Highly Skilled Migration to the European Union and the United States: The Legal Framework

The authors compare the legal framework on highly skilled migration in three EU Member States (United Kingdom, Germany and The Netherlands) with the labour migration policy of their main competitor country in the international race for talent - the United States of America. In order to assess the attractiveness of the concerned Member States and the EU as a whole, the authors extend the comparison at the nation-state level to include the contribution of the EU’s recently created “fast track” system for highly skilled migrants (the Blue Card Directive established in 2009). The comparison is done by looking at five aspects of policies, with the objective to assess the attractiveness of EU and national rules for prospective skilled migrants: a) eligibility criteria for highly skilled migrants, b) special provisions for younger migrants and former students, c) rules for residence permits offered to highly skilled migrants, d) policies regarding accompanying family members, e) employment rights and social security provisions for highly skilled migrants. Hercog and Wiesbrock find that the United States no longer set a particularly favourable example.  Immigration policies of certain European countries have became increasingly favourable towards the admission of the highly-skilled and have in some aspects became more “attractive” than the United States with the ease of entry and benefits that are given. Even though Europe has a new “fast track” system in place for highly skilled migrants, the main obstacles for transforming EU into an attractive destination area remain in public perception of the EU as the “Fortress Europe” and in the fragmentation of European labour markets. Instead, the U.S. still attracts more high-skilled migrants, likely because of other reasons, particularly the reputation of the U.S. as a migrant-friendly country, subsequent residency and family reunification policies, and greater education and employment possibilities.