Luxembourg’s financial center offers many opportunities for skilled professionals looking to grow their careers. While the country already attracts professionals from all over the world, the new legislation significantly simplifies access to the Luxembourg job market for non-EU workers.
The new law works with a list of highly-skilled occupations considered to be in “short supply”. The list, based on data from the Employment Development Agency (Adem), will be updated every year, and currently includes around thirty occupations for which companies are having difficulties in receiving applications. The recruitment procedures for these specific roles have been streamlined.
“This is a significant development”, says Laurent Peusch, Head of Employer Services at Adem. “For these positions, which are very much in short supply, employers no longer have to wait for ADEM to carry out a market test to check whether other suitable jobseekers are available. They can now obtain the certificate that allows them to recruit a third-country national in a maximum of 5 working days. Under Article 45 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, citizens of the EU-27 member states already have free access to the labour market.”
The new law also simplifies the procedure for jobs that are not in short supply. While a market test remains in force, ADEM will now have only 7 working days to carry it out, a significant improvement compared to the current average of three weeks. If no candidates are proposed, the certificate will be issued within 5 working days. Moreover, if ADEM is able to suggest a candidate, then it must forward the candidate’s profile to the company within 15 working days.
Automatic work permits for families
The second key characteristic of the law eases access to skilled positions for third-country nationals who move to Luxembourg due to family reunification. From now on, members of the same family (spouse, registered partners and children for example.) who have followed a relative to Luxembourg for professional reasons will be granted a work permit (subject to age requirements, etc).
Until now, individuals holding a “family member” residence permit have had to navigate a lengthy process, that could take several months, before gaining authorisation to take up employment or set up a self-employed business.
Laurent Peusch emphasises the significance of the change: “This removes a significant barrier to recruiting qualified staff. Moreover, this easing of the residence permit requirements also means that the national economy will benefit from a new pool of talent, with profiles that are often highly qualified and that will meet demands in IT, engineering, healthcare and, of course, the financial sector”.