October 2000
Permission Granted
Information technology specialists wanted
The world in the information age is changing so rapidly that those who don’t stay on top of the latest developments run the risk of being left behind.After years of ignoring or underestimating the growing demand for information technology (IT) specialists,
Germany is now forced to deal with the consequences of such shortsightedness.
It took an acute shortage of IT experts — according to the Industrie- und Handelskammer, some 38,000 positions remain unfilled in Bavaria alone — to come to realize that the German computer industry is in desperate need of outside help.
In an unprecedented move, the German government has now initiated a program to bring in up to 200,000 IT specialists from around the world.
Since August, so-called “Green Cards” have been issued to qualified IT experts from non-European Union countries with what the Arbeitsamt calls “a minimum of bureaucracy.”
Applications from foreigners with a university or polytechnic degree or, alternatively, with a letter from a German employer guaranteeing them an annual income of at least DM 100,000, will be reviewed and decided on within a week.
If accepted, applicants will be issued work permits for a period of up to five years. By mid-September the Munich Arbeitsamt had received only 324 applications.
It, therefore, remains doubtful whether the “computer missionaries” from abroad will really be able to alleviate the shortage.
