The Blue Card
Forget the Green Card, the Blue Card is where is at!
So last month the European Union announced its version of the “Green Card” which will allow “highly skilled immigrants” from non-EU countries (esp. Asia, Africa and Latin America) to live, work and travel in the EU.Apparently the EU’s been losing out to the US, Canada and Australia on medical, IT, engineers and other highly skilled professionals.
I assume this has been in the works for a while, and though the names are similar and grants residency to the holder, the Green and Blue Cards differ in some of ways:
| EU Blue Card | US Green Card |
| Valid for 2 years – renewable | Valid for 5 years – renewable |
| Does not confer permanent residency | Confers permanent residency |
| Permanent residency after 5yrs | US Citizenship after 5 years |
| One year EU job contract required | Can be obtained via lottery, employment, family link or investment |
| 27 countries to choose from | Only one USA |
| Can be revoked if unemployed for more than 3 months | No employment conditions (generally) attached |
It’ll be interesting to know why the EU didn’t go with the Point system used by Australia and Canada – not that it’s more efficient; it does however make the qualification process straightforward.
The greatest hurdle for most immigrants will be the one year employment offer condition; companies can only hire non-EU citizens for positions that can’t be filled by EU citizens.
Ireland, Denmark and the UK can opt out (I’m not sure why) but all the others will have to participate.
That said, I’m going to learn Italian; my dream is beginning to look like a possibility. All I need is a firm willing to hire me for something none of the 59 million Italians can do.
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