'Green card' law soon for migrant workers and families

Legislation paving the way for a "green card" system for skilled migrant workers and their families will be coming before the Dáil in "the next month or so", the Minister for Enterprise, Mr Martin, said yesterday.

This system would give permanent residency rights to skilled workers and their families from outside the EU.

Mr Martin said the necessary Bill would be framed in a way that would allow the Minister of the day to make decisions on the number of cards issued and the sectors where they would apply.

This would allow the Government to react to the changing needs for certain skills, he said. Mr Martin was speaking on the Political Party programme on TV3 yesterday.

He said the State was going to be very dependent on migrant labour to maintain the growth in the economy in the coming years.

The bulk of the jobs would be met from workers within the European Union but a work permit regime would be needed for some highly skilled, niche jobs in areas such as technology or multi-lingualism.

The Government needed to be "more mature" in how it dealt with overseas workers and their spouses, the Minister said.

It would be unrealistic to tell highly qualified scientists "we need you very badly but, sorry, you cannot bring your wife or your kids", Mr Martin said.

Such attitudes sat uncomfortably with him and with the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell.

Mr Martin said these indefinite work permits would give workers greater rights as they would be held by the workers, not the employers, and would only be renewed every four years.

At present, skilled migrant workers in certain sectors may work here and bring their family members under a work visa or authorisation scheme, which is renewable every two years. Others must obtain a work permit, renewable every 12 months.

It is thought that the new system is being introduced in response to the growing competition for highly skilled migrant workers in Europe and the United States.