The Parliament and the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council reached an interim agreement on Monday 17 May over a revision to the Blue Card Directive. The revision covered conditions of entry and residence for highly qualified third country nationals coming to live and work in the EU, said the two parties that evening.
This is one of the few legal labour migration tools at EU level and a “key component of the new Pact on Migration and Asylum that will allow us to normalise migration policy” said the Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, in a statement on Monday evening.
The revision of the directive had been tabled in 2016 and work resumed in 2020 with a new rapporteur in the European Parliament – Javier Moreno Sánchez (S&D, Spain) – who succeeded Claude Moraes (UK).
“With the revised rules, we have negotiated a more attractive and viable system both for qualified third country nationals and for employers, as well as simpler procedures”, said the rapporteur.
“We have fought for the rules to be more harmonised so that the Blue Card is valid for at least two years in all Member States, and that Blue Card holders receive the same treatment as national work permit holders”.
Among the various advances, the scope of the directive has also been broadened “so that third country nationals who are eligible for a Blue Card also include those people with the required skills who benefit from international protection, seasonal workers and ICT workers who have acquired their skills through professional experience (3 years of experience) rather than diplomas”, added the MEP.
The list of occupations where experience rather than qualifications will be valued will also be reviewed on a regular basis and might be expanded.
In respect of other issues, a compromise has been reached on the following points: admission criteria made more inclusive by reducing the salary threshold for admission and allowing lower salary thresholds for young graduates or professions in need of workers, as well as reducing the minimum duration of the work contract needed to obtain a Blue Card to six months. The salary threshold will therefore be reduced to between 1 and 1.6 times the average gross annual salary so that the card will be accessible to a larger number of people.
Intra-EU mobility will be facilitated by reducing the minimum period of residence in the first Member State, by simplifying and accelerating the procedure for exercising mobility and allowing an accumulation of periods of residence under different schemes to acquire long-term resident status.
EU Blue Card holders and their family members will be able to move to a second Member State on the basis of simplified mobility rules after 12 months of being employed in the first Member State.
Bringing families together will also be promoted by giving the spouse or partner of the Blue Card holder unlimited access to the labour market.
Member States will still be able to grant permission to EU Blue Card holders to carry out self-employed or other subsidiary professional activities.
Finally, the EU Blue Card will be valid for at least two years anywhere in the Member States, whereas until now it was valid for between one and four years.
People who hold a Blue Card for more than two years will also be entitled to 6 months of unemployment benefits and there will no longer be a limit for withdrawing a card based on periods of unemployment. The Blue Card can now be withdrawn after a second period of inactivity.
Member States, who will meet in the Committee of Permanent Representatives, will discuss this agreement on 21 May and are expected to confirm it. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)