European Blue Card - Update July 3, 2011

More news is coming in.

The Netherlands:  Many many thanks to arvind who left this link in the comments section -
Invoering Europese blauwe kaart.  I was very pleasantly surprised to find that the Google translator actually gave me a coherent translation.  Check it out.  At the bottom of the webpage are links to the Foreign Credentials validation service and a Customer Service guide explaining how to apply for a work permit.

Romania:  The Guide of Foreign Workers in Romania (English) and Guide du Travailleur Etranger en Roumanie (French) link to this Ministry of Foreign Affairs webpage where I followed another link to the Visa and Consular Affairs service.  It looks like (not entirely sure of this) you would need to get a work authorization (Blue Card or other) from the Romanian Office of Immigration and then apply for a visa/long-stay permit from your local Romanian consulate. I think your best course of action if you are interested would be to write or call the local Romanian embassy or consulate (here is the list of Romanian missions abroad) since the link to the Romanian Office of Immigration does not seem to be working.

France:  Vie Publique reports that the  "Loi du 16 juin 2011 relative à l’immigration, à l’intégration et à la nationalité" has been published in the Official Journal.  The next stage is "Le décret d’application" stage where they determine how it will be implemented.  The last stage is "Evaluation."  There was nothing more I could find on the government website so I turned to the Internet and I found this article by a French lawyer.  He is saying that the implementation will be via a short-term work permit, a "carte de sejour", which will have a little note on it saying "carte bleue européenne."  He also says that the terms for applying are as follows:

1. The worker must possess a legal work contract good for at least one year.

2. The annual salary for the position must be equal or superior to 1.5 times the average salary of reference (not sure what that means, if it's 1.5 times the SMIG or if they have another way of calculating this based on the sector).

3. The worker must have a diploma showing at least three years of study at a university recognized by the French state or have at least 5 years of work experience at a comparable level.

I don't want to be pessimistic about this but, if the above is true, it's going to be tough going for applicants.  I personally don't know many French companies that would hire a foreigner with a guaranteed one-year contract.  What about the usual 3-month trial period, for example?  I also wonder about who is going to be evaluating people's diplomas or work experience.  My own experience has been that my university degree has been both under and over-valued in many situations and it all depends on how well the evaluator knows the American university system where the quality of the schools is highly variable.  I can also see some cultural issues when it comes to work experience.  I once had a recruiter here in Paris who said that when evaluating American CVs he had to remember that (especially in IT) Americans tend move around a lot and it's normal in the US to have a year here or two years there which is something that French companies don't seem to like much.

But, let's be optimistic.  The law has been passed, it is on the books, and that is already a big step forward.  I'll keep you posted.