Financial supports for employers

EURES Targeted Mobility Scheme (TMS) makes it easier to recruit in EU.

To take part in TMS, employers with recruitment needs must first contact a EURES Adviser to receive recruitment mobility services such as:

Help to publish vacancies on the EURES portal and/or other job portals.
Help to find competent workforce through matching of suitable candidates from an EU country, Norway, or Iceland.
Information and advice on what to think about before employing from an EU country, Norway, or Iceland.
Information about TMS and its conditions.

Contact information for EURES Advisers from all EU/EEA countries can be found on the EURES portal via this link: Search for EURES Advisers (europa.eu).

When a recruitment cooperation with EURES is established and based on certain conditions, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can apply for funding when offering a training programme to newly recruited workers.

Eligible work placements

Minimum 6 months employment(3-6 months for traineeships).
Working hours must be at least 50 percent of full-time work.
Must be publicly advertised as a job vacancy, published and open to several workers to apply for (transparency).
Must comply with national labour and social protection laws and ensure fair wages and work conditions, such as collective agreements or minimum wage.
Must ensure a salary and a written contract specifying the duration of the employment, working time, rights and obligations, remuneration and social security provisions.

Non-eligible work placements

Placements with European institutions and bodies and other international policy, economic, social, and scientific organisations as well as supra-national regulatory bodies and their agencies. Applies also to EEA networks, platforms, lobbies, or other similar organisations when their budget resources depend exclusively or mainly on EU funding.
Placements within sales and telemarketing, businesses with high staff turnover or with one or more days of unpaid trial work/training before employment or which offers only commission with no fixed wages.
Placements with employment in one country and actual work in another country (so called posted worker).
Work-based training offers whose completion is a mandatory requirement to access a profession in specific sectors (e.g. medicine, architecture, law, aircraft industry, etc.).
Free-lance or self-employed.
Internships and apprenticeships.
Babysitter, au pair or nanny.

Your company can apply if:

it is legally founded or registered in an EU country, Norway or Iceland,

it employs a maximum of 250 employees,

it is offering employment for a minimum of 6 months,

it is offering employment on a full-time or at least part-time basis,

the training programme cannot start before employment but must start at the latest two months after. You must contact EURES Advisers for employers before applying.

Basic conditions for the recruited workers

18 years or older.
Citizen and resident of an EU country, Norway, or Iceland.
Or have a status as “EU long-term resident” in an EU country (Denmark and Ireland not included).
(To achieve this status, third-country nationals must have lived in the EU country where they apply for an uninterrupted period of five years and fulfil some further requirements, as defined in Directive 2003/109/EC).
Looking for work in other country than their country of residence (must be a mobility taking place with a change of country of residence).
Not be moving back to work in country of origin, or country where you have previously, at some point, been resident, i.e., lived/worked/studied, so called return mobility.

Financial support is intended for

Re-skilling and/or upskilling to improve the worker’s skills and competences required for the job
Soft-skills courses to better understand and integrate into the new company
Tailored language courses

Financial framework

€ 1,500 / worker

Training programme funding

The funding is a contribution towards the costs of a training programme, which can include:

Re-skilling and/or upskilling to improve the worker’s skills and competences required for the job
Soft-skills courses to better understand and integrate into the new company
Tailored language courses

A training programme can be either internal/in-company or external. In case of external training, a cost breakdown must be attached to the application. The costs should be in line with the intended purpose and usual market prices.

Please note, the training programme cannot start before employment but must start at the latest two months after. It must be carried out and completed within the duration of this project (by May 2027).

It is also possible for up to two existing workers to participate in the same training programme as the newly recruited worker. This provided they also have a need to receive specialised training. The funding which can be provided is max EUR 1500/worker.

TMS has project-specific upper limits in terms of both funding amount per company and number of recruited workers per company.

Employers receiving TMS funding are committed to the values of fair mobility and transparency. No profit may be generated through the funding of a training programme.

Please note, there is no legal entitlement to receive funding. Applications can be rejected if the eligibility criteria and conditions are not met.

The actual application form must be sent to TMS preferably well in advance. Must be sent before start of training programme, but earliest two months before employment start and latest two months after.

Any supplementary documents may be sent afterwards but should be sent as soon as possible.

See instructions and checklist in the application form below.

Training programme funding applicationpdf, 595 kB. (pdf, 595 kB)