European Commission proposes fair labour mobility package
The European Commission proposed a package on September 15 designed to make social-security documents and professional qualifications easier to carry and verify across European Union borders.
The Fair Labour Mobility Package would create new digital tools and speed up administrative procedures for workers, employers and national authorities. The proposals still require adoption by the European Parliament and the Council before their main provisions can take effect.
A European Social Security Pass
One proposal would establish the European Social Security Pass. It would allow people to request and receive documents digitally, including the European Health Insurance Card and the portable A1 certificate used by posted workers to show which country’s social-security system covers them.
The documents could be stored in the EU Digital Identity Wallet and checked by public authorities. The Commission presents the system as a way to reduce errors, delays and fraud while making valid coverage easier to prove.
Faster recognition of qualifications
The package also calls for standardized digital qualifications and a mandatory digital recognition procedure for regulated professions such as doctors, nurses, engineers and teachers.
The Commission says some recognition procedures could be reduced from three months to five weeks. It also proposes common standards intended to complete the recognition of certain qualifications earned outside the European Union within four months.
The European Labour Authority would receive stronger cross-border enforcement tools, including a role in addressing abuses involving third-country nationals working in the EU.
What it means now
For mobile professionals, the package addresses real friction: proving coverage, moving credentials and navigating different national systems. It could eventually reduce paperwork and waiting time.
It does not provide immediate new rights. The proposal does not create a digital nomad visa, replace national immigration rules or grant work permission to someone who does not already have it.
Workers and employers should continue using the current national and EU processes until the legislation is adopted and implementation dates are published.
Related Global Nomad Center coverage
Sources
- European Commission, “Guaranteeing social rights for workers everywhere in the EU,” September 15, 2026
- European Commission employment and social affairs portal, digitalisation in social-security coordination