Job visa requirements increase in Germany, Kosovo applicants wait months

Germany's work and life! Like a beautiful dream that suddenly becomes reality to the countries of the Western Balkans: So the German government's special regulation sounded in November 2015 for legal employment of citizens from Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Albania. The goal was to lower the wave of asylum seekers. True, not a few of them fulfilled that dream. In the first nine months of last year alone, German embassies in Western Balkan countries gave 19,294 working visas. The German Embassy in Tirana arrived for 2017 to provide 2796 visas.

The figure is high, but it seems insufficient. Because more applications are expected at the embassy's doors for a working visa. For example, the German Labour Agency issued initial preliminary approvals for applicants from Kosovo from January to September 2017, but visas were granted only for 4758 people. Pro-visual preliminary approval is a condition to obtain a working visa.

“The number of visa requirements has multiplied and continues to increase”

Germany's Foreign Ministry confiscated Deutsche Welles “the significant achievement of visa requirements from Western Balkan countries aimed at working in Germany. The number of visa requirements has multiplied and continues to increase. ”

A multiple of consequences: Because many complain of long times of procedures for obtaining a working visa at German embassies in the region. Especially do you notice the long waiting time between asking for time until the visa application date. Carol Burckert, migration expert on The IAB, the German Institute for Labour Market and Profession Research in Nuremberg, ranks Deutsche Welle countries with more waiting time: “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. But you must count not only this time but also the time to process documents. Imagine, you have an offer, the employer needs you now, and you can't go because you don't have a visa, the offer falls, because as an employer, I find a different solution. ”

With personal expenses in search of the contract in Germany

That is what happened to Bekim Imer of Gostivar. The truck driver had a job offer from Paderborn. But because the work visa was not given in time, the employer withdrew. No one expects you that long in Germany”, he says. The 46-year-old took his own way in search of work. I came to Germany myself and spent a lot of money for a short time. ”

Bekim Imer was lucky. Because truck drivers are wanted in Germany, he found a new job at Erasmus Logistics GmbH. The new employer told me not to lose a day, until I get my visa I have to leave immediately”, says Bekim. After more than 7 hours of waiting at the Skopje Embassy, he handed in the documents. He's already on hold, always in fear, for losing this second chance for work.
Dr. Carol Burckert, IAB migration expert, Institute for Labour Market and Professional Study

Overload target

Why the duration? The German Foreign Ministry stresses that the <x0 time of waiting for a time to apply for visas depends on the requirements and capacities available in the respective visa sector. Even the processing time depends on each case individually.” The German Foreign Ministry has fully strengthened representations in Western Balkan countries, even facilities have been fully exploited, said its explanation.

Looks like embassies have reached an overload target. Carol Burkert of the Labour Market Institute, IAB knows trouble. Legal roads, under specific conditions for people from the Western Balkans, were said to be expanded, but did not expand and added facilities for that, she criticised the German government. The situation of workers in the visa sectors is catastrophic, that is, in terms of time pressure, the criticism that comes, the huge flow they have. They were not prepared for this influx, as were the personnel, but also for their capacities. ”

Fear of Job Loss

Meanwhile, the tension of applicants waiting for a working visa increases daily. The German workplace awaits, but how much longer? Klaas Hazizi, a young man from Tirana who sought a new perspective, found a permanent work contract as a journal at the Wertbau firm in Germany. He has managed to insert the requested documents. But more than four months have passed and the embassy has not returned me. Work in Germany continues, and I am still in Albania”, he says.

Clay's afraid she'll lose her employer. Contacted by Deutsche Welle, the company Wertbau confirms that he would willingly hire it if he obtained a visa. But in the meantime another obstacle comes forward. Getting the preliminary default approval is not already done by the employer, but in an internal procedure the visa sector takes it to the Labour Agency. If pro-visual approval, once in a six-month term, expires, it means that Clay will start the procedure from scratch. Carol Burkert criticises this change in procedures. This costs once more time and staff resources. ”

The blessing awaits. Clay's waiting. Employers in Germany wait. All pending one day, someone in the visa sector extracts the file from the long-standing application pile. But when that's gonna happen, nobody knows that.