The German government has significantly reduced the visa processing time for Indian skilled workers, cutting the wait for long-term visas from nine months to just two weeks. This development was confirmed by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who highlighted that the reduction aims to address the backlog affecting 400,000 applicants for national visas.
Baerbock noted that Germany, already the largest visa office for national visas globally, urgently needs skilled workers to fill labor shortages and support economic growth. The faster processing time is expected to benefit German companies in filling job vacancies and facilitating Indian companies’ investments in Germany.
In response to the country's labor market needs, with 570,000 unfilled jobs reported in 2023 and an anticipated economic loss of €74 billion by 2027 due to this shortage, Germany's visa acceleration efforts are seen as critical. Between January and June 2024, Germany issued 80,000 work visas, with skilled workers receiving 40,000 of these, reflecting a significant increase from the previous year.
The new visa processing initiative, part of the "Visa Acceleration Action Plan" launched last year, aims to address the pressing need for workers and boost the economy. However, some concerns remain about potential economic losses linked to the implementation of this plan.