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Thursday, December 8, 2011

EU Immigration Portal - Blue Card Information

With very little fanfare the European Union recently launched an EU Immigration Portal for third-country nationals wishing to migrate to an EU member-state.

I took a quick tour around the site this morning and found all kinds of useful information:

  • Select your profile (student, researcher, worker, family member) and click on a country on the map of Europe to find out what you need to do before coming to the EU.
  • To obtain information about immigration law, policy and what government entity has authority in migrant matters in a particular country, search the section called Who does what?  Here is the information they have on Sweden.
  • If you are in an "irregular situation" (working without papers, for example) click on Rights and Risks of an Irregular Stay to find out what are the risks of doing this (deportation and your employer could be fined) and the help that is available if you wish to return to your home country but you don't have the means to do so.
  • And finally they have a directory of support organizations (government and non-governmental) that you can turn to for help in each country if you have questions or just need support.  I searched on France and came up with quite a list: Association pour la Défense des Droits des Etrangers, ENDA Europe, Migdev and many others.

And, best of all, there is information on this site for the EU Blue Card.  I found this information by going to the left sidebar and entering the following:  I wish to migrate as a worker and work as a highly qualified-worker in Hungary.  This took me to a page dedicated to Hungary and, lo and behold, here is what it says:
 To come to Hungary to work as a highly-qualified worker,you must apply for an EU Blue Card. You should obtain your EU Blue Card before entering Hungary as this will include permission to enter and reside in the country. In certain cases you can apply for the EU Blue Card in Hungary.
At the bottom of the page are links to the authorities in Hungary that you can contact for more information or to apply.

Really good work, really useful, and I was quite impressed.   Please note that they want feedback to make it better.  I'm going to take some time to look over the site carefully and to send them my comments.  I encourage you all to do the same.  I think this may be the very best platform for Blue Card and other migrant information.  It's a great beginning that can be made even better if we all contribute our ideas and comments.

5 comments:

Mike said...

This is such a great post, Victoria. Searched the link and it is very informative but needs time to be more complete. I really like your style of writing. Keep up the great work. (Dax, 40).

Anonymous said...

Thanks for info.All country want job offer to get blue card and employer will give job only if we have blue card .o catch 22.any country which allow without job offer? thank

Victoria FERAUGE said...

Thanks so much, Mike. I'm delighted that you enjoyed it. Yes, the site is just a beginning and there's room to grow. I think the site itself was set up by Unisys (could be wrong here).

Thank to you too for your question Anonymous. Under the Blue Card scheme a contract seems to be required however there are other programs that have different requirementt: Silver Fern in New Zealand, for example. I am sure there are others. I was thinking of looking into Australia next and seeing what they have to offer. I'll keep you posted.

Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot Victoria, your blog is very helpful. I would like to work in France and a potential employer told me that it takes around 4-5 months for the immigration office to give them the approval which I need in order to obtain a work visa. Does this blue card reduce the 4-5 months by any chance?

Thanks again
.K.

Victoria FERAUGE said...

Honestly I don't know but I think it's unlikely.

What your employer CAN do is talk to these people
http://www.immigration-professionnelle.gouv.fr/

This is a government service that is oriented toward helping French companies hire foreigners. They say they offer "conseil" (advice) and "accompagnement" (assistance). It's worth trying.

The best of luck to you and bon courage!