CHAPTER 1 | A NEW LIFE IN GERMANY (THE SKILLED LABOUR IMMIGRATION LAW)

Introduction to Life in Germany, a Superficial Approach to Subject Headings

(This article was originally written in Turkish on November 10th, 2019 and updated before publishing in English.)

Hi there…

My name is İlker Sağdilek. I am 45 years old and have been living in Munich, Germany for about 16 years. Before that, I lived on the Spanish island Mallorca for about 4 years. My blog posts on this site will mainly include how you can settle in Germany through the new immigration law that has come into force in the last period in Germany or other possible ways, what paths you should follow in this process, what can happen to you before and after settling in Germany, and the social life in Germany…

Especially in this area, I think I have had a lot of experience over the past time. I believe that there are many subjects that I can tell a lot about the steps that need to be taken, as I tried to build a life from scratch in two different European countries before and I was successful in my own terms. I will try to provide as much concrete and useful information as possible.

Of course, I will give examples from my own story in my articles. I believe that the lived stories will help clarify the issues in your mind. This is my primary goal. So, by making use of the content in this blog series, to ensure that you have a very clear judgment about your intention to work and live in Germany. I personally want and care about this very much.

For as long as I can remember, it has always been a passion for me to be able to touch people’s lives in a positive way, to help people change their lives positively, and to support them on their journey. Now, I know that this subject we are going to tell about is a subject that I have mastered thoroughly as a result of the years I have spent in Europe, mainly in Germany. And therefore, I have the opportunity to touch people’s lives on this topic.

Of course, there is also this: I wish nobody had to leave their homeland and go abroad. I wish we could do things that would be beneficial to humanity in our own countries with the training we received. But, unfortunately, it is a fact that there are tens of thousands of people in some countries who cannot perform their profession and have to work in areas other than the education they received.

This may be due to the lack of infrastructure that has been going on for many years, or to the fact that the population is very young and there are much more educated people than the current labor force needs, I don’t know. I am not going to put that part of the work into a long discussion. Besides, I am not a sociologist, nor a politician or academic. This is a completely different topic of discussion. However, it is a clear fact that there is a qualified workforce surplus in some countries (just according to the general definition, regardless of whether the education is at a very high level or not) and there is a qualified workforce deficit in Germany.

I also aim to guide “those who are interested in the subject” in these articles, by using the most concrete and detailed information. But I especially emphasize that the information I give aims to touch people who have made their decision, are interested in the subject, and have clarified their intentions.

My goal is to create a source of trustable information as a support door, to the interested people who have serious intentions about this subject.

As the new immigration law is still very fresh, I intend to focus mainly on this issue in my first articles. Who is exactly covered by the law enacted to attract qualified workforce to the country? What is meant by qualified workforce or skilled labour? I will tell you about those in detail…

In addition to the 136-page law, we read the printed publications provided by various state institutions and the documents of tens or even hundreds of pages on the internet and made phone calls with the relevant government departments. Our aim is to deliver the most accurate and healthy information to you and we have worked hard for this and we will continue to do so.

If you wish, before going into details about our subject, when and in which ways the Turks first came to Germany, what kind of processes they went through, what is the situation today, let’s talk about them very briefly.

Germany has been hiring migrant workers for 64 years. The first to arrive are the Italians in December 1955. Greeks and Spaniards followed the Italians. This group of firsts also includes the Portuguese and later the Yugoslavs of the time. The Turks first flew to Düsseldorf on November 27, 1961, as a group of 55 people, and they have been living in Germany since that day.

I wonder if any of those 55 people are alive today?

I would love to be able to chat with one of them for a few minutes and take a short shot. I definitely intend to investigate this issue personally.

Turks are the most populous minority in Germany today. The rate of Turks in all other minorities is 18%. The ratio of Turks to the German population is around 5%. Today, it is estimated that the Turkish population in Germany is over 4 million, including those who later became German citizens. Of course, Turks exist in almost every city in Germany. But the big cities where they live most heavily are Frankfurt, Berlin, Cologne, and Düsseldorf.

I will try to briefly talk about the lives of the Turks in Germany, the demographic structure, if possible, in my articles. But now let’s gradually introduce our main subject, ways of working and living in Germany and the new immigration law.

Yes, the new immigration law …

So in its original: Fachkräfteeinwanderungsgesetz

That’s one word. One word made up of four words …

In German, you often come across single words made up of such many words, but over time both ears and eyes get used to it, I can confirm this with my own experience …

First of all, to avoid any question marks in the minds, let’s briefly dwell on what “Fachkräfte” or “Fachkraft” in its singular form, which means “qualified workforce” in English.

Employees who have received vocational training or university education, have completed and documented their training or education, and have a reasonable experience in the profession they have received, are included in the qualified workforce. So you can be a surgeon or an experienced mason. If you have a vocational education that you can certify, you are deemed to have fulfilled the first condition for being recognized as a qualified employee according to the law. Of course, the conditions are not limited to this. I will go into details on this topic in a moment…

Of course, the law passed by the majority of votes. The draft bill met with opposition from the Greens and the Left Party, but this opposition was more procedural rather than essential. Opposition parties referred to the law’s inadequacy and weak incentives. But compared to its previous form, even this is a very important improvement if you ask me. It seems that Germany is now starting to accept itself as a country of immigration, at least these developments show that.

Since 1974, Germany has been accepting only the citizens of the European Union countries as foreign workers (with the exception of some exceptional regulations introduced recently, for example, for citizens of Balkan countries that are not members of the European Union). More precisely, when an employer hires personnel, it was checked whether this person could be found first among German citizens and then among European Union citizens. If it could be documented that it was not found, or more precisely if “Arbeitsamt” (the employment agency) approved this situation, the relevant skilled worker could be brought to the country from countries that are not members of the European Union by going through very tough ways. There were a number of official ways of this, such as the Blue Card, and there is still.

Now, this priority condition (at least in the short and medium-term) has been removed for sure. I say in the short and medium-term because there are references in the law that “if the current conditions change, it can be returned to the old method.” In other words, it is said that if the current labor market conditions change and the labor gap closes, we can go back to the old model. However, you would appreciate that it would be very utopian to expect this to happen in such a few years.

As I have just mentioned, if an employer who was in need of a qualified workforce could not find the qualified employees he was looking for with his own means or with the support of the employment agency, he was able to bring in the employees from outside the European Union, with the approval of the employment agency that the preconditions were met. Now, one of the biggest changes brought by this law is that this approval is no longer needed. Now, without the need for prioritization and approval of the employment agency, every skilled employee will be able to look for a job and work in Germany if he/she meets the required conditions.

The most important factor and the main reason for the adoption and approval of the law is the huge deficit in the number of qualified employees in Germany. According to the figures specified in the first paragraphs of the law itself, Germany already needs -hold on tight- one million two hundred thousand qualified employees. One million two hundred thousand…!

Let alone the declining trend of this number, some research institutions estimate that by 2030, there will be a shortage of three million skilled workers across Germany. Therefore, as I have just stated, it would be an unrealistic approach to wait for this gap to be closed in the short term and the law to be restored.

Another important detail is that the law aims to attract qualified employees to the country, not only in areas where there is a qualified workforce shortage but in almost all professions. The law allows all employees who are qualified and who can meet the conditions to look for a job in Germany and to work if they find it.

Another indispensable precondition for immigration is of course language. While the law does not have a strict expectation for a high level of German language knowledge, it seems essential that you have learned and documented German at B1 level “in most cases” in order to stand out among candidates from the point of view of employers.

I will talk about this in detail in my upcoming articles.

To summarize, the “sine qua non” are:

1. To receive a valid vocational training or university education. Having an official and valid document regarding your education, having professional experience, and references to this experience. Making your education (if necessary) officially recognized in Germany by obtaining the recognition of your education certificate, in the ways described by the relevant institutions.

I will explain this “if necessary” part in detail in my next articles. Recognition is not an absolute requirement for every profession.

2. Learning and documenting German at B1 or B2 level, depending on the state and profession. So from the point of view of employers, you will have to reach at least B1 level anyway. Therefore, if your intention is serious about immigration to Germany, if possible, starting the language course is the most urgent step to be taken regarding this process, according to me. Because one way or another you have to learn this language. Most optimistically, at a minimum B1 level. In this case, the sooner it is started, the better.

Moreover, I think learning a language is a very entertaining effort regardless of the reason, and knowing a language is a feature that reinforces the self-confidence of people.

Of course, there are many other details that need to be fulfilled. As I said, unfortunately, the process does not consist of bureaucratic steps that can be handled in a few days. I will also talk about these details and all the details of the “must-haves” that I have just mentioned, in my further articles.

Speaking of this, we have medium-term plans to provide a consultancy service for the German leg of the conditions to be fulfilled and the bureaucratic procedures to be settled. We are currently trying to form a small-scale team on this subject. We will strive to do what needs to be done and the services to be provided at the lowest possible prices, in the most reliable and complete way. Probably, we will have a professional work on this subject soon.

In the meantime, let me immediately state this, so that we do not cause misunderstanding or overwhelming comments: You can also take care of the bureaucratic procedures yourself, without ever coming to Germany. You can figure quite a few of the tasks out, especially at the stage of obtaining personal information, even using English. There are official institutions and their websites that provide services in this regard.

But you will appreciate that these bureaucratic procedures, especially in Germany, are not the ones that you can easily handle in a few days. At this point -I am underlining- we intend to step in if a serious need arises, that’s all. In other words, if people have obvious difficulties with these procedures and if such a request comes…

And if we take over the aforementioned processes, we will have to perform them completely, as quickly as possible, and in a way that leaves no question marks.

Let me express again: Those who wish can attempt to handle these procedures with their available means. There is no obstacle to this.

In the meantime, please let me know if you have any questions, things you want to share or you see something incomplete about my posts. I will try to give the best possible information to those who are interested in the subject, so I also need your support.

To contact us, you can send an e-mail to: info@lifeingermany.eu

Please share these blog posts and take care to inform your relatives that you think they may need it. The more people we can reach who need this information, the more useful we will do.

Let’s meet in the second article next week, in which I will explain the professions with a shortage of experts in detail.

Thank you for reading.

Take care of yourself…