Germany eyes Indian workers amid labour crisis, offers 90,000 skilled visas annually

Germany plans to increase the number of visas granted to skilled Indians from the current limit of 20,000 to 90,000 amid a worsening labour crisis.

“With Germany facing a worsening worker shortage, these visas will help fill gaps in sectors such as information technology, nursing, and caregiving,” said Philipp Ackermann, the German Ambassador to India, in an interview with LiveMint.

As the strongest economy in the European Union, Germany finds itself under heightened pressure to secure skilled labour to maintain the economic upswing.

"Germany views India as an especially important partner when it comes to the issue of skilled labour migration," said Hubertus Heil, the German Labour Minister.

New migration measures

Additionally, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s cabinet approved a series of new migration measures.

On Wednesday, October 16, the German government gave the green light to 30 new migration measures including the digitalisation of visas by the end of 2024, which is expected to reduce the waiting time for visa approvals.

In a development that is expected to benefit 400,000 skilled workers, Germany has already cut down the visa processing time to two weeks from the previous nine months.

Furthermore, Germany’s Federal Labour Office has been reaching out to Indian students currently in Germany to help them navigate employment opportunities. The country has also been providing German language classes for workers who intend to relocate to eliminate the language barrier issue for Indian migrants. These efforts show Germany’s strategy to attract skilled workers to fill critical workforce gaps.

Germany’s labour force crisis

Despite having the second-lowest unemployment rate among all the G7 countries, Germany has as many as 701,490 open positions in 2024 alone, as per Statista.

A fifth of the German population is aged over 65, and its birth rate declined to -6.2% in 2023. Thus, the country’s working-age population is too small to fill the vacancies, which has led to a labour crisis in the country, according to Statista.