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The European Parliament adopted on 15 September 2021 a revision of the current EU Blue Card. The initial proposal by the European Commision to revise the EU Blue Card dates back to 2016. It took 5 years because some Member States were blocking the negotiations to revise the EU Blue Card. The aim of the revision was to simplify the procedures and qualifying criteria, to widen the scope and to strengthen the rights of EU Blue Card holders and their families.
Most important revisions EU Blue Card:
More flexible criteria for admission:
- a valid work contract or binding six-month job offer.
- Lower threshold for the minimum salary that applicants must earn in order to qualify.
- Moving between EU countries will be simpler and being reunited with family quicker for EU Blue Card holders.
Under the current EU Blue Card scheme a 12 month contract is required.
The salary threshold for applicants has been reduced to at least 100 % and not more than 160 % of the average gross annual salary in the member state of employment. Under the current scheme the threshold is 150 % minimum with no upper limit.
Holders of an EU Blue Card will be able to move to another member state after an initial 12-month period in the country that first granted them the Blue Card. Under the current EU Blue Card scheme this is 18 months.
The current EU Blue Card is not a succes story at all since it inception in 2009. To give an idea: in 2019 in all EU Member States a total of 36,806 EU Blue Cards were issued in 2019. And of this total number of 36,806 in Germany alone there were issued 26,995 EU Blue Cards. The Netherlands issed in 2019 a total of 118 EU Blue Cards, while the Netherlands issued in 2019 by comparison a total of 20,970 national highly skilled migrant permits.
The next step is that the proposal will have to be approved by the Council. After approval by the Council it must be published in the Official Journal before it can enter into force. Thereafter the EU Member states will have a two year period to implement the new EU Blue Card Directive into their national legislation.