India on Tuesday said that the European Union must liberalise its visa regime to allow free flow of businessmen and skilled professionals from the country to the continent and was looking forward to the proposed 'Blue Card' initiative to facilitate hassle-free employment of skilled migrants.
The ambitious target set at the ninth Indo-EU summit in Marseilles yesterday to double the India-EU trade turnover to 100 billion euro by 2013 is all the more reason for the 27-nation bloc to remove hurdles that wil make it easier for businessmen and tourists to come to the continent, according to a top Indian official.
The summit attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in his capacity as chairperson of the EU's rotating presidency, pledged to expedite negotiations for a broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement by next year.
According to European Commission President Manuel Barroso, the EU is aware of the difficulties faced by skilled professionals from India and other non-EU countries to come to the continent and was working on the 'Blue Card' initiative on the lines of the more famous 'Green Card' system of the United States.
Naline Surie, Secretary (West) in the External Affairs Ministry, told reporters that the EU has some concerns over illegal migrants coming to the region and said India is willing to take them back.
Surie said the Indo-French social security pact being signed today was also an important step for Indian professionals on short duration stays to take back their social security contributions when they return to the country.
"The final outcome will be a good one," Barosso said yesterday, when asked about the progress of the initiative acknowledged that qualified professionals from India and other non-EU countries were facing difficulties in getting jobs in Europe.
Barosso said negotiations were underway in the Council of Europe to take the initiative to facilitate the employment
of skilled migrants in the EU and the issue will be considered in the next meeting of the Council.
"The issue needs a detailed discussion as it involves national sovereignty," he said.
The EU says it will need 20 million skilled migrant workers during the next 20 years to plug labour gaps in the developed world.
The 'Blue Card' would lure the workers by making easier for them to work in another EU country, have their family join them, receive public housing and get long-term residency status.
The plan aims to attract information technology specialists, engineers, doctors, nurses and other highly-qualified workers from Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The card would provide a "one-stop shop" for non-European Union nationals with skilled work experience who wish to take employment in a EU member state.
The scheme would help the EU compete with other countries who are attracting many more skilled immigrants.
With the Blue Card, the EU hopes to attract the inflow of skilled workers to the level of US, which has a much higher percentage of highly skilled foreign immigrants.
Unlike the US Green Card, the EU's Blue Card holder will not get permanent resident status in the member states.
Any migrant who has EU job contract at least two year guaranteeing a salary of at least three times the minimum wage in the country to which they are applying and health insurance can apply for the Blue Card.
Skilled professionals taking advantage of the blue card would have to earn at least 150 per cent of the gross average salary in the country they wish to work in, or 120 per cent for jobs for which there is a shortage of labour.
It's also expected that a job offer will be required. In addition, the main applicant under the blue card immigration scheme would be able to bring immediate family to live with him.
After 18 months, a blue card holder can move to another EU nation, where he or she would be required to apply for permission to work before taking up employment. After a required time period elapses, a blue card holder and his family could apply for permanent residence.
It is expected that the blue card will go into effect in 2011, when work restrictions for 8 Eastern European nations that joined the EU in 2004 expire in member states that still have them in place.
According to the European Commission, about 25 million Europeans are expected to retire and one third will be over 65 years of age by 2050.
The proposals have already faced opposition from trade unions, who fear the blue card could undermine training opportunities for EU workers.
The Commission has said, however, that EU citizens will continue to have priority access to the labour markets of other member states.