A single European work visa, to be known as a Blue Card, will be introduced alongside a global advertising campaign to attract thousands of “highly skilled” migrants, EU officials announced yesterday.

The visas, coloured blue to match the EU flag, are intended to rival the American Green Card by offering permanent residency anywhere in Europe after five years’ work.

The card will be targeted at qualified migrants who will be able to bring their families with them after a 90-day application period as part of a programme to meet an estimated short-fall of 20 million skilled and non-skilled workers by 2030.

“We will have a shortage of labour in the future and this is already true of some sectors,” said José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission President, announcing details in Strasbourg yesterday. Plans for a common EU approach to non-skilled workers are also in the pipeline to combat illegal immigration.

“At the moment, most highly skilled workers go to Canada, the United States and Australia. Why? Because we have 27 different and conflicting procedures in the EU. If we want to boost growth and jobs we must act – but it will only work if we act together.”

Ministers said that Britain was likely to opt out of the scheme but would not be able to block most of the other 26 EU nations from agreeing to the scheme at their next summit in December. It will be decided by qualified majority voting with the Irish Republic and Austria other possible objectors.

The idea of a visa giving full employment and social security rights to migrants has long been a dream of the European Commission to meet projected shortages of engineers, doctors and IT specialists as Europe’s population ages.

Officials in Brussels believe that the Blue Card will change the image of Europe as a destination mainly for unskilled immigrants. About 85 per cent of global unskilled migrant labour heads to the EU while only 5 per cent goes to the United States, the commission argued. In contrast 55 per cent of skilled labour goes to the US and just 5 per cent to the EU.

Applicants for a card will need a job offer for at least a one-year contract and the employer will have to certify that the post cannot be filled from within the EU. The work contract will also have to offer the applicant a salary at least three times the level of the national minimum wage in the country where the job is located.

In return, migrants will enjoy an equal level of social and employment rights to EU citizens, including pensions, housing and healthcare. They will also be allowed to move to any other EU country if they find a new job there after two years of residence in the sponsoring country.

The Government is preparing its own system where applicants from outside the EU will only qualify to work in Britain if they earn enough points under criteria such as qualifications, age and experience.

Liam Byrne, the Immigration Minister, said: “These are simply the latest ideas from the commission. Frankly we do not support these proposals. This is why we have secured an opt-in for all immigration measures and stay outside EU legal migration directives.”

Jane Backhurst, of the World Vision development group, said: “Europe must not allow the Blue Card to rob developing countries of their best and their brightest. “ Europe must make sure it does not cream the best from around the world and leave the rest behind.”

Welcome visitors

1.7%: in EU

3.2 %: in US

5.3%: in Switzerland

7.3%: in Canada

9.9%: in Australia

— Proportion of “highly skilled” immigrant workers in the working population

A record rise in immigration is helping to fuel a surge in the population, which is estimated to reach 71 million within 24 years, according to figures published yesterday (Richard Ford writes).

Immigration will add an extra one million people to the population over the next five years after the figures showed higher levels higher than the Government admitted only three weeks ago.

Net migration is estimated to reach a record 240,000 this year and will run at more than 200,000 a year for the next five years.

Three weeks ago the Office of National Statistics issued projections showing net migration running at 190,000 a year for the next 25 years - a revision from the 2005 estimate of 145,000 a year.

— Richard Ford

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