The EU performance in the global competition for highly-skilled migrants key to tackle EU demographic and skills challenges
To address the effects of population ageing the EU will need to close the gender gap and increase the participation of young and older workers in the labour market, but mobility and migration also have a key role to play. This is the main finding of the joint Commission-OECD report on Matching Economic Migration with Labour Market Needs to be published today.
In Europe, the working-age population (15-64) is projected to decline by 7.5 million (-2.2%) between 2013 and 2020, while it will grow in the same proportion in the OECD area as a whole. Under a scenario with zero net migration, the working-age population of the 28 EU countries would be expected to decline even more, by up to 11.7 million (-3.5%) by 2020.
The implications are not only demographic: because the labour market is dynamic and occupations are changing, skills shortages and skills mismatches will become crucial issues in the EU. According to Eurofound's 2013 European Company Survey, despite the slack in the labour market, 40% of EU companies have difficulties finding workers with the right set of skills. Overall, the available evidence suggests that in most OECD countries labour needs over the next decade will be concentrated in specific occupations? Largely requiring high skills, but also at intermediate skill levels.
There is currently a low level of skilled labour migration from non-EU countries to most EU Member States, despite the fact that countries have liberalized migration regulations. According to the report, it is notably due to the system of legal admission and the fact that, in most countries, employers are reluctant to hire from abroad. It underlines several options in future actions such as striking a better balance between reliance on employer demand and safeguard mechanisms and improving matching tools to enable employers to identify potential migrant workers, including foreign students.
Migration. The EU 28 member nations had 50 million foreign-born residents at the end of 2011; there were also 33 million citizens of non-EU 28 countries, including many who were foreign-born, but some who were born to foreigners in the EU-2 country in which they are now living. Two-thirds of the foreign-born residents were born outside the EU, and 60 percent of the foreign citizens in EU-28 countries were born outside the EU.
The leading countries of origin of foreigners in EU-27 countries were Romania and Turkey, 2.3 million each, followed by Morocco, 1.9 million, and Poland, 1.6 million. About three-fourths of the Romanians are in Italy and Spain, while three-fourths of the Turks are in Germany.
Some 810,000 foreigners became naturalized citizens of EU-28countries in 2010, up from 776,000 in 2009. Over 70 percent of these naturalizing citizens were in four countries, the UK with 195,000 naturalizations, France with 143,000, Spain with 124,000, and Germany with 105,000. The leading countries of origin of those naturalizing in EU-27 countries were Morocco, 67,000, Turkey, 49,900 and Ecuador, 45,200.
To advise non-EU foreigners how to immigrate to an EU-member nation and non-EU foreigners living in one EU country on how to move to another. The EU is encouraging member states to develop simplified procedures for admitting skilled non-EU foreigners with Blue Cards, including one-stop shops to handle applications for work and residence permits.
Denmark in 2011 developed a "positive list" of professions with labor shortages to expedite entries, while Germany similarly developed a Skilled Labor Concept that lists occupations with labor shortages and expedites the admission of non-EU foreigners in these occupations. Spain sharply reduced the number of occupations included in its Catalog of Occupations in Short Supply because of high unemployment.
EU countries have agreed to develop a common immigration policy to ensure that legal migration to the EU is well managed, to improve integration measures for migrants and their families and to enhance cooperation with migrants' countries.
These goals are reflected in the Stockholm Programme, a roadmap for developing the EU's migration policy from 2009 to 2014. It aims to build a Europe of "responsibility, solidarity, and partnership in migration and asylum" with a "dynamic and comprehensive immigration policy". The Stockholm Programme encourages coherence between migration policy and other closely related EU policy areas, such as development aid and relations with countries outside the EU.
In order to manage migration effectively, the EU works in close partnership with both the countries from which migrants come and the countries that many migrants pass through to get into the EU.
Through this partnership approach, the EU strives to balance its three key policy aims of (1) better organizing migration for development.
This 'global approach to migration' is the external dimension of the European Union's migration policy. It is a framework for dialogue and cooperation with non-EU countries in the area of migration and is central to the aims of the Stockholm Programme, which include:
Initiatives which turn the priorities and proposals of the Stockholm Programme into practice are found in the EU's Action Plan for implementing the Stockholm Programme (2010).
EU-wide laws (directives) have already been introduced to standardize admission and residence rules for the following categories of non-EU citizens wishing to come to an EU country to work or study:
EU-wide admission and residence rules for other categories of non-EU citizens are under discussion, following proposals made in the EU's 2005 Policy Plan on Legal Migration and reaffirmed in the Stockholm Programme. These include EU directives on:
In December 2011 the Single Permit Directive was adopted. This new legislation introduces a single residence and works permit for all non-EU citizens. It will simplify the life of migrants applying to reside and work in the EU. It will also ensure that non-EU workers who legally reside in an EU country will enjoy a common set of rights based on equal treatment with nationals of the host EU country. EU countries will have to make sure that their national legislation is in line with this directive by early 2014.
Non-EU citizens who live legally in an EU country must be treated well and have their rights upheld. EU-wide rules enable non-EU citizens to become integration policy aims to grant these non-EU citizens' rights and obligations similar to those of EU citizens.
The EU has established a border-free single travel zone called the common visa policy has been agreed for short stays of up to three months. As part of this policy, EU Schengen area countries all issue the same short-term Schengen visa which allows travelers to move freely within the single travel zone.
Europe and a number of other countries worldwide offer options for those who want to settle as permanent residents. But before you apply, you need to be sure that you actually qualify as per the current rules.
VESTYN offers a technical evaluation for those looking to migrate. This is a mandatory requirement as it allows us to be sure you actually qualify for immigration & keeps our success rate high.
If your evaluation is positive, VESTYN will accept your case for processing. If your evaluation report is negative, VESTYN will give you a complimentary report for another country.
Most immigration programs are point based & the Eligibility Report is an elaborate document that contains your Score Card.