The Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA) speaks from our souls. The experts at the BDA have summarized our groans and those of many other practitioners in the field of skilled worker migration in a concise position paper on reducing bureaucracy and speeding up migration administration dated 11 August 2023. We find these demands particularly important:
- Complete digitalization of the entire process, an end to the error-prone sending of original documents on paper
- Expansion of the Central Register of Foreigners (AZR) into a digital platform for all those involved in the immigration process, so that an applicant only has to upload each document there once
- Better availability of appointments
- Every local immigration authority should use standardized software that matches the AZR and is provided by the federal government
- Standardize visa documents for Germany - it is not acceptable to have to submit different documents from every country
- If the promised shorter deadline in the accelerated skilled worker procedure is not met, the authority must repay the “speed” fee of €411 (so far the money is simply gone!)
- Use of “concealment periods”: If, for example, professional recognition has not been finally processed within the statutory period of 4 months, it is deemed to have been granted
- Accept documents in English - this saves translation costs
- Greater specialization of professional recognition offices: Until now, each federal state has checked whether a particular degree from a university anywhere in the world is eligible for recognition. This causes a lot of uncertainty for the overburdened clerks, long procedures, arbitrariness and sometimes mistakes. More specialization is needed here: one federal state could be responsible for the nursing professions nationwide, one for midwives, the third for surgical assistants, the fourth for educators, the fifth for doctors...
We don't have a deficit in legislation. We have massive deficiencies in the administration, which does not implement our skilled worker-friendly laws. This dysfunctional handling of skilled migration is costing us a high level of reputation in international comparison. It cannot go on like this! The best minds are already going to places where the administration works better.
