Germany working to accelerate visa procedures for foreign workers

The German Foreign Ministry is rapidly accelerating visa procedures for the skilled workers needed for the economy, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said at a Greens party gathering in Berlin on Tuesday.

The waiting time for a visa at the German embassy in New Delhi had been cut to two weeks, Baerbock said. "Previously, it was nine months," she added, attributing the change to digitalization and centralization.

The ministry aims to digitalize the entire visa procedure by the end of the current legislative period next year.

The number of national visas issued would have to rise by 63% according to ministry predictions to accommodate the 400,000 people who have to enter Germany every year to keep the number of people in employment constant.

Baerbock, a member of the Greens, is currently engaged in a battle with Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the liberal FDP for funding for her IT and staff plans, while Lindner is attempting to cut spending to balance the budget.

At the meeting, Katharina Dröge, the head of the Greens parliamentary group, proposed a "social pact for a welcome culture," calling for business, employees and politicians to conclude the pact together.

"We aim to further simplify the barriers and the access to the German labour market, and we are calling for a political debate that avoids fuelling prejudice," she told dpa. Foreign skilled workers had to feel at home in Germany, she said.