EU Blue Card

The EU Blue Card is the European Union’s common permit for highly qualified workers from outside the EU. One card does two jobs: it lets you live in the country that issues it, and it lets you work there in a skilled job. You can’t apply for one in the abstract. You need a real job offer or contract in a specific EU country, and that country’s immigration authority issues the card.

The rules come from Directive (EU) 2021/1883, which replaced the original 2009 scheme. Member states had until 18 November 2023 to bring it into national law. Denmark and Ireland don’t take part, so a Blue Card is not an option there. The other 25 EU countries issue it.

How the salary threshold works

There’s no single EU salary figure. Each country sets its own threshold, and the directive only fixes the range: somewhere between 1.0 and 1.6 times that country’s average gross annual salary.

A country can also set a lower threshold, at least 80% of its standard one, for shortage occupations and for people who graduated within the last three years. Even then it can never fall below 1.0 times the national average. Averages move, so the numbers are revised regularly.

Here is what that looks like in one country. The Netherlands’ immigration service, the IND, lists a gross monthly salary of €5,942 for the EU Blue Card, and €4,754 under the reduced criterion for recent graduates, for the period 1 July 2026 to 31 December 2026. Treat that as a picture of how thresholds look, not a number to plan around. Check the current figure on the official site of the country you’re targeting.

The directive sets a few other core conditions. The contract must run for at least six months, and you need higher professional qualifications (in some fields, professional experience can count instead). The card itself is normally valid for at least 24 months. If your contract is shorter, the card runs for at least the length of the contract plus three months.

Moving between EU countries

This is the real selling point. A Blue Card holder can make business trips to other participating member states for up to 90 days in any 180-day period. And after 12 months as a Blue Card holder, you can move to a second participating country under simplified rules. You apply there for a new Blue Card, but you don’t start from zero.

The catch people miss

The card is tied to the country that issued it. Being able to travel around the Schengen Area is not the same as being allowed to work anywhere in it, so taking a job in a second country still means applying there for a new card, as described above. Short visits still follow the 90/180-day rule. Changing employers in your first 12 months can also mean telling the authorities first or going through extra checks, depending on the country.

It’s also a work permit, not a remote-work permit. If your employer is outside the EU and you want to work from a laptop, a Blue Card is usually the wrong tool, and the visa checker is a better starting point.

And as with any residence permit, where you live legally and where you owe tax are separate questions. Moving on a Blue Card usually makes you a tax resident of that country.

This is general information, not advice. Thresholds and procedures vary by country and change often, so confirm the details with the official immigration authority or a qualified professional before you act.

Where you’ll meet this

• In a job offer from an EU employer, where the salary is set just above the national Blue Card threshold.
• On a national immigration website, which publishes the current salary figures and the application steps.
• When you plan a move to a second EU country after your first year, using the mobility rules.