To cushion the blow of Germany’s worsening worker shortage, Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to make it easier for IT workers from India to settle in the federal republic. On a recent trip to India, the chancellor announced joint plans with Prime Minister Modi to push for an EU-India free trade deal.

Scholz unveils easier visa policy for Indian IT workers

Germany currently has a dearth of software development specialists, an integral group if the paper-form-heavy country is to reach its digitisation goals. Now, to combat the shortage, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has announced that his coalition government will ease the visa process for skilled workers in India looking to find a job in Germany.

At the moment, people in India who want to come to Germany for work must first apply for a visa at a German embassy in India - a process which can take months. With Scholz’s new policy, this process will be simplified, making it possible for skilled jobseekers to arrive in Germany without a concrete job offer and for their families to make the move with them.

Germany’s worker shortage also seems to be pushing the country to be more open to non-German speakers. “It is clear that anyone who comes to Germany as an IT specialist will first be able to talk easily with their colleagues in English because many in Germany can speak English,” Scholz said in a statement during his visit to India last week. But Germany is far from sidelining its native language; rather, German can be “learned later”, the chancellor added.

Scholz strengthens ties with Prime Minister Modi

After visiting Bengaluru, a tech business-heavy city in southern India, Scholz also took the opportunity to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Last year, New Delhi’s German embassy issued visas to around 3.000 skilled workers, the majority of whom were IT workers. And now Modi and Scholz have agreed to strengthen the growing ties between the two countries. 

A significant part of their plan is that the two leaders will push for an EU-India free trade agreement. “We want to and must use the potential that exists here,” Scholz said. “This also helps us strengthen the resilience of our own economy.”

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