The European Commission published (Ukraine: Commission helps professionally qualified refugees access jobs in the EU) a recommendation on their Register of Commission Documents page on 6 April on the academic and professional recognition of the qualifications of people fleeing Ukraine, calling on EU Member States’ to approve these recognition cases in a ‘short time’.

The text concerns the access of people fleeing the war to regulated professions, including nurses, general practitioners and, depending on the Member State, teachers and educational staff. 

The recommendation explains that, if a Member State has chosen to regulate a specific profession, people enjoying temporary protection will have to obtain recognition of their professional qualifications in order to exercise regulated activities as an employee or self-employed person in that profession. For non-regulated professions, the requirements for employment are not regulated by law and may vary.  

The text says ‘For these occupations there are no regulatory barriers to employing a person whose qualifications have not been recognised and there is no single process in place for the recognition of qualifications for purposes of entry into non-regulated occupations’, also specifying the conditions for recognition for non-Ukrainian third-country nationals not covered by the 2001 directive.