European Union Agency for Asylum Jobs

Mission and mandate

EUAA was established by Regulation (EU) 2021/2303 of 15 December 2021, which entered into force on 19 January 2022. The regulation replaced the founding regulation of EASO (Regulation (EU) 439/2010, which created the European Asylum Support Office in 2011) and substantially expanded the agency's mandate. The 2022 reform was years in the making and had been blocked in Council until a political compromise on the New Pact on Migration and Asylum unblocked the file.

EUAA has six core functional areas: operational and technical assistance to member states (deploying asylum support teams comprising case workers, interpreters, country-of-origin experts, and dactyloscopy operators to national asylum authorities, particularly in frontline member states with disproportionate caseload); training (the EU Asylum Curriculum, certifying national asylum officers across the Union); the Asylum Knowledge Centre (country-of-origin information, EUAA Asylum Reports, judicial analysis, statistics); the Asylum Information Database (a public database on asylum procedures and reception conditions in EU+ countries, maintained jointly with civil society); monitoring of CEAS implementation (a new function under the 2022 mandate, designed to identify systemic shortcomings in national asylum systems); and information and analysis on asylum-related developments outside the EU (preparing the agency for hypothetical mass-influx situations).

The agency runs operational plans with frontline member states updated annually (Greece, Italy, Spain, Cyprus most consistently; Bulgaria, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands on a smaller scale). The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 triggered the agency's largest-ever operational engagement under the Temporary Protection Directive.

Structure and operational divisions

EUAA is led by an Executive Director (Nina Gregori from 2019, term continuing into 2024 to 2025) and structured into operational and corporate departments: the Operations Centre coordinating field deployments and operational plans; the Asylum Knowledge Centre (research, country-of-origin information, EUAA Asylum Report, judicial analysis); the Centre for Information, Analysis and Methodology (training, curriculum development, certification); the Resources Department (HR, finance, procurement, ICT, infrastructure); and the Office of the Executive Director (legal, communications, fundamental rights, internal audit). The Fundamental Rights Officer reports directly to the Executive Director, paralleling the structure at Frontex.

Geographically the agency is headquartered in Valletta at the Winemakers Wharf area, with substantial field presence in operational areas: Athens, Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Kos, and Leros for the Greek operation; Rome, Bari, Pozzallo, and Lampedusa for the Italian operation; Madrid, the Canary Islands, and the southern Spanish coast for the Spanish operation; Nicosia and the Pournara reception centre for the Cypriot operation. Field office headcount can exceed headquarters headcount during peak operational phases. The agency operates a roster of deployed asylum support team members drawn from member-state national asylum authorities, these are not EUAA staff but seconded national experts under bilateral arrangements.

Hiring landscape over the last 12 months

EUAA hiring concentrates in three streams. First, case officers and interpreters for deployed operations, typically FG III to FG IV contract agent posts requiring an asylum, refugee law, or interpretation background plus a willingness to be deployed to frontline member states for 4 to 6 week tours. These are high-volume recruitments running on rolling reserve lists by specialism (Arabic, Farsi/Dari, Tigrinya, Pashto, Somali, Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish, French, English interpretation). Second, training and quality officers, AD5 to AD9 posts in the Centre for Information, Analysis and Methodology covering curriculum development, training delivery, certification of national officers, and quality assurance of EUAA-deployed work. Third, country-of-origin experts and judicial analysts, AD5 to AD9 posts in the Asylum Knowledge Centre, typically requiring an asylum-law or country-expertise background plus published work.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 triggered a major hiring wave for Ukrainian and Russian language posts and for surge support in central European member states. The Pact on Migration and Asylum entering into force in 2024 triggered another wave around border procedures and the new monitoring function. EUAA also recruits a continuous stream of administrative, finance, procurement, and ICT staff at FG II to FG IV via CAST Permanent.

Salary realism by grade and the Valletta coefficient

Malta has a correction coefficient of 92.4 under Article 64 of the Staff Regulations for the Valletta duty station. An AD5 step 1 grosses €6,153 monthly basic; with the coefficient that becomes €5,685. With the 16% expatriation allowance (where applicable, €984, not modified by the coefficient), a household allowance for a married hire (~€220 plus 2% of basic), and a dependent-child allowance per child (~€510), an AD5 expatriate with one child lands around €7,800 to €8,400 gross monthly before tax. Net take-home after EU tax is roughly 82 to 86% of gross at AD5.

Malta's cost of living for housing has risen substantially since 2018, rents in Sliema, St Julian's, and the Valletta area where most EUAA staff live now approach Brussels levels for two-bedroom apartments. The coefficient under-states this. Restaurants, transport, and groceries remain cheaper than Brussels. The European School of Bertrange (Luxembourg) is not available locally; Malta has accredited European Schools providers and several international schools whose fees are largely covered by the education allowance. For staff with school-age children the package is competitive; for single AD5 hires the squeeze on housing is real. Use the salary calculator to model a Valletta AD5 take-home against Brussels.

Languages, security clearance, and competition profile

English is the working language across EUAA. Maltese is not required. Knowledge of a second EU language is the regulatory minimum for AD and FG posts. For deployed operational roles, an additional language matching the deployment context (Greek for Greek operations, Italian for Italian operations, Spanish for Spanish operations) is highly valued. For interpreter posts, the source language (Arabic, Farsi/Dari, Tigrinya, Pashto, Somali, Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish, French) is the central asset and must be at near-native level.

Security clearance is not generally required at EUAA, though staff with access to sensitive operational planning or to confidential country-of-origin sources may be subject to enhanced confidentiality undertakings. Operational staff deployed to frontline member states are subject to security risk assessments and operational security training before deployment.

Competition profiles favour candidates with a refugee or asylum law background (master's in international human rights law, refugee law, EU asylum law), prior experience at a national asylum authority, an NGO active on asylum, the UNHCR, or a refugee-law academic centre. For training and quality officer posts, prior asylum-officer experience at a national authority is the typical AD7 profile.

Application paths

EUAA recruits via three routes. Direct temporary agent recruitment, for AD and AST posts. Vacancy notices are published on euaa.europa.eu/careers and circulated via the EU Careers portal. Applications are submitted through the agency's online system with CV, motivation letter, and supporting documents. Shortlisted candidates undergo a written test (typically an asylum-law or operational case study), a structured interview, and reference checks.

Contract agent via CAST Permanent, the dominant channel for case officers, interpreters, and administrative support. Candidates register on the EU Careers portal in the relevant FG profile (Project/Programme Management, Interpretation, Translation, Administrative Support, ICT) and complete the CAST CBT. Once in the CAST pool, EUAA HR can pre-select files for specific vacancies. The agency's high volume of CA recruitment makes it one of the most accessible EU institutions for early- and mid-career asylum and migration professionals.

Seconded national experts and operational roster members, serving officials from national asylum authorities apply through their national point of contact for SNE deployments at headquarters or for inclusion on the operational asylum support team roster. The roster is the largest single channel for field deployment and is open to certified national officers across the EU+ countries (EU member states plus Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, Liechtenstein under bilateral arrangements).