The EU Blue Card -- a work and residence visa designed to make skilled immigration to the European Union easier -- is expected to be rubber-stamped during a European Union Council of Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs meeting taking place on November 27-28, 2008 in Brussels.

"As the decision was agreed at the ambassadors' level, it’s not yet official...but we do not foresee any further debates and the decision will be ratified by the EU ministers next month," an EU official said.

The EU Blue Card would grant up to four years' residence in an EU member state, with the Blue Card holder having the option to move to another EU member state after two years. In addition, Blue Card holders can bring family.

The Blue Card is the brain child of European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. On 29 September 2008, Barroso told journalists during an EU-India summit in France that the chances look good for the proposal to become reality.

"We have made a proposal precisely to make it easier for qualified professionals to come to Europe," Barroso told reporters. "We made a proposal and that proposal is being negotiated by the Council of member states and I think the final outcome will be a good one."

The Blue Card has also seen some of its more ambitious details watered down. During negotiations on the proposal for the Blue Card initiative, many EU member states demanded that they retain control over how many skilled migrants to admit and for what sectors.

Asked about these changes, Barroso said, "sometimes we want more ambitious results but this is the way we work in the EU. We have to understand we are 27 countries so at the end it has to be a compromise between all the countries because that's very much linked to their national sovereignty."