Skill Portability
Map your occupation to ESCO v1.2. Understand how your credentials translate across all 27 EU member states — and what it takes to work there.
Skill portability is your ability to have your professional qualifications, skills, and work experience recognised and valued when moving to another EU country. It is a legal right — not just a convenience.
The stakes are concrete: the European Labour Authority finds that for 98% of shortage occupationsin Europe, the same occupation is in surplus in at least one other country (422 of 430 occupations, ELA 2024). Europe's skills problem is largely a matching problem — and portability is the fix.
Under Directive 2005/36/EC on Professional Qualifications, EU citizens have a legally protected right to practise their profession in any of the 27 member states. For over 800 regulated professions — from doctors and nurses to electricians and architects — formal recognition pathways are defined in law.
Even for non-regulated roles, EQF (European Qualifications Framework) levels map your diploma to a common 8-level scale, making it easier for employers anywhere in Europe to understand your credentials at a glance.
Hidden barriers still exist: language requirements, employer unfamiliarity with foreign credentials, and different professional cultures can all affect your mobility. This tool identifies those barriers and tells you exactly what to do about them.
17M+
EU citizens working in another member state
Source: Eurostat 2023
800+
regulated professions covered by Directive 2005/36/EC
Source: European Commission
EQF 1–8
qualification levels compared automatically across borders
Source: European Qualifications Framework
What this means for you
The Skills Portability Initiative, announced in the Union of Skills, is included in the Commission Work Programme 2026 as a legislative initiative — presented as part of the EU Fair Labour Mobility Package, with adoption planned for Q3 2026 (the public consultation closed on 27 February 2026). It aims to make skills and qualifications transparent and portable across the EU — in part by leveraging digital credentials, building on the European Digital Credentials for Learning infrastructure.
The problem it targets is overqualification— people working below their skill level because their skills don't travel. It affects around 20% of domestic workers, 30% of mobile EU citizens, and 40% of third-country nationals (European Commission).
This is exactly what portability analysis is for: mapping your profile to ESCO so your competences read the same way in every member state, and turning them into credentials an employer can verify instantly.
What you get
ESCO v1.2 mapping
Your occupation and skills mapped to the EU's official taxonomy — the same framework used by Europass, EURES, and all 27 EU employment services.
Directive 2005/36/EC
Find out whether your qualification is subject to automatic recognition, general system recognition, or requires additional steps in your target country.
Cross-border readiness score
See how transferable your profile is — what translates directly, what requires adaptation, and which skills carry the most weight in your target market.
Skill gap report
Understand the gap between your current level and what employers expect in your target country, with specific steps to close it.
Fill in where you are, where you want to go, and your professional profile. The more detail you provide, the more precise the analysis.
Your next step
A TalentPath credential is cryptographically signed, tamper-evident, and verifiable by any employer across the EU in seconds — for free.
Assessed
105 questions · 7 competence areas
Signed
W3C VC · Ed25519
Verifiable
Instant · Free · talentpath.eu/verify