When Mr Harianto Wijaya turned up for his first day of work in Nuremburg last July, he had no idea that his 15 minutes of fame had arrived. The 25-year-old Indonesian computer technician had expected an uneventful first day but, instead, he spent his time giving interviews and posing for photographs.

Every newspaper and television station wanted to talk to the first person to be awarded Germany's green card for IT workers.

"I never expected this to happen," said Mr Wijaya repeatedly in interviews, looking, in equal parts, frightened and overawed.

The idea is simple but in Germany it was revolutionary. With an estimated 75,000 unfilled technology jobs in Germany, the IT industry spent years lobbying for a change in labour regulations to allow them to recruit foreign computer specialists.

Exactly a year ago the federal labour office agreed and began taking applications for 10,000 green cards.

To be eligible for the green card, applicants needed either a college degree in information technology or a long-term work contract paying at least DM100,000 (#51,000) a year. Unlike its namesake programme in the United States, however, the German green card is strictly for IT workers only and allows holders to stay in the country for only five years.

One in five applicants came from India, while many applications were received from Russia, Romania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Mr Roberto Munoz, a Mexican computer specialist, left his job in Dublin after 18 months to move to Dortmund, near Dusseldorf. He was attracted by the position in a software localisation company and better conditions.

He knew nothing of the green card programme and was surprised at how easy he was able to find a job as a non-EU national.

Despite Germany's famous bureaucracy, the whole process was handled by his employer and took only three weeks, according to Mr Munoz.

The green card is a better system than the temporary visa he had in the Republic, he said. "In Ireland I had to go to renew my green book every six months; here I only had to register at the town hall once," he said. He had no problems settling down but he knows for many foreigners concerns about xenophobia would prevent them moving to Germany.

It seems very easy to get a green card; what it seems hard to do is to get people to come - that's Germany, he said.

A year on, there are still hundreds of green cards available from the original allocation of 10,000 and IT employers are grumbling that the programme is a flop in more ways than one.

The new workers have hardly dented the needs of the industry, according to IT lobby group Bitkom, and there are still more than 75,000 unfilled jobs. The geographical spread of green card applications is uneven, with more than 1,500 registered in Bavaria and only a few dozen applications in Berlin and a few hundred in eastern states.

The Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroder, has done all he can to lend his support to the green card scheme.

Recently he suggested that more IT green cards should be issued and that the scheme should be extended to other industry sectors. VDMA, the German machinery industry association, puts its engineer shortage at up to 12,000. The cleaning and food services industries have more than 80,000 vacant positions, and the country needs about 50,000 nurses.

But even Mr Schroder can do little to camouflage the poor uptake of IT green cards and German unions are critical of more green cards.

Instead, employers are hoping the government will implement in full recommendations in a recent report from a cross-party commission on immigration.

The report recommended a points system to allow up to 50,000 immigrants into the country to work every year.

Eligible candidates must be under 45 years and will receive an extra point for every year younger than the age limit. An applicant with a university degree scores an extra 20 points, with an additional 10 points for a doctorate. Computer skills, management experience and foreign languages will be worth up to 15 points and knowledge of German will be worth up to 20 points.

The proposal has stirred up controversy for favouring immigrants who are young, well-educated, computer-literate and multi-lingual but has the support of the federal government and is likely to be made law by the end of the year.

Under the plan, some 20,000 would be given a permanent right of abode, with the same number given time-limited work permits to ease shortages in specific sectors, such as hotel and catering. A further 10,000 time-limited work permits would be granted to students and trainees.

Crucially, the commission called on Germans to abandon the fiction that theirs is "not a country of immigration".

This was the formula repeated endlessly by Germany's leaders to sustain the myth that its "guest workers" - the millions of Turks and others who flooded into Germany in the 1950s and 1960s - would one day return to their native lands.

With seven million foreigners - 9 per cent of the population - Germany has the highest proportion of foreigners of any European country. Still, many Germans do not believe their country is a land of immigration, something played on by conservative politicians.

The opposition Christian Democratic Union coined a campaign slogan, "Kinder statt Inder" (children instead of Indians), implying that the government should educate German children to fill the country's high-tech jobs rather than bring in foreigners. But many people considered the phrase anti-immigrant racism.

Germany is a land of immigration, and it has been for some time, said Ms Rita Sussmith, chairman of the immigration commission.

With unemployment fixed at 3.8 million, however, many Germans cannot understand the need for imported labour. Recent surveys have suggested that two-thirds of Germans are opposed to a relaxation of the immigration laws.

"You have to try to find work for the country's unemployed," said Mr Heinz Putzhammer of the German Labour Union Federation. "The wrong approach now would be to buy in employees instead of training employees."

A year on, it's become clear that quick fixes such as the IT green cards are not the answer to Germany's labour shortages. Faced with a falling birth rate, the government has made a start by overhauling immigration policies to attract more workers from abroad. But employers will have to counter Germany's reputation as a country of xenophobia and high taxes.

The federal employment office has been anxious to promote a positive image of foreigners working happily in Germany but this is hampered by regular reports of attacks on foreigners and conservative politicians turning immigration into a political football.

"Foreign workers need to be convinced that Germany is an attractive workplace," said Mr Christoph Kannengiesser, manager of the German Federation of Employers. Ms Sussmith puts it more simply: "We need them."