject to the proposal.The term Blue Card was coined by the think tank Bruegel, inspired by the United States' Green Card and making reference to the EU flag which is blue with twelve golden stars.
The Blue Card proposal presented by the European Commission offers a one-track procedure for non-EU citizens to apply for a work permit, which would be valid for up to two-years, but can be renewed thereafter. Those who are granted a blue card will be given a series of rights, such as favourable family unification rules. The proposal also encourages geographic mobility within the EU, between different member states, for those who have been granted a blue card. The legal basis for this proposal is Article 63(3)(a) and (4) of the Treaty of Rome, which states that the Council shall adapt measures on immigration policy concerning “conditions of entry and residence and standards on procedures for the issue by Member States” and measures “defining the rights and conditions under which nationals of third countries who are legally resident in a Member State may reside in other Member States”.

Proposal

The blue card proposal was presented at a press conference in Strasbourg on the 23rd of October, 2007, by the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso and Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security Franco Frattini. Barroso motivated the proposal with the EU’s future lack of labour and skills, the difficulty for third country workers to move between different member states for work purposes, the conflicting admission procedures for the 27 different member states, and the "rights gap" between EU citizens and legal immigrants. The proposal was presented along with another proposal, COM(2007)638, which includes a simplified application procedure and a common set of rights for legal third-country workers.

]International Reaction

Shortly after the proposal was presented, it received heavy criticism. South African Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang pointed to the fact that several African countries already suffer from the migration of skilled health workers and said that this proposal might worsen the situation. Moroccan international economic law professor Tajeddine El Husseini went further, saying that this "is a new form of colonisation, of discrimination, and it will be very hard to find support for it among southern countries".

Approval

On 20 November 2008 the European Parliament backed the introduction of the blue card while recommending some safeguards against brain drain and advocated greater flexibility for EU Member States.Many of these suggestions, though, were ignored in the subsequent legislation which was passed on 25 May 2009. Some compromises were made, as "Member States to set quotas on Blue Card holders or to ban them altogether if they see fit." The Blue Card rules also could run into problems with the European Permanent Residency Directive.

Implementation

Three and a half years after it was supposed to be put into effect, some Member States (such as Spain and Belgium) have yet to fully enact the law or give the rights promised in the directive." Already, think tanks have presented ideas designed to supplement the Blue Card and its weaknesses.


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