Germany has agreed to open its labour market to 250,000 skilled and low-skilled Kenyan workers under a controlled and targeted labour migration agreement.
Kenya is facing increasing difficulties in providing employment and sufficient income for young professionals, while Germany is struggling with a shortage of skilled workers.
In Flensburg, in northern Germany, five Kenyan bus drivers have already been welcomed in a pilot project.
Migration agreements are an important pillar in the German government’s efforts to curb immigration.
The agreement also simplifies the repatriation of Kenyans who are in Germany without legal permission.
Immigration is currently a major issue in Germany, following the growing popularity of the far-right anti-immigration party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).
Successive governments in Berlin have admitted relatively large numbers of asylum seekers into the country in recent years.
Germany took in more than a million people during the 2015-2016 refugee crisis, mostly fleeing war in countries like Syria. Since the large-scale Russian invasion in February 2022, Germany has taken in 1.2 million Ukrainians.
The labor agreement was signed in Berlin by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Kenyan President William Ruto.
Germany agreed to relax some immigration laws to help Kenyans find work in Europe’s largest economy.
Authorities in Berlin are also considering extending temporary residence permits for Kenyan workers who have found approved jobs.
Kenyans are also granted long-term visas to study or undergo vocational training in Germany.
“After the expiry of the long-stay visa, Kenyans can obtain a temporary residence permit for study purposes in Germany for up to two years,” the agreement states.
The temporary residence permit can be extended if the purpose of the stay has not yet been achieved, but is achievable within a ‘reasonable’ period, it says.
Under the agreement, IT specialists from Kenya will be allowed to enter and work in Germany even if they have no formal qualifications.
Both governments will support the immigration of skilled workers who have completed vocational training or obtained a university degree, provided that their qualifications are recognized by the competent authorities of the other Party.
The agreement also includes provisions on the readmission and return of citizens between the two countries.
It contains guidelines for preventing and combating labour exploitation, forced labour and human trafficking.
Welcoming five Kenyan drivers in Flensburg on Thursday, Schleswig-Holstein Transport Minister Claus Ruhe Madsen said Germany needed hard-working hands and smart minds.
“We simply have to position ourselves in Germany in such a way that it is attractive to come here,” said Madsen.
The drivers are the first group of Kenyan employees to be trained by bus company Aktiv in a pilot project, hoping to get a job in Germany.
It is expected that doctors, nurses and teachers, among others, will participate in the program.
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), the agreement would significantly improve access to decent foreign jobs for Kenyan workers in Germany and address Germany’s labour shortage.
“It includes mechanisms to protect the rights and well-being of Kenyan migrant workers in Germany and to ensure safe, orderly and productive migration,” the ILO said in a statement.
However, there are concerns about a brain drain in Kenya, with professionals such as doctors and nurses moving abroad to work, creating major shortages of medical staff in local hospitals.
“It is sad that we are going to serve other countries at the expense of our own country,” Ekuru Aukot, a Kenyan lawyer and politician, told the BBC’s Newsday programme.
But Roseline Njogu, a senior State Department official, said Kenya was simply responding to the demands of the global labor market.
“We have a youth bubble in Kenya and a million people enter the local labour market every year. It takes time and resources to create jobs at home,” she added.
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