German immigration: Brains not welcome here

The difficulty of changing a policy that drives talent away

JOSCHKA FISCHER, Germany's foreign minister, knows the world, but sometimes cannot believe his own country. Recently, he met foreign students who had done well at German universities. Many could not work in Germany, as immigration rules stopped them. “Other countries”, Mr Fischer fumes, “would slip a passport to such talented people.”

Sending foreigners home after paying to educate them is not the only contradiction in Germany's immigration rules. Yet, after years of negotiation, the government and opposition are expected to agree on April 30th on a new law that fails to deliver its main objective: to make it easier for qualified foreigners to settle in Germany.

Even more than in other rich places, immigration is a touchy issue in Germany, and it is often exploited to win votes. As many as 7.3m foreigners live in the country. After European Union enlargement on May 1st, more are expected. For older folk, at least, being German is a question of blood links, which makes integration of non-Germans harder. Generous welfare does not help, as immigrants are often seen as social parasites; nor, for obvious reasons, does Islamist terrorism.

Yet in reality Germany needs more, not less, immigration. Its population is ageing rapidly. Unemployment is high, but by 2020 the western part of Germany will be short of some 2.5m qualified workers. An overly rigid economy would benefit from an influx of highly motivated foreigners to shake things up. And their foreign links could help export-oriented businesses.

For years, conservatives have insisted that “Germany is not an immigration country”. To gloss over this misperception, the country has developed a complex body of immigration law. Hiring workers abroad is banned, save for specific exceptions defined in by-laws. But this has not prevented immigrants from coming in as asylum-seekers, refugees and family members. Instead, it has stopped many of those who would have been most useful.

Things started to change in the late 1990s. The new coalition of Social Democrats and Greens changed the citizenship law, making it easier for immigrants and their children to become German. And it dawned on the country that, in the internet era, it was losing the “battle for the best brains”. The government created a “green card” for information-technology workers and pushed through a law allowing it to pick immigrants more carefully.

Alas, the new policy proved short-lived, not least because of rising unemployment. Having won a majority in the upper house, conservatives demanded changes when the bill, thanks to a procedural error, was re-introduced in parliament. The government scrapped a points system that would have let in highly qualified foreigners without an employment contract. Now only those with a contract are allowed in.

This mess reflects voters' worries about unemployment. In time, Germany must adapt to reality. Thomas Straubhaar, president of the Hamburg Institute of International Economics, argues that the present rules signal that this is one of the less open countries in an increasingly global marketplace. The world's best brains will surely take note - and go elsewhere.

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