EPSO supporting documents: proving your degree and experience

They are the copies you upload to your candidate account to back what you declared in the application form: identity, degrees, and experience where the competition requires it. The declaration is what gets you into the tests; these documents are what turns it into an eligible application.

Each notice sets its own date, and EPSO can set one if the notice does not:

Failing to provide a document by that date may mean being declared ineligible, or having that particular qualification or period of experience left out of the assessment. And at any stage EPSO can ask for more documents, or for the original of your ID.

A copy of the diploma or certificate that gives access to the competition. Three rules decide whether it works:

• Recognition. Degrees, diplomas and certificates, from a Member State or outside the EU, must be recognised by a competent authority of a Member State. For a non-EU qualification you need a statement of equivalency from such an authority.
• No diploma yet? A statement of award, or an equivalent document confirming that you completed the programme and the title was conferred, is accepted as sufficient evidence.
• Duration. If your eligibility rests on studies of a given length, add a letter or certificate from the institution stating the standard duration of the programme in years.

The board takes national differences into account: what counts is the level of the studies, not the name printed on the diploma.

Only work that meets all of these conditions:

1. It was acquired after the minimum qualification required by the notice.
2. It was genuine and effective work.
3. It was remunerated.
4. It involved a professional relationship: being part of an organisation or supplying a service.
5. It meets the relevance criteria of the notice — and this is where most experience is lost.

Relevance is not all or nothing. The general rules count a period like this:

So a job where a third of your work was relevant gives you six months of credit for every year.

The rules bend for some situations, and knowing them is worth months:

• Voluntary work counts if there was a financial contribution — reimbursement of costs and insurance are enough — with weekly hours and a duration similar to a regular job.
• Traineeships count on the same reasoning about remuneration. A compulsory traineeship that is part of a study programme counts if it came after the minimum qualification and was remunerated.
• A compulsory traineeship that leads to the right to practise a profession — a bar admission, for instance — counts even if it was unpaid, provided the programme was completed and the right obtained, and only for its minimum compulsory duration.
• Compulsory military service counts even if it does not meet the relevance criteria, up to the obligatory duration in your Member State.
• Maternity, paternity, adoption or parental leave counts if it was covered by an employment contract.
• Doctoral studies count for up to three years, provided the doctorate was obtained, paid or not.
• Part-time work counts pro rata: half-time for six months is three months.

Originals or certified copies, and they have to say certain things:

• Employed work: contracts with start and end dates, and first and last pay slips. They should state the nature of the work, the level and a detailed description of duties, on official letterhead with the employer's stamp and the name and signature of the person in charge.
• Self-employed or liberal professions: invoices or order forms detailing the work performed, or other official documents specifying the nature and period of the duties.
• Freelance translators: documents attesting the periods worked and the number of pages translated.
• Freelance interpreters: documents attesting the number of days worked and the languages interpreted from and into.
• Identity: a copy of an identity card or passport, valid on the closing date for applications.

No, and this is the part that surprises people. In the 2026 competitions the eligibility check is done after the tests and only for the best-ranked candidates — in principle no more than 1.5 times the number of places. The rest are never checked, whatever they uploaded.

That does not make the deadline optional: nobody knows in advance who will be in that group, and the board compares what you declared with what you uploaded only if you are.

Two practical details from the general rules: check your candidate account at least every three calendar days, because deadlines run from the moment something is published there, and keep the e-mail address of your EU Login alive until the reserve list is published — a professional address that gets deactivated has cost people their competition.