IT-specialists in the information and com-munications technology sector are needed – for example, software and multi-media developers and programmers, circuit and IT-system devel-opers , IT-consultants, and systems, Internet, and network specialists.

Specialists with university or technical college degrees – Bachelor’s or Master’s – in any infor-mation technology subject, such as computer science or communications engineering are eli-gible. Specialists without a degree can work in Germany only if the employer agrees to pay an annual salary of DM 100,000 or more, before taxes and deductions.

No.

You have several different options:

1. The Federal Employment Service is setting up an Online Job Fair for applicants starting in mid-June, 2000, where they can introduce themselves and present their curriculum vitae. Contact: www.arbeitsamt.de. You may also contact your local employment office.

2. Besides this job fair, the "Zentralstelle fuer Ar-beitsvermittlung"? (ZAV) in Bonn is responsible for the job placement of foreign IT-specialists. You will find this and other e-mail and postal addres-ses in the address list at the end of this brochure.

3. The third option is open recruitment, such as is often done on the Internet. Job openings posted, for example, on your company’s homepage, do not require a special permission of the Federal Em-ployment Service as long as they do not specifi-cally recruit specialists from abroad (see option 4).

4. The fourth option is to do your own recruiting abroad: using specifically targeted newspaper ads, a company employee or a third party. For this type of recruitment, you will need permission from the Federal Employment Service. Please contact your local employment office for more information.

Yes. But this private employment agency must have special permission to recruit abroad from the state employment office where it is located. Private employment agencies are only allowed to charge you, the company, for its services, and not the job applicant.

Normally, you as the prospective employer would apply on behalf of the applicant at your local employment office for a notice of intent to issue a work permit.

The only documents required are proof of a uni-versity or technical college degree in information or communications technology. These diplomas should be submitted to the employment office in German, or at least an English translation, since this will speed up the process considerably. This is not necessary if you, the employer, provide a written pledge to pay the applicant an annual salary of DM 100,000 or more, before taxes and deductions. In addition, the employment office needs a description of the position available, including the working conditions, if it was not previously registered.

The Employment Office will quickly verify that the position in question cannot be filled by a German or EU-specialist. It will also make sure that the applicant has the required qualifications and that the prospective employer will provide the same salary and working conditions for foreign specia-lists as for equally qualified German specialists.

For IT-specialists who have just completed their studies, their salaries should be comparable to the start-up salary rates laid down in collective agreements. For top-level foreign specialists with years of professional experience the comparable salaries are of course higher.

Everything possible is being done to make these procedures as fast and transparent as possible, and to reduce red tape. As soon as you have submitted all the required paperwork, the Em-ployment Office will make a decision within a few days or within one week at the most. If the Employment Office notifies you of its intention to issue a work permit before the IT-specialist arrives, this statement can serve as a valid work permit for the first three months of his or her employment in Germany. That way, your new staff member can go straight to work!

As soon as you have written notice that a work permit will be issued, your new employee will need preliminary approval from the Immigra-tion Office for a visa. To simplify procedures the federal government wants this approval to be routinely granted by the highest state authorities. Afterwards, the specialist can go to the German embassy or consulate in his or her country and apply for the required entrance visa. This visa will normally be issued within several days. Please note that if your employee plans to bring his or her family right away, the employee must submit proof of adequate hous-ing in Germany when he or she applies for visa. Thus, it is very important that you, the em-ployer, help your new employee to find a suitable place to live.

The first thing the specialist needs to do is to register at city hall (at the "Einwohnermeldeamt" or at the Immigration Office ("Auslaenderamt". The employee must apply for a residence permit at the local immigration office. For this, he or she will need a contract of employment and a visa. Within three months time, he or she will need to apply for a work permit at the local employment office. Here again, the necessary documents are a written contract of employment and a visa. The work and residence permits will normally be issued within a few days.

The work permit is issued in accordance with the length of employment offered, but may not ex-ceed five years. Within these five years the employee can change jobs as long as he or she continues to meet the requirements of the IT-specialists program. There will not be another check to see if the job could be filled by a German or EU-specialist. But all other requirements for holding a work permit, such as a comparable salary and comparable working conditions, must still be met and will again be checked.

As long as your new employee has a preliminary work and residence permit, his or her spouse and children under the age of 18 may come to Germany right away or join your employee later. The only requirements are that the specialist was already married before arriving, and that he or she has found adequate housing in Germany for the family. Two years after arriving, the spouse will be eligible for a work permit.

To start with, 10,000 work permits will be issued. After that, a monitoring procedure will be carried out to determine if there is a need for 10,000 more IT-specialists.

The necessary legal changes to streamline and simplify procedures are due to go into effect in early August, 2000. After that, it will be possible to admit the first foreign IT-specialists without delay.

Yes. A work permit and a residence permit may be issued right after your applicant’s graduation from a German university or technical college with an IT-degree so that German firms may also have access to this significant pool of specialists. This is also true if the applicant is working on a doctorate or a habilitation in Germany. Here again, the Employment Office may issue a work permit and the Immigration Office may issue a residence permit. You can take care of some of these formalities for your future employee.