This chapter reviews the characteristics of public online portals that inform about and facilitate temporary labour migration pathways. It analyses which kinds of information they include, which public authorities are responsible for managing them, and the involvement of other stakeholders. It also reviews existing matching initiatives across OECD countries and public sector efforts to facilitate international labour migration through temporary labour migration pathways.
Admitting Labour Migrants
Making Migration Management Work
Abstract
Admission of labour migrants for the purposes of taking up employment requires a job offer. Hence, the match between employer and worker is key for international recruitment. The employer must be able to identify a candidate, and the candidate must be able to reach out to the employer. The alignment between demand and supply of foreign workers can be complicated by several factors, including the difficulty in reaching the right talent abroad, the logistical hurdles associated with international recruitment and the competition among countries targeting the same pool of qualified workers in high-demand sectors (OECD, 2025[1]). The issue of complexity of the admission process and procedures – discussed in Chapter 8 – can also be partly addressed through clear and accurate information for both worker and employer.
To help bridge the gap in matching and address complexity, governments have developed a range of tools and initiatives to facilitate international recruitment. All OECD countries provide some level of official information on labour migration pathways to employers and potential migrants, although the nature, spirit and content of this information vary. Some countries go beyond information provision to actively promote available job opportunities or seek to attract talent by presenting the advantages of living and working in the destination country. A smaller number of countries go further still, conducting matching efforts – actively connecting specific jobseekers with employers who have particular vacancies (see Annex Table 8.A.1. for details).
This chapter reviews the characteristics of these online portals, which kinds of information they include, the authorities that manage them and the way they involve stakeholders. It also reviews existing matching initiatives across OECD countries and international labour facilitation efforts.
Across the 41 OECD and EU countries analysed in this study, 22 countries have an active, dedicated online public portal for labour migration. Fourteen of them are EU Member States. A further two (Poland, Romania) were developing a portal as of late 2025. 19 countries have no such portal, though several provide information on general government websites. This group includes New Zealand and Norway, which discontinued their dedicated portals in 2022 and 2026 respectively, retaining only a general information page.
Public online portals for labour migration vary considerably in their intention and scope. Table 8.5 in Annex 8.A summarises the general characteristics of 24 international recruitment portals in 23 OECD and EU countries.1 The characteristics of these portals are discussed in the sections below.
Types of portals
Labour migration portals can have different objectives. They can be dedicated to providing information on the basic requirements and admission conditions to obtain a labour migration permit. They can also encourage potential candidates to consider migrating by promoting available pathways, or they can highlight advantages of living and working in the destination country as elements of talent attraction. Portals can also facilitate international recruitment by presenting jobseekers with open vacancies or by connecting employers with potential candidates interested in migrating. In most cases, these objectives are cumulative and build on each other. Portals that seek to facilitate recruitment also have implicit talent attraction and promotion objectives. Figure 8.1 summarises the types of portals that exist across OECD and EU countries based on their main objectives.
Objectives of labour migration portals and examples of countries
Source: OECD Secretariat.
Information provision. At the most basic level, all portals provide information: factual content on immigration procedures, visa categories, permit requirements, and the rights and obligations of workers and employers. When well organised and clear, they help foreign workers and potential employers navigate the migration system by lowering the barriers to understanding the requirements and conditions for admission.
This function is present in the 25 portals surveyed, with varying levels of detail. Belgium (federal portal), Bulgaria, Switzerland and the United States are the only countries whose portals focus on information provision only. In these cases, information portals serve an orientation function. They inform potential migrants and employers what the rules and procedures are to access a specific pathway, even if they do not actively seek to encourage a candidate to migrate.
Promotion. A second tier of portals goes further by engaging in promotion of the destination country. These portals present the country positively through descriptions of the quality of life, education opportunities, leisure activities and cultural offerings, among others. The goal is to build a positive image of the country in the eyes of potential migrants through soft-power branding tools.
Examples of this kind of portal include Belgium’s Flanders sub-portal Your Future in Flanders, the Netherlands’ Welcome to NL, and Sweden.se. Belgium’s Flanders sub-portal targets potential workers with information on labour migration permits alongside content promoting life and work in the region, available in English and Dutch. The Netherlands’ Welcome to NL presents information on immigration procedures, the labour market, and life in the country. Sweden.se, produced and maintained by the Swedish Institute – a public agency tasked with building interest in Sweden abroad – offers content on immigration, permits, and work and life in Sweden. These portals combine procedural information with promotional country content but stop short of directly targeting potential migrants as candidates to be recruited.
Talent attraction. A third tier adds talent attraction. These portals typically feature testimonials from migrants already living and working in the country, showcase specific employers, frame career opportunities, and present the destination as a competitive choice in the global or regional labour markets.
The difference between promotion and talent attraction portals lies in their intent and architecture: talent attraction portals are recruitment tools, not just marketing tools. For this reason, they often include links to job boards and recruitment websites, even if they do not go as far as connecting workers to employers directly. Examples of portals in this tier include Australia’s Smart Move Australia, Czechia’s Work in Czechia, Estonia’s Work in Estonia, France’s Welcome to France, Latvia’s Work in Latvia, Norway’s Work in Norway, Türkiye’s Tech Visa portal, and the United Kingdom’s Great Talent UK.
Among these, some target talent broadly across sectors and skill levels. Australia, Estonia, and Türkiye follow this model. Australia’s Smart Move Australia features skilled visa pathways alongside lifestyle, well-being, and career content, including video and written testimonials from skilled migrants. Others are more narrowly targeted: Estonia’s Work in Estonia focusses particularly on attracting ICT and tech talent, while Türkiye’s Tech Visa portal is explicitly designed for technology talent and startup founders, offering specific incentives to facilitate their admission (EMN and OECD, 2025[2]). Portals focussing exclusively on start-up founders and investors are not included in this review.
Recruitment facilitation. A fourth tier of portals goes beyond attraction to recruitment facilitation: actively supporting the match between specific jobseekers and specific employers. These portals collect vacancy listings, jobseeker profiles, or both, and may involve active intervention by a public authority to facilitate connections. Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Lithuania, and Luxembourg all have portals that include recruitment facilitation functions.
Among these, approaches vary in their depth and design. Some portals combine a job search function with a CV database, allowing jobseekers to upload their profiles and employers to browse and contact suitable candidates directly – Austria’s Work in Austria Talent Hub, Lithuania’s Work in Lithuania, and Luxembourg’s Work in Luxembourg operate along these lines. Others focus primarily on vacancy listings, providing jobseekers with access to open positions without necessarily collecting profiles – Germany’s Make it in Germany and Denmark’s Work in Denmark fall into this category. Finland’s Work in Finland and Japan’s portal supports employers with guidance on international recruitment procedures. Although matching is not a feature of the Japanese portal itself, JETRO collects a list of companies interested in hiring global talent that is included in the portal, and provides links to access Employment Service Centers for Foreigners for offline matching.
Costa Rica and Mexico represent an interesting exception to the cumulative pattern observed across OECD and EU countries. Unlike most portals that combine recruitment facilitation with promotion and talent attraction, both countries’ portals are primarily functional tools oriented toward managing and regulating labour migration flows rather than competing internationally for talent. Neither portal includes the lifestyle branding, employer showcases, or aspirational content characteristic of talent attraction portals, reflecting a policy logic shaped by the nature of migration flows each country manages, where the priority is orderly management and rights protection rather than active international recruitment.
The EU Immigration Portal was launched in 2011 to provide practical information on migration procedures for foreign nationals wishing to relocate to the EU. The portal covers most migration categories, including those covered by EU Directives (Blue Card, students and researchers, seasonal workers, ICT) and national schemes, linking directly to countries’ immigration portals. The portal navigation is available in the 24 EU official languages, as well as in Arabic, Russian and Ukrainian, although content is not always available in all languages. This portal is a clear example of an information provision platform that summarises factual content on migration procedures in an accessible manner.
In addition, the EU Talent Pool Regulation was adopted in April 2026. It will be the first EU-wide platform for international recruitment. It will allow for automated matching between candidate profiles and job vacancies. The EU Talent Pool will be based on specific EU-wide shortage occupations – covering sectors such as healthcare, construction, ICT, and engineering – adjusted by the participating Member States. (see Box 4.1 in Chapter 4). It will also serve as an information gateway, providing jobseekers with accessible information on member states’ immigration rules, available pathways, and worker rights.
The platform is not meant to be an immigration processing tool. It does not directly support application management for issuance of visas or permits, nor does it fast-track or alter existing national admission procedures. All immigration decisions remain subject to national law and procedures.
Source: European Parliament, Council of the European Union (2026[3]), Establishing an EU Talent Pool, http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2026/1047/oj; European Commission. (2011[4]), Moving to the EU? Good advice is now just a few clicks away (Press Release IP/11/1370), https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_11_1370.
Information included in portals
While all portals provide information on immigration procedures, the depth and breadth of that information varies considerably. Table 8.1 summarises the kind of information provided by each labour migration portal analysed.
At a minimum, most portals cover the main visa and permit categories available to foreign workers, eligibility requirements, and the steps involved in the application process. Many also include practical information on living and working conditions – taxation, social security, healthcare, housing, and education – that helps potential migrants assess what life in the destination country would be like. Germany’s Make it in Germany portal, for example, provides comprehensive guidance covering migration pathways, job search tools, and detailed employer guidance on recruitment and migration procedures. Denmark’s Work in Denmark portal offers a CV database alongside information on living and working conditions, while Japan’s portal includes an event calendar and a list of companies interested in hiring global talent alongside basic immigration procedures.
A smaller number of portals go further, providing employer-facing guidance on how to navigate recruitment procedures. In some cases this employer guidance is substantial: Work in Austria, Work in Finland, Work in Lithuania, and Work in Luxembourg all feature dedicated sections for employers wishing to recruit from abroad, with Finland and Lithuania additionally offering consultations on international recruitment strategies and assistance with migration procedures (EMN and OECD, 2025[2]). Mexico’s México Te Emplea is notable for the breadth of information it provides to employers, including access to worker profiles, information on the employer registration certificate, and guidance on the advantages and requirements of hiring migrant workers.
Some portals include information that goes beyond migration pathways but is relevant for admission. Seven of the portals surveyed include information on how foreign credentials are assessed and recognised, although the depth of information varies – from general outlines to profession-specific descriptions of the process and corresponding bodies. Some of these countries provide detailed guidance and links to the relevant assessment bodies (Austria, Germany, France, Mexico), while the others offer only a brief mention (Australia, Denmark, Norway). The other 18 portals reviewed do not address recognition of qualifications at all, despite this being a critical step in the admission process for many skilled migrants.
The breadth and accuracy of information available on these portals depends on the ability of managing authorities to pool and regularly update content drawn from multiple sources – immigration, labour, taxation, and qualifications recognition authorities among others – a co‑ordination challenge that grows in proportion to the range of functions the portal seeks to cover.
Note: *Norway’s portal was removed in March 2026 but officially reported in the data collection exercise for this study.
The authorities responsible for managing labour migration portals vary considerably across OECD countries, reflecting different national approaches to the governance of labour migration (Table 8.2). The list below summarises the different authorities involved in each portal, with four main groups emerging:
Portals managed by immigration authorities. Portals in this group provide regulatory information on immigration procedures. One example is Australia, where the portal is managed directly by the immigration authority, the Department of Home Affairs. The other example is the United States – although the Department of Labor provides basic information on procedures under its competence. The countries without “portals” (e.g. Israel) also provide basic information on the immigration authority website, without a portal.
Portals managed by labour and employment authorities. Portals in this group often provide information on immigration procedures and on access to the labour market. They sometimes incorporate vacancy posting or matching functions. They typically leverage the managing agency’s existing relationships with employers and job seekers, as well as its access to labour market data, to actively support recruitment. Countries in this group include Belgium (national and Flemish portals), Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, Mexico, and Türkiye.
Portals managed by economic development and investment promotion agencies. Portals in this group usually have a clear promotional and talent attraction objective that falls within the purview of investment and business promotion agencies. They tend to include information on specific employers that may be attractive for candidates (e.g. startups), migrant testimonials, and lifestyle branding. Countries in this group include Austria, Czechia, Estonia, Iceland, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, and Sweden. France’s “Welcome to France” is addressed to firms making investments and needing to bring workers from abroad.
Portals managed by a multi‑agency coalition or with a whole‑of-government approach, Portals in this group do not have a single ministry or agency bearing sole responsibility for the portal, reflecting a cross-cutting strategic priority rather than a sectoral responsibility. This group includes portals in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. They may be more resource‑intensive to maintain co‑ordinating content and updates across multiple agencies requires ongoing effort. Norway’s portal “Work in Norway” was run by a coalition spanning five separate authorities, was replaced completely in 2026 by “Being New in Norway”, a general portal for all newcomers. The development of the new portal – which focusses less on workers and has less information regarding employer-driven labour migration pathways – was part of the Norwegian Government’s digitalisation strategy 2019-2025.2
Note: *Norway’s portal was removed in March 2026 but officially reported in the data collection exercise for this study.
Source: OECD Secretariat.
Excluding the cases of a portal run only by the immigration authority, a recurring challenge is co‑ordination: where a portal spans several functions, such as immigration information, labour market matching, employer services, and lifestyle promotion, that fall under different ministries, managing coherence becomes key. Box 8.2 describes Germany’s portal multi‑agency co‑ordination strategy led by the Federal Government. Where such co‑ordination is absent, portals risk being incomplete or inconsistent, covering some aspects of the migration process well while leaving others underserved. The institutional arrangement chosen to manage a portal thus has direct implications for the quality and coherence of the information and services it can offer.
Germany’s Make it in Germany is one of the most developed labour migration portals in the OECD. It covers a wide range of topics – working in Germany, studying and vocational training, visas and residence, living in Germany, recruitment, and integration – and offers a self-check tool that allows potential migrants to assess whether they meet immigration requirements based on individual characteristics (nationality, education, occupation, qualification recognition, etc.) and suggests the visas or permits for which they may be eligible. Beyond this personalised tool, the portal also provides general guidance on visa procedures, job search advice, informational webinars, and testimonials from migrants and employers. It is linked to the Federal Employment Agency’s job board, though it does not conduct matching directly.
The portal is part of a broader initiative of the same name, underpinned by the 2020 Skilled Immigration Act, which seeks to enhance Germany’s attractiveness as a destination for skilled workers and address persistent labour shortages. The “Make it in Germany” branding also appears in talent attraction materials distributed abroad, beyond the portal itself.
Delivering this breadth of content requires active multi‑agency co‑ordination, overseen by the Federal Government as a whole. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action manages the portal, while individual agencies are responsible for updating content within their respective remits: visa and residence matters fall under the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community and the Federal Foreign Office; recruitment and employment content is updated by the Federal Employment Agency and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs; recognition of foreign qualifications is handled by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research; and language acquisition is managed jointly by the Goethe‑Institut and the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees.
To assess how the portal is used and where it could be improved, the OECD conducted an online longitudinal survey in 2022‑2023 on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, reaching over 30 000 people living abroad who wanted to move to Germany as migrant workers. Respondents pointed to areas for improvement, including more support finding a job (70%), more job postings matching their qualifications (70%), and more job advertisements in English (67%). A further 62% said additional support from the public employment service in their job search would be helpful.
The final survey wave found that more than half of respondents had used the website to find information on moving to and working in Germany, making it the most widely used of the available channels – ahead of the “Working and Living in Germany” hotline (32%), the specialised information and advisory service for skilled workers abroad, ZAV (29%), and the Goethe Institut’s Mein Weg nach Deutschland (25%).
Source: OECD (2025[1]), Improving the Economic Migration Framework to Attract and Retain Qualified Talent in Flanders; OECD Secretariat.
Language of the portal
The language in which a portal is available is important because it shapes its practical reach among potential migrants.
Table 8.3 shows the variety of languages in which OECD countries share information through their migration portals. A portal that is only available in the destination country’s national language is, in practice, an information tool for those already familiar with that language. This limits its utility as a talent attraction or recruitment facilitation instrument. Almost all portals reviewed in this study offer content in English – as the only language or in addition to the local language. Only Costa Rica and Mexico have content exclusively in a national language that is not English.
Migration portal by languages in which information is available
Note: *Norway’s “Work in Norway” portal was removed in March 2026 but officially reported in the data collection exercise for this study.
Source: OECD Secretariat.
Seven portals go further by offering content in additional languages. Germany’s Make it in Germany is available in four languages – German, English, French, and Spanish. Not all multi-lingual portals have full content available in all the languages offered.
Some portals are available exclusively in English, including those of English-speaking countries (Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom), but also Finland, Iceland, and the Netherlands.
Among EU member states with portals, most offer content in English alongside the national language. Estonia, Lithuania, and Sweden, and now Norway, offer content in Russian alongside English and their national languages. Latvia’s sub-portal, nested in the Mission Latvia portal, is available in English and Japanese, reflecting its business and investment ties with Japan. Belgium’s federal portal is available in four languages – English, Dutch, French, and German – reflecting the country’s linguistic diversity rather than a multilingual recruitment strategy. Switzerland’s language coverage reflects a similar pattern.
The language coverage of a portal broadly reflects the geographic scope of each country’s recruitment priorities. Countries with active bilateral recruitment programmes or outreach campaigns targeting specific source regions tend to offer content in the languages of those regions, though this alignment is far from universal.
Beyond providing information and promoting the destination country, a subset of OECD countries use their portals to actively facilitate the match between jobseekers and employers. Across the 41 countries surveyed, 12 facilitate some form of labour matching through public mechanisms.
Existing matching initiatives through labour migration portals
Note: Based on this report’s review, all other OECD countries did not report a matching initiative. New Zealand offers a separate service for employers (SkillFinder) and for job seekers (through Expressions of Interest).
Source: OECD Secretariat.
How is matching conducted?
The most common approach for labour matching is posting: portals collect vacancy listings, jobseeker profiles, or both, and allow employers and candidates to browse and contact each other directly. Austria’s Work in Austria Talent Hub, Lithuania’s Work in Lithuania, and Luxembourg’s Work in Luxembourg operate along these lines, combining CV databases with vacancy listings and allowing direct communication between registered users and employers. Austria’s portal in particular goes even further; it provides applicants with suggestions of jobs matching their profile and employers with suggestions of suitable applicants for their job advertisements.
Denmark’s Work in Denmark, Germany’s Make it in Germany, Estonia’s Work in Estonia, Finland’s Work in Finland, and the Netherlands’ Welcome to NL focus primarily on vacancy listings, providing jobseekers with access to open positions without systematically collecting profiles. Japan’s portal includes employer and vacancy listings alongside an event calendar, connecting global talent with Japanese companies interested in hiring internationally.
A smaller number of countries go further through active intervention by a public authority: Luxembourg’s ADEM actively matches candidates to vacancies based on shortage occupation lists, while New Zealand’s SkillFinder service, operated by Immigration New Zealand (INZ), involves active public intervention. Candidates register their interest and basic profile details through a dedicated government portal; INZ promotes registration, and the resulting database has grown to over a million e‑mailable prospects. Employers do not directly search or download the candidate database. The employer must hold Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) accreditation. They submit specific vacancy details to INZ, which reviews them against skill and wage requirements before alerting, by e‑mail, matching candidates on the employer’s behalf. In a 2016 illustration, around 1 000 vacancies broadcast to roughly a million contacts generated open rates of one‑third to one‑half, click rates of 5‑7%, and application rates of 1‑5% – yielding 10 to 50 applications per vacancy for employers, who remain responsible for verifying applicant credentials. The system was designed to serve individual employers rather than allow bulk scraping of leads, took at least two years to reach critical mass, and – despite its scale – required limited staff time to manage (OECD, 2022[5]). Türkiye’s Tech Visa portal collects profiles of technology talent and startup founders but does not systematically match them to specific vacancies. Data on the performance of these matching services is scarce. None of the countries covered in this review publish figures on outcomes of matching through these portals.
Beyond international recruitment, a small but growing number of PES are moving beyond posting toward AI-assisted matching, using algorithms that consider a wider range of data sources and can better capture the fit between jobseeker profiles and job descriptions. According to an OECD review on the use of AI in PES, Finland’s Job Market Finland, launched in 2022, uses two matching methods: structural data matching based on work experience, skills, and education, and natural language processing of job posting text, which generates a compatibility score between candidates and vacancies (Brioscú et al., 2024[6]). An ex-ante evaluation of the platform found that using web-based matching methods raises vacancy filling efficiency by around a third on average (Räisänen, 2023[7]). Mexico’s National Employment Service similarly uses supervised machine learning to match jobseekers to vacancies based on their occupation preferences, employment type, salary expectations, and career history. It is worth noting, however, that these AI-assisted matching tools are primarily designed for domestic labour market integration rather than international recruitment specifically. The use of AI to facilitate matching between foreign jobseekers and employers in destination countries remains limited, with Finland’s Aino chatbot, explicitly designed to assist international workers and employers recruiting from abroad, representing one of the few dedicated exceptions (Brioscú et al., 2024[6]).Link with Public Employment Services.
The relationship between labour migration portals and the PES varies across countries. In some cases, matching functionalities are managed by the PES. For instance, Denmark’s vacancy listings are under the Danish Agency for Labour Market and Recruitment, Luxembourg’s portal is managed by ADEM, the public employment agency and Mexico’s matching service is managed by the National Employment Service (SNE) under the Ministry of Labour.
In other cases, the portal is managed by a separate agency and provides links to the PES job portal rather than integrating with it directly. Germany’s Make it in Germany, for example, includes a job search function but directs users to the Federal Employment Agency’s separate infrastructure. Austria’s Work in Austria Talent Hub is managed by the Austrian Business Agency independently of the PES. In general, portals integrated with the PES can more easily draw on real-time labour market data and established employer relationships, while standalone portals may offer a more streamlined user experience but with less direct connection to labour market services.
Matching support for workers and employers
Beyond vacancy posting and job fairs, countries may provide more tailored support to both workers and employers navigating the international recruitment process. On the employer side, only Finland and Lithuania offer consultations on international recruitment strategies, assistance with migration procedures, and analytics to help companies identify and attract suitable candidates (EMN and OECD, 2025[2]). Austria also facilitates matching by suggesting suitable applicant profiles to employers posting job advertisements on the Work in Austria Talent Hub portal.
On the worker side, Estonia and Finland’s portals feature chatbot services offering guidance to prospective employees on the recruitment process, while Luxembourg’s Work in Luxembourg allows jobseekers in shortage occupations to upload CVs and apply directly through the portal, with employers able to contact suitable candidates (EMN and OECD, 2025[2]) Germany’s Make it in Germany features a self-assessment tool that provides third-country nationals with a personalised overview of their career opportunities in Germany (OECD, 2025[1]) Work in Austria provides applicants with suggestions regarding jobs matching their profile.
A number of PES – in Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, and Norway – use AI tools to help employers design vacancy postings, including classifying vacancies by occupation and suggesting relevant skills (Brioscú et al., 2024[6]). This can improve the quality of matches by making job descriptions more accurate and consistent. These tools, however, are primarily oriented toward domestic recruitment processes rather than specifically designed to support international hiring.
Looking ahead, AI tools and large language models (LLMs) are likely to reshape how these platforms work. For example, they could improve match quality between worker and employer by drawing on larger databases and reducing the friction of manual profile searches by PES. They could also change the way prospective migrants and employers search for information on labour migration. By querying LLMs directly instead of searching government websites, they may bypass the curated official information these portals present. This creates a real risk of exposure to inaccurate or outdated guidance, since these tools draw on the open web rather than verified government sources. This makes government supervision, rather than less relevant, more essential. Official information on visa pathways, eligibility and processes, structured and accessible will be key, so that the answers migrants and employers receive from AI and other tools still trace back to credible, authoritative sources.
Offline recruitment activities
Online portals are rarely the sole instrument through which countries conduct international recruitment. In many cases they are complemented by offline activities, including job fairs abroad, outreach campaigns, and bilateral engagement with sending country employment services. Germany’s Federal Employment Agency (ZAV) organises job fairs and recruitment missions abroad, particularly targeting specific sectors such as healthcare and skilled trades. Japan similarly provides subsidies for overseas recruitment events and organises matching events for Economic Partnership Agreement candidates through the Japan International Corporation of Welfare Services.
Although Croatia does not have a dedicated labour migration portal, its public employment service co‑operates with sending country authorities to organise job fairs abroad, connecting national employers with third-country candidates, in particular in neighbouring countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina and in regional job fairs. Canada conducts global skills missions and international advertising campaigns targeting specific migrant groups, in co‑ordination with provincial partners and industry associations. Finland, Estonia, and the United Kingdom conduct outreach campaigns abroad, often targeted at specific source countries identified in government programmes.
Social partners are involved in these outreach activities in several countries: in Spain, employer associations manage logistical aspects of the GECCO seasonal recruitment scheme; in France, employers’ unions conclude agreements with public employment agencies in origin countries; and in the Netherlands and Canada, industry associations and labour organisations contribute to the identification of target occupations and candidate groups.
The provision of clear, comprehensive, and regularly updated information can be an important tool to influence the accessibility of labour migration systems. Where clear and accessible information is absent and systems are complex, both workers and employers must invest considerably more resources in understanding the labour migration architecture, typically by engaging immigration consultants or lawyers. This can disincentivise SMEs and certain groups of less qualified migrants.
Maintaining accurate and current information is, however, difficult. Rules and regulations change continuously; maintaining a current and accurate portal is difficult at the national level, requiring frequent update and strong interministerial co‑ordination in order to cover all of the procedural elements and conditions, from document requirements to eligibility criteria to procedures for recognition and submission, to visa application and issuance, to post-arrival procedures. The breadth and accuracy of information on portals depends on the ability of managing authorities to pool and regularly update content from multiple sources (e.g. immigration, labour, and qualifications recognition authorities among others), a co‑ordination challenge that grows in proportion to the range of functions the portal seeks to cover. Staff and IT resources must be dedicated to keep the portal current and combat misinformation. The institutional arrangement chosen to manage a portal thus has direct implications for the quality and coherence of the information and services it can offer.
Not all countries have strategies to attract talent; some use portals to manage migration flows without promotional or attraction ambitions (e.g. Costa Rica and Mexico) reflecting a fundamentally different policy logic shaped by the nature of the migration flows they manage. Language choices similarly reflect the scope of each country’s recruitment interests, though alignment between bilateral programme targets and portal language availability is not universal: countries with active recruitment partnerships in specific regions do not always offer portal content in the languages of those regions.
Portals also require sustained resourcing and institutional commitment to maintain. Countries may step back from the portal model while retaining other information provision or recruitment infrastructure – New Zealand retired its portal in 2022 and Norway in 2026, both maintaining a different form of online presence. The decision to launch a portal sometimes comes from a strategy or a legal basis, in which case it is accompanied by a clear governance and funding arrangement for the long term.
One area where portal coverage remains notably weak is the recognition of foreign qualifications. Clear information on recognition procedures is absent from the majority of portals reviewed, despite recognition being one of the main obstacles faced by migrants in the admission process. This gap risks obscuring the full complexity of the labour migration pathway as presented to potential migrants.
Clear information on the recognition of foreign qualifications is lacking in the majority of portals reviewed. Given that this is often one of the main obstacles faced by migrants in the admission process, this gap is notable, as it may obscure the full complexity of the labour migration pathway as presented in the portal.
Looking ahead, the future of labour migration portals is likely to be shaped by the rapid development of large language models and AI-based tools. Future portals may rely on such tools to refresh and synthesise information more efficiently. However, potential labour migrants may also increasingly turn to AI and other digital tools to obtain information on migration pathways, procedures, and job opportunities – raising the question of whether traditional portals will remain the primary interface between migrants and destination country information, but highlighting the need to keep official online information on labour migration pathways updated and accessible.
References
[6] Brioscú, A. et al. (2024), “A new dawn for public employment services: Service delivery in the age of artificial intelligence”, OECD Artificial Intelligence Papers, No. 19, OECD, https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2024/06/a-new-dawn-for-public-employment-services_25e1e70e/5dc3eb8e-en.pdf (accessed on 5 June 2026).
[2] EMN and OECD (2025), New and innovative ways to attract foreign talents in the EU.
[4] European Commission (2011), Moving to the EU? Good advice is now just a few clicks away (Press Release IP/11/1370), https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_11_1370.
[3] European Parliament; Council of the European Union (2026), Establishing an EU Talent Pool, Official Journal of the European Union, http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2026/1047/oj (accessed on 22 May 2026).
[1] OECD (2025), Improving the Economic Migration Framework to Attract and Retain Qualified Talent in Flanders, OECD, Paris.
[5] OECD (2022), Feasibility Study on the Development of an EU Talent Pool 2022, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/34c77584-en.
[7] Räisänen, H. (2023), How to approach the ex ante employment effects of the Job Market matching platform?, OECD, Paris, https://www.oecd.org/els/emp/Session3_Job_Market_Matching_Platform.pdf. (accessed on 5 June 2026).
Note:*Norway’s portal was removed in March 2026 but officially reported in the data collection exercise for this study.
Source: OECD Secretariat.
← 1. Although Norway’s portal was removed in March 2026, it is included in the analysis. Two portals are listed for Belgium: federal level and Flanders.
← 2. Full case information on the new portal is in the OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation. https://oecd-opsi.org/innovations/being-new-in-norway/.