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Skilled Immigrants? No Thanks: Germany is lagging behind other major industrialized countries in its efforts to attract skilled workers. While other nations see highly qualified immigrants as a benefit, Germany regards them more as a threat -- and is setting the hurdles as high as it can. (Michael Sauga, 8/29/07, Der Spiegel)

Ironically, just as the German economy embarks on its strongest boom in years, the country is on the verge of spoiling its own future by making it difficult for German companies to hire foreign nationals. Every other major industrialized country in the world may be competing for a limited supply of highly skilled specialists, but in Germany -- which currently ranks as the world's leading export nation -- political parties are determined to satisfy the growing demand for highly skilled specialists mainly from a shrinking domestic labor supply.

The German government failed to make any significant changes to the status quo at last week's brainstorming meeting in the eastern German town of Meseberg. And while the administration plans to make a few adjustments to the new immigration act, which recently became law after years of heated debate, the changes are minor.

One of the changes is the coalition government's decision to make it slightly easier for Eastern European engineers and foreign university graduates to move to Germany. But, at the same time, the measures were tied to so many conditions and limitations that they will likely attract very few highly qualified workers to Germany in the future. The Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) called it merely a "small step in the right direction."

In principle, Berlin's grand coalition is holding fast to a failed immigration policy that has long made experts shake their heads in disbelief. For decades, many of the foreigners who were allowed to immigrate were barely literate in their native language -- let alone German -- and soon became burdens on Germany's social welfare system. At the same time, the government set high hurdles for eminently qualified would-be immigrants from Eastern Europe and Asia.

In the international technology race, Germany resembles a sprinter who decides to attach lead weights to his shoes shortly before the start. While other industrialized nations lure highly qualified foreign workers with tax benefits and recruitment incentives, and while tens of thousands of well-educated Germans emigrate each year, the country is doing its best to discourage qualified workers from even attempting to immigrate.

The regulations are so unrealistic that even the country's leading exporters are increasingly running into problems with German immigration law.