Berlin, Germany To Slow Jewish Immigration

Berlin, Germany - Germany plans to slow Jewish immigration by introducing a system assigning points to potential Jewish migrants who have been flooding into the country since 1990.

The move - which has been agreed by German Jewish leaders and state officials - comes after the country's Jewish communities have been overwhelmed by the large number of Jews coming from the former Soviet Union.
Germany's Jewish community has grown to about 110,000 people, up from 30,000 in 1989 before the opening of the Berlin Wall.

Then chancellor Helmut Kohl, in the run-up to Germany's 1990 reunification, opened the country to all Jewish migrants from central and eastern Europe. The move, was meant as tool of realpolitik to show the world that Jews were willing to settle in a reformed and reunited Germany.
But the growth appears to have been too fast and now officials are determined to slam on the brakes.
All Jews who want to settle in Germany will have to score at least 50 points out of a possible 105 in a ranking system to be administered by a federal agency.

Candidates who are over 45 years old get zero points in the "age" category, while those who are younger get up to 15 points.
A university degree brings 20 points and job experience another 20 points. A concrete job offer in Germany brings five points. Good knowledge of the German language is a major plus and can yield up to 25 points.
The system will be tested in the coming year and the results will be evaluated by state officials and leaders of the Jewish community.