Even though anonymous online media outlets have been claiming this for four years, Germany did not, nor will it, pass a law that would allow citizens without EU passports to work in the country without a visa.
Raskrinkavanje has published an analysis called “Working in Germany without a visa? Yeah right” in December 2017, when we rated the claim that “citizens without EU passports will be able to work in Germany without a visa” as of January 1, 2018, as fake news.
Starting January 1, 2018, citizens without EU passports will be able to work in Germany. Here’s now! As of January 1, 2018, a new law will be launched which will allow non-EU citizens to find employment under the same conditions as EU citizens.
This means that everyone who finds an employer will be able to get a job the same way as EU citizens, and going to the embassy will no longer be a necessary condition for obtaining a work visa.”
Based on Deutsche Welle’s inquiry from October 2017, the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit) said that “The allegations circulating in the media in Bosnia and Herzegovina are incorrect”.
In October 2017, the German Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina has also denied the claim that citizens “without an EU passport will be able to work in Germany without a visa”, stating that “the information that as of January 1, 2018, a new law will enter into force which will allow citizens of non-EU countries to work in EU continues under the same conditions as EU citizens,” is not correct.
However, the topic was updated again in February 2018 by the online media outlet Paralelno, which published an identical article and only changed the year. More specifically, instead of 2018, the law was announced for 2019, while the rest of the text remained identical, and many other online media outlets have published the article throughout the year.
As of January 1, 2019, citizens from Ex-YU countries will be able to work in Germany without a passport: Here’s how!
Starting January 1, 2019, a new law will allow all citizens from ex-Yugoslavia to find employment under the same conditions as EU citizens.
This means that everyone who finds an employer will be able to get a job the same way as EU citizens, and going to the embassy will no longer be a necessary condition for obtaining a work visa.
In the analysis, titled “Re-circulating false news about work in Germany without a visa”, published in March 2018 and updated a few times, we rated all of the articles as redistribution of fake news. BBC also wrote about this fake news in the article “New German law in a sea of fake news: Five things you might have heard wrong.”
The same “news” was published by an online media outlet Politika Ekspres in March 2018, which falsely announced visa-free work in Germany as of January 1, 2020, while the online media outlet Dijalog published the identical article in October 2019.
THE NEWS OF THE DAY! As of January 1, 2020, citizens from the Balkans without an EU passport will be able to work in Germany without a visa. Here’s how!
Starting January 1, 2020, a new law will allow all citizens from ex-Yugoslavia to find employment under the same conditions as EU citizens.
This means that everyone who finds an employer will be able to get a job the same way as EU citizens, and going to the embassy will no longer be a necessary condition for obtaining a work visa.
Although the year 2020 is mentioned in the title, the link to Politika Ekspres article states it’s 2019, which means that only the title was changed in an old article announcing the law for 2019.
Translation: NEWS OF THE DAY! As of January 1, 2020, citizens from the Balkans without an EU passport will be able to work in Germany without a visa. Here’s how!
The same article was published on the same online media outlet, but this time it’s referring to 2020.
Who’s sharing the links of the online media outlet Politika Ekspres?
An interesting fact is that the article of the online media outlet Politika Ekspres was published in total on 15 Facebook page on January 22, 2020:
-
- Ekspres Politika
- Svaka zena zna (Every woman knows)
- Svet automobila i auto trka (The world of automobiles and car races)
- Interesting
- Zlatni srpski košarkaši (The golden Serbian Basketball players)
- Zivot je nekad siv, nekad zut (Life is sometimes gray, sometimes yellow)
- dajjjjj posaljiiii PORUKU vec jednom!!!! (come onnnnn senddddd the MESSAGE already!!!!)
- Uživo sa balkanskih ulica (Live from the Balkan streets)
- Najlepše čestitke (The most beautiful thank you notes)
- Seka Aleksic fans (Fans of Seka Aleksic)
- Moji prijatelji (My friends)
- Nesposobni imaju sposobnost da onesposobe sposobne (The incapable ones have the capability to disable the capable ones)
- ஐஹ Izvini sto sam te volela, nije bilo namerno :p ஐஹ (ஐஹ I’m sorry I loved you, it wasn’t intentional :p ஐஹ)
- “Spremni deco””?-“Jesmo kapetane”!-“ne cujem vas”-“jel si gluv majmune”??? (“Are ya ready, kids””?-”Aye, Aye Captain”!-”I can’t hear you”-”are you deaf, monkey”???)
- Ono sto imas danas cvrsto zagrli, jer mozda ce bas sutra nestati!!!! (What you have today, hug tightly, because it might disappear tomorrow!!!!)
Since it is not true that “Citizens without EU passports will be able to work in Germany without a visa”, we rate Politika Ekspres’ article that announces the law for 2020 as fake news. Moreover, we rate the same article which was posted by the same online media, but on a new link and was shared in January 2020, as redistribution of fake news.
The online media outlet Dijalog had also received the rate for redistributing fake news.
What kind of law was adopted in Germany?
In June 2019, the German parliament Bundestag indeed did adopt a set of new migration laws, which Deutsche Welle, among others, wrote about:
German Bundestag adopted a package of migration-related laws on Friday (…) The new law applies not only to top professionals but also includes all those who find employment “that fits their qualifications”. This applies to all professions, not just those declared by the German Federal Employment Agency as deficient, and this has been the case so far. The big news is that those with professional qualifications will be able to come to Germany to look for a job. Their stay is limited to six months and the condition is that the applicant can support himself (…) The biggest news is that a German employer who wants to hire a worker who is not from the European Union (or Germany) no longer has to prove that he has failed to find an adequate workforce in the EU market.
The German Embassy in Sarajevo also wrote about the change in migration law on its official website:
The Information on the Immigration Labor Law
The Law on the Migration of Expert Workforce comes into force on March 1, 2020. This expands the possibility for a targeted and sustainable increase in the migration of skilled workforce from non-European Union countries, and enable them to seek employment in Germany.
Even though anonymous online media outlets have been claiming this for four years, a law that would allow citizens without EU passports to get a job in this country without a visa has not been, nor will it be passed in Germany.
Reporting on a new law passed by the German government, the online media outlets Alo, Pink, Republika and Srbija Danas have shared the articles from the agencies in December 2018, using a headline that announced working in Germany “without visas”:
THE LAW THAT MANY HAVE WAITED FOR HAS ENTERED INTO FORCE
As of January 1, 2020, you will be able to work in Germany WITHOUT A VISA! But these are the conditions you need to fulfil!
The articles below these headlines are taken from the agencies and they provide accurate information about the new law, also featuring statements of German officials. Since the headline misrepresents the possible visa-free work, though it does not appear in the rest of the text, articles published by an online media outlets Alo, Pink, Republika and Srbija Danas are rated as redistribution of fake news, and also as clickbait.
