Citizens from Balkans who want working visas in Germany must ride patience

Deutsche Welle: In November 2015, the German government adopted “Rule of the Western Balkans” Who had a job offer could come to Germany with a work visa, but many also complain about the long period of waiting for a visa - Germany's dream fails because of bureaucracy?

Carol Burkert: Not that the work in Germany has to do with bureaucracy is not the only reason. What we note from the official responses of the German government is that in the visa sectors, there are very long waiting times, ranging from time requirements to date when you can apply.

What countries would you isolate?

The most visible is Pristina, with more than a year of waiting time, Sarajevo by more than a year, Belgrade 7 months, Tirana 6 months, this has been the situation in February 2018, in the second half of last year these waiting terms have increased. But you must not count just this time. But also the time to process documents, so since I've made a visa application until it is approved, it also spends a lot of time. For this we have no record, only the assumption that at a time this issue is not complete. So we don't know exactly how much time it takes from the moment, yes, I have an offer for work until the day I have a visa in my hand.

It could be said that the barrier to migration for jobs from the Balkans fell only politically, but in Balkan embassies another reality...

When the regulation was established, it was ultimately a trade, a job instead of a nursing home because many asylum demands were raised. The idea of the Federal German Council, migration to work in Germany, was a innovation in German migration policy, which is that aliens in Germany needed only one job offer. This was always regulated by the qualifications. But what was not considered was the sudden increase in job requirements. Between November 2015 and late 2017, 120,000 preliminary approvals were made by the Labour Agency. The visa sectors were flooded, say. I think both personnel and other capacity embassies were not prepared for that. Staff capacity is not enough. Even the maximum increase the German government says in official responses does not ease the situation.

At such a long time of waiting, the employer may withdraw the offer, do you have any information on this?

We have no record of how many employers withdraw the offer, because it's not a visa, but that's because when your employer asks for you right now, for this moment, and you can't come, that you don't have a visa, then you have an offer once, I as an employer ask for a different solution. There is also the preliminary approval of the Labour Agency given in six months because time, as I said for the visa, is much longer.

What are these preliminary approvals?

The preliminary pro-advancing benefits were given by November 1st 2017, and these really showed how big the demand for jobs from the Balkans was. When a person from the Balkan countries had a job offer, the employer, before you asked for a visa, went to the Labour Agency and received an approval, so if this offer is okay, there is no other choice to do the job (the law protecting Germans from third-place employees. Mark Red, and the work contract also meets the criteria. With that approval you went and asked for visas at the embassy.

But there is now a change in the procedures for receiving this pro-visual approval. Where does this change consist?

There's a twist at this point. Now when you have a job offer, the second step you do is go and apply for a visa, for a reminder, you have waiting time to deliver documents, time processing documents, and so forth. And now it's the visa sector that gets your pro-visual approval to the Labour Agency through an internal procedure among the authorities.

This change was made to facilitate regulations and cut time?

Officially, the reasoning was that many preliminary approvals are expired because the Labour Agency provides approvals that ultimately do not conclude by visa, because visa sectors cannot reach many demands. Approval had to be released again, so there were many red tape for the Labour Agency. From the research point of view, we criticize this because there is no transparency. We don't know how many people get that approval anymore, and only those who cross the needle's eye, the visa sector can hope for approval (from the Labour Agency). We no longer see how many demands there are.

You see the problem only in the visa sector?

It's not just the visa sectors, we know a little bit about them, and the figure is a little bit tight, but we know about the problems they have with lack of personnel, that buildings are fully exploited and that they're planning additions. But it should be said that there are also delays for document problems, birth certificates, confirmed profession certificates, when a profession with specialization and equivalent diplomas is required until all of this is taken, time passes, and so is the reason for delays.

What can you advise applicants?

Be prepared to conduct yourself in the best possible way possible.

Can the new employer help in this process?

We don't have research data on this, but from what I've been following, employers say, it's not possible because of this needle hole, the visa sector not to get the workforce we need. I also want to mention that the visa sectors likely follow their priorities in visa giving, there are different forms of migration for work, there's family attractions, and I, when I have only certain resources, have to select. Hence, visas are not the same visa. This may also be an explanation of why there are extended periods of visa procedure. So if you ask how migration is directed for work, it is eventually commanded through visa policy.

Dr. Carola Burkert, sociologist, is an expert on migration to the German Institute for Labour Market and Professional Study, (IAB) in Nuremberg.