The EU revised blue card directive, agreed on 17 May, introduces more flexible conditions, enhanced rights and the possibility to move and work more easily between member states, all to create a framework that will help countries attract new skills and talent. While it has yet to be adapted into Luxembourg law, Stéphane Compain of relocation firm LuxRelo believes the directive will bring more flexibility for migrants to change profession and sector, as currently “in Luxembourg, during the first two years, the residence permit is valid for a specific profession in a specific sector, regardless of the employer.”

Another key change for Luxembourg will be the simplification of intra-EU mobility for EU blue card holders and their family members, who will be able to move to a second member state after 12 months of employment in the first member state.

“For the moment EU blue card holders from another member state relocating to Luxembourg must apply for a local EU Blue Card work permit in Luxembourg without any simplified procedure. If we now have an easier faster track for them this would benefit the Luxembourg employers,” he said, remaining sceptical until the Luxembourg text has been drawn up. A new challenge facing migrants is the time delay to process permit applications, which averages 6-8 weeks thanks to the pandemic. This, he said, can be an obstacle for some recruiters and he would like to see a fast-track option for immigration companies.

Luxembourg employers rely heavily on attracting talent from outside the EU, particularly for highly sought-after technical roles but the pandemic has taken its toll on migrant mobility.

The foreign affairs ministry issued 448 first blue card residence permits to non-EU nationals in 2020, down 32% from 2019 (662). Last year, Indian nationals made up the largest section of first blue card recipients (131) [related to stays of three months and over] followed by Americans (59) and Russians (31).

“The shortage of skilled workers has been recognised as a main issue in many sectors of our economy,” Agnieszka Parisse of recruiters Anderson and Wise told Delano. “More flexible eligibility criteria of the revised directive could certainly improve the attractiveness of the Blue Card, especially [given] that future workforce shortages, challenges of ageing population, and the economic impact of the covid-19 pandemic will only increase the EU's need for skilled migration.”