The link you posted is some inofficial site. Here's the official information: http://www.bamf.de/EN/DasBAMF/Aufgaben/BlaueKarte/blauekarte...

Can you apply for the Blue Card prior to finding employment? Or must you find an employer first to sponsor you?

I don't think so. Here are the FAQ about the blue card: http://www.bamf.de/EN/Infothek/FragenAntworten/BlaueKarteEU/...

Quote: "What preconditions need to be met in order for an EU Blue Card to be issued? 1. Applicants must provide proof of a completed university degree. If the university degree was not awarded in Germany, it must either be recognised or comparable to a German university degree. 2. Applicants must either provide proof of a concrete employment offer or present an employment contract that has been signed or that already exists. 3. This offer or contract must be based on a minimum gross annual salary."

Ouch. No degree disqualifies you? I guess some places don't take technical experience.

The french equivalent says that you can have the education or 5+ years experience

This is wonderful. Thank you.

This might only applys in France in the eu each state implements directives from the EU as it sees fit there can be wide discrepancies

For example the way the Spanish implemented TUPE (how employees are treated in take over) is basically a big f$%k you to the EU as it makes no attempt to implement even anything close to the spirit of the directive.

I suspect that Germany might be stricter on the university Degree.

Also not all Eu states implemented it Uk Eire and Denmark did not.

To note: The spain blue card info says: Proof of adequate training and, if applicable, professional qualifications to practise the profession.

http://extranjeros.empleo.gob.es/es/InformacionInteres/Folle...

So what's the catch? What's worse about the Blue Card / why would you ever get the work permit?

The Blue Card requires that you have a job contract or very concrete job offer with a minimum salary, and will more or less be tied to that job: If you lose your job, they apparently can give you some time to find a new one, but you may get kicked out if you fail in that endeavor. Also, if you want to change jobs away from the one that originally got you the Blue Card, you'll have to get formal approval. (Edit: this would probably apply to a regular work permit, as well. I'm German, so I never had this problem. Still, you can apparently even apply to get a work permit as a freelancer, which would then make life much easier for you if you don't want to tie yourself to a Blue Card job for that long.)

Other than that, there seems to be no catch - the Blue Card is meant to attract highly skilled workers, so once that hurdle is cleared (>> minimum salary, university education, easier for certain high-in-demand sectors), the EU countries seem pretty happy to have Blue Card holders stay - as they should be.

Yep, the permit is tied to a specific job for the first two years[1]. From what I understand, it's pretty easy to get approval for a different job, as long as the job description is similar. Interestingly, my residence permit also says "selbständig Tätigkeit gestattet" (self-employment permitted), so it seems I could freelance here without needing a different visa.

[1] http://www.berlin.de/labo/auslaender/dienstleistungen/index....

So, still better than an H-1B :P

I think the blue card is only for some restricted occupations (in tech, science, mathematics, etc.) and has a minimum salary requirement (of about 46k euros/year). Which shouldn't be a problem for the HN demographic.

For IT occupations the limit is even lower: € 36.192 per year.

For workers under 29 years of age. 30 and above is something like € 52.000/year (at least for The Netherlands).

Do you think it will continue to be this simple to get a Blue Card? I currently live in the US but Europe is "the dream" for my wife and I. We just don't move now because my wife is going to college here, so we want to wait for her to graduate first. But we fear by the time she graduates (probably 2 years from now), it won't be so easy to get to Europe anymore.