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Impact on labor migration processes since new EU directive

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Is there any impact on labor migration processes since the EU directive about transparent and predictable work conditions was implemented into the German evidence law?

The new regulation in the evidence law about transparent and predictable work conditions which will come into force on August 1st is based on a Directive of the European Union from 2019. The member states have been asked to implement the directive into national law till end of July this year.


Therefore we face a new regulation which requires wet signatures on a work contract again – so far, the rumors. And I thought this will have a huge impact on our work, since we need to send original contracts all around the world again – which is becoming more challenging even due to the pandemic still going on. I was afraid German embassies could deny accepting official digital signatures on documents like work contracts and detailed job descriptions based on the new law.
But looks like this won’t be the case.

The regulations are about transparent work conditions and making the details of the agreement visible. This includes that the contract has to be with the employee printed out and signed in “wet ink” at some point (latest one month after the start date – https://lnkd.in/dUbcW_nn) but not immediately before having a visa in hands. Even more the contract is due to the directive and the implemented law for sure valid with the signature from the company only already – this makes things even easier for the foreign employee visiting the German embassy abroad. And even if the discussion is going on regarding if that’s a step to or a step away from digitalization – the paragraph 126a of the German BGB – https://lnkd.in/dw7kMgwa – wasn’t touched at all. 

So embassies can’t force the third country national to show up with original “wet ink” contracts to the visa appointments. This sounds like good news to me, as I was scared the new law could change the whole process of bringing international talent to Germany.