The Federal Employment Agency has launched a new online portal that provides skilled foreign workers with structured access to the German labor market while still in their home countries. This digital service marks another step in the Federal Government's overall digitalization strategy , which aims to facilitate the immigration of qualified workers and alleviate the existing labor shortage in key sectors (see also the discussion on the " Work and Stay Agency "). The new process is...

The integration of Ukrainian refugees into the German labor market is one of the greatest social challenges of recent years – and at the same time one of the most visible successes. According to the current IAB job survey, the proportion of employees in Germany who have fled Ukraine tripled between 2022 and the end of 2024. While only 0.2 percent of all employees came from Ukraine in 2022, by 2024 this figure had already risen to 0.6 percent – a total of around 242,000 people. This...

A bumpy start for the new entry/exit system The European Entry/Exit System (EES) , which collects biometric data from all third-country nationals entering the Schengen Area, is already causing significant problems in its current testing phase . Although full and mandatory implementation is still planned, numerous airports are already using the system – with clearly noticeable consequences for travelers. Chaotic scenes at European airports Reports from Alicante, Malaga, Gran Canaria,...