The European Commission has proposed a new “Fair Labour Mobility” package that would let people working in another EU country use digital social security documents and have qualifications recognised more quickly across borders.
The plans include five legislative proposals and a wider policy communication, covering a European Social Security Pass, new rules on digital qualifications, changes to strengthen the European Labour Authority, updates to EU rules on recognising professional qualifications, and a new directive on recognising qualifications held by third-country nationals, the Commission announced on Tuesday.
A European Social Security Pass — known as ESSPASS — would allow people to request and receive certain social security documents fully online, including the European Health Insurance Card and the A1 form used by “posted workers” who are sent temporarily to work in another EU country.
The Commission said these documents could be stored and presented through the EU Digital Identity Wallet, a planned EU system for holding official digital credentials, with national authorities able to verify them quickly and securely.
Over 12 years, digitalisation could save up to €64 million for businesses, €69 million for healthcare providers and €72 million for labour inspectors through faster cross-border verification, while digital signatures could avoid up to €277 million in fraud over the same period.
Faster recognition of qualifications
Under the proposals, qualifications would be issued in a standardised digital format and made available in the EU Digital Identity Wallet, the Commission said.
It also proposed a new EU tool to compare qualifications across member states, drawing on national qualifications databases, with the Commission describing it as a free way for employers and workers to understand and compare credentials.
For regulated professions — jobs where specific qualifications are required by law — the Commission proposed a mandatory digital procedure that would cut cross-border recognition for professions such as doctors, nurses, engineers and teachers to five weeks, from three months.
The Commission also proposed common standards for recognising qualifications obtained outside the EU, saying the average process currently takes 14 months and would be reduced to four months under the new approach.
Separately, the Commission proposed strengthening the European Labour Authority, including expanding its role to tackling abuses involving third-country nationals working in the EU and helping to combat illegal employment.
The first practical benefits would come after the proposals are adopted by the European Parliament and EU member states, with social security documents to be digitalised in stages — starting with the A1 form one year after the ESSPASS regulation enters into force and the European Health Insurance Card within three years.
About 14 million Europeans lived in another EU member state in 2024, including more than 10 million people of working age.
