In a late-night vote on 23 July, the German Bundestag concluded the second and third readings of the bill “zur Weiterentwicklung der Fachkräfteeinwanderung”. The reform overhauls the landmark 2020 Skilled Immigration Act and introduces a Canadian-style points system, lower salary thresholds for the EU Blue Card and—crucially for employers—a six-month ‘opportunity card’ that lets qualified third-country nationals enter Germany to look for work. Under the compromise hammered out by the traffic-light coalition, applicants will earn points for formal qualifications, professional experience, language skills and age. A minimum of six points secures the new Chancenkarte, allowing limited employment (20 hours per week) while job-hunting. For IT specialists, the required Blue-Card salary falls to 45 % of the pension contribution ceiling (€45,934 in 2026), and recent graduates can qualify with an even lower threshold. The law also cuts the Federal Employment Agency’s priority check for non-regulated professions and mandates fully digital visa filing via the Ausländerportal from 1 November. Business groups welcomed the vote. The Federation of German Industries (BDI) called the Chancenkarte “a breakthrough for SMEs that struggle to recruit abroad”. Global mobility managers note, however, that conversion from opportunity card to residence permit still requires a formal job offer and background vetting—processes that must be synchronised with the foreign missions’ IT rollout. HR departments are advised to budget at least three months for end-to-end onboarding until embassies clear their backlogs. The opposition CDU/CSU abstained, arguing the system “imports unemployment” and should be coupled with border controls. AfD tabled a failed motion titled “Technisation instead of immigration”. The bill now moves to the Bundesrat on 26 July; passage is expected because immigration is considered ‘consent-not-required’ legislation. If published in the Federal Gazette by August, most provisions will take effect on 1 January 2027, with the digital visa portal pilot launching in India, Brazil and the Philippines this December. Companies planning 2027 assignment budgets should therefore update policy matrices and cost projections accordingly.
