Considered the European version of the US Green Card, the Blue Card was established in 2009 and reformed in 2021 to make it more attractive for highly qualified individuals.
To obtain a Blue Card, non-EU citizens need a university degree or an equivalent qualification, have a job offer and a salary meeting the threshold set by the EU country of expected residence. Besides the right to work and reside in a given EU country, the Blue Card holders can also visit another EU member state for up to 90 days in any 180-day period.
Blue Card holders have equal working conditions to national citizens. In case they lose the job, they can remain three months in the country to look for another one and claim social security benefits.
The EU Blue Card can be obtained in 25 EU countries, but not in Denmark and Ireland, which have opted out.
In 2023, EU member states issued around 89,000 Blue Cards, according to the latest data issued by the EU statistical office, Eurostat.
Germany alone issued some 69,000, 78 per cent of the total and 6,000 more than in 2022.
READ ALSO: What you need to earn to get an EU Blue Card in Germany in 2025
Poland followed, with 7,000 Blue Cards issued (8 per cent of the total and 2,400 more than in 2022). France was the third country by the number of permits given out, with around 4,000 issued (4 per cent). Austria issued 1,135, more than doubling the 501 of 2022.
In comparison, Italy issued 747 Blue Cards (compared to 572 in 2022), Spain 370 (58 in 2022) and Sweden 106 (83 in 2022).
German MEP Damian Boeselager, from the transnational pro-European party Volt, told The Local that “Germany is one of the few countries that are actually promoting the EU Blue Card and has therefore seen a generally higher adoption, even if still rather limited in absolute numbers.”
As a reference, Germany issued about 177,000 work visas in 2023, and it is estimated to have some 400,000 open positions for skilled workers.
In 2023, Germany also started to implement the Skilled Immigration Act to make it easier for qualified professionals from outside the EU to move to the country, including an expansion of the use of the EU Blue Card.
Although the new German government announced restrictions to immigration, Boeselager says that “the current take-up of the Blue Card will likely remain on a similar level, unless Germany changes something about the current rules.”
“So far, the new German government has not targeted highly qualified labour migrants in its rhetoric,” he added.
READ ALSO: Which German jobs have a lower salary threshold for an EU Blue Card?
Spain also eased rules in 2023, abolishing the requirement for employers to conduct a labour market test before sponsoring Blue Card employees, allowing six-month (instead of 12-month) contracts, reducing the salary threshold, and extending the validity of Blue Cards from 1 to 3 years.
Sweden introduced new Blue Card rules on 1 January 2025 to attract highly skilled workers. These include lower salary requirement and contract length (from one year to six months), the possibility for people to change to another highly skilled job without applying for a new Blue Card, and a simpler process for those with a Blue Card issued in another EU country to obtain a new one in Sweden.
The revised EU directive entered into force on 27 November 2021 and EU member states had until 18 November 2023 to adapt the national legislation. As a result, the number of Blue Cards might increase in the future.
In 2023, the most common nationalities of recipients were India (21,000), Russia (9,000), Türkiye (6,000) and Belarus (5,000).
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