Luxembourg is taking a step towards opening up its labour market. A new law allowing the families of third-country nationals direct access to the labour market came into force on Friday 1 September.
Until now, a non-European who had a right of residence and a job in Luxembourg could hope to have family members join him or her, but not enter the labour market directly. With residence permit in hand, they had to wait for jobs centre Adem to check that it did not have a candidate for the job that the family member was planning to apply for, as the ministry of foreign affairs . This only applied to the families of third-country nationals, as family access to the labour market was already automatic for EU citizens.
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Here are the details of the changes:
- “Family members of third-country nationals holding a Luxembourg residence permit on the basis of family reunification will be authorised to work in Luxembourg as soon as they arrive and will therefore have free access to the labour market,” the ministry said in a press release. To qualify, they must hold a “family member” residence permit. These new residence permits will now explicitly state “authorised to work in Luxembourg.”
- Families of third-country nationals who obtained their residence permit before 1 September do not need to replace it. They can now work freely in Luxembourg, “regardless of what appears as an observation on their residence permit.”
-In addition, “access to the labour market is facilitated for applicants for international protection who have been in the process for six months, and for beneficiaries of a postponement or suspension of removal who apply for a temporary occupation permit, the labour market test carried out by the National Employment Agency (Adem) being abolished from this date for these people.”
- The period of validity of residence permits issued from this date for the purpose of seeking employment or setting up a business has been extended from 9 to 12 months.
- Finally, obtaining a certificate allowing the recruitment of third-country nationals has been simplified. For” (e.g. nurses and software developers), Adem is exempt from its obligation to check whether jobseekers matching the profile sought by the employer are available. The certificate will be issued within five days. For other occupations, the market test will continue to be carried out, but with shorter deadlines: Adem will have seven working days to check that no jobseeker is available for the position, after which the certificate can be issued within five days. Where Adem is able to propose profiles, it will have 15 days to issue assignments to the employer.
Originally published in French by and adapted for Delano