Bettina Offer, partner of Offer & Mastmann, is a leading immigration lawyer representing multi-national companies engaged in the global transfer of personnel. She is, indeed, an expert in the field of business immigration and citizenship law, with a portfolio of clients coming from the IT, biotechnology, automotive, aviation and media industries.

Offer & Mastmann was established in 2004 when Bettina teamed up with business immigration lawyer Gabriele Mastmann. Their firm became the first German practice specialising exclusively in corporate immigration law.  Located in Frankfurt, Offer & Mastmann have been finding legal solutions for international migration scenarios ever since.

In 2009 Offer & Mastmann were named as one of the leading immigration law firms by the prestigious Who’s Who Legal. In July 2011 Bettina Offer and Gabriele Mastmann were both made Honorary Members of Accademia Apulia UK.

Immigration law is such that only applicants who satisfy its criteria are allowed to enter a given country. However, on a human scale, men are equal - everyone has the right to a better life.  Please comment.

Most, if not, all industrialized countries welcome Migrants who have a sound educational background. Within the employment market at least, true equality comes with education giving everyone the opportunity to work his or her way into a better life. Sadly, not everyone has access to schools and/or universities.

How is Europe handling immigration policies today?

As far as immigration law is concerned, there is no Europe. People are free to travel throughout the Schengen countries with one visa, but if they want to work, then 27 individual policies from 27 European nations come into effect.

Illegal Migrants often fall prey to unscrupulous employers. Removing/repatriating Migrants often means returning them to dire situations - where is the future of immigration policies?

Migration will become more and more regulated. Employers’ compliance is half the battle – with severe sanctions for those who don’t comply. The use of new IT databases, collating visa applications, together with biometric data (i.e. fingerprints) will improve regulations.  However, migration for humanitarian causes will always remain an issue, whilst economic Migrants gain more importance on a globalized market place.

What are the options available for employers who may wish to ‘legalise’ the employment status of their illegal workers?

Legalizing employment that has started in an illegal fashion is usually difficult. Most employers are aware that immigration law needs clarification within the pre-employment process. However, the old saying ‘You need to think beforehand, not afterwards! applies.

What is the position of illegal Migrants who have spent a number of years in Europe, are they allowed to stay? 

As I said, there is no “Europe”. Some countries, for example Spain, have found ways to legalise their illegal residents, others, like Germany, require them to leave the country.

Society blames ‘foreigners’ for a rise in crime. Please comment.

To begin with, illegal migration is a type of crime - intrinsically, this is a bad start already. Also, many countries limit the possibilities of legal employment for foreigners, leaving them with hardly any means for integration. 

In August 2011 London saw riots, looting and social unrest. What is, in your view, the underlying social issue of this unhappy chapter?

German media reported on the UK as still having class system and a lack of possibilities for youths. Any heterogeneous in which people have different views on the “common good”, will at some time or other, display volatility. But as far as the UK riots are concerned, the underlying cause for the social unrest may well have been greed. A German newspapers remarked the following “Bookstores in general had not been harmed by the riots. Apparently the common rioter does not read!”

What is the nationality of your average client? What are their main difficulties?

Our main clients are international corporations wishing to employ foreign workers in Germany. Prospect employees are mostly from India, China and the US. Occasionally there is also a demand for personnel from Eastern Europe, Japan and other parts of Asia and South Africa. They would all have a university degree and skills set to make an invaluable contribution to any society. However, a common problem with foreign workers in Germany is the language barrier as many of them don’t seem too keen with the idea of learning German. Luckily for them, in many parts of Germany, i.e. the Rhine-Main-Area, most Germans are quite fluent in English and business life there is nearly bilingual nowadays.

What is the rewarding element of being an immigration lawyer?

From my early days in school, I believed in the idea of ‘meritocracy’ with hard work being at the heart of anyone’s career success - people’s birth-right, gender or skin colour should not matter. I now very much appreciate how nations acknowledge the need for companies to search for the best-suited employee throughout the world.

As an immigration lawyer, I feel I can help employees from poorer countries to contribute to the development of their host country, enjoying the same salary as their German counterparts, often sending chunks of is back home to help their families. This is the route to equality that began back in the eighties when we started to buy fair-trade coffee and listened to aid concerts – so brilliant!

Can you recommend a website(s) with good advice for Migrants in search of a better life in Europe?

Again, when it comes to Migration, there is no single Europe. Each country has its own legislation and, consequently, there isn’t a ‘single’ website to offer advice. 

Please describe a Migrant’s success story as an example of social victory.

There are so many wonderful success stories, but one comes to mind. Last year, a German newspaper asked a number of marketing firms for their contribution to a hypothetical campaign to attract Migrants to Germany. The one I particularly liked read: “Foreign Minister Gay – Chancellor Female – Health Minister Vietnamese – and you think America is the land of opportunities?”