Foreign Exchange Stays

The aim of the European Solidarity Corps is to offer young people the opportunity to help people in need, to play a role in addressing societal problems, and to contribute to a more inclusive society. At the same time, it is an opportunity to gain new skills and work experience that will improve their job prospects.

Who can participate?

Anyone aged 18-30 from EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, North Macedonia, Turkey and the EU’s neighbouring countries can take part. 

Under what conditions can I participate?

All you have to do is meet the age limit of 18-30 years. You can actually register when you are 17 and, on reaching the age of 18, you can participate for the first time. You need not be a student and you don’t even need experience in the field. Nor do you have to have a perfect knowledge of a foreign language. All you need is to be able to speak English or the language of the country in question at a very basic level. If you are going to stay for longer than two months, you can also take a conventional or online language course while you are there.

Where can I go?

With the European Solidarity Corps, you can go all over Europe or stay in the Czech Republic. In addition, you can travel to countries outside Europe, such as Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine and Syria.

Mobility Types

  • Volunteering

    Individual volunteering lets young people participate in the daily work of organisations. Participants can volunteer abroad or in their country of residence for projects covering social inclusion, environment, culture, and more.

    Volunteering activities can last between 2 and 12 months, and in some cases, 2 weeks and up.

    What financial support will I receive? 

    The costs of participating are covered by European Union funds. If you volunteer, your travel, accommodation, meals, and health insurance will be covered, and you will also get pocket money.

  • Traineeships and work placements

    Traineeships and work placements count as full-time work. Participants develop their personal, educational, social, civic and professional skills. Traineeships and work placements may take place in the participant’s country of residence or abroad. 

    Traineeships are full-time, last between 2 and 6 months, and are renewable once. Work placements are full-time and last between 3 and 12 months.

    What financial support will I receive? 

    If you go on a traineeship or work placement, the travel costs, organisational support (the support of participants, project management costs), a relocation allowance for the participant, language support, integration support, insurance, and extraordinary costs are covered. In addition, you receive a salary directly from the organisation you work for. 

How to apply

  1. You must first register in the European Solidarity Corps database. Here you will find offers for volunteering, work placements and jobs, and because you are in the database organisations may contact you.

  2. When registering, fill in your basic personal information and state the types of projects you are interested in. Summarise your experience and the knowledge that you can put to use in your work for the European Solidarity Corps, and indicate the date from which you may be available.

  3. In the more detailed profile, you can enter additional information that will help you to get to the most interesting projects. This will help organisations to find young people who are interested in their area of activity.

  4. You can start looking for offers and opportunities that really interest you, and then contact the host organisation. Alternatively, an organisation may approach you after identifying you as a good fit from your profile. It is always your choice whether to accept an offer.

  5.  You can search the database for projects filtered according to various criteria – a country you are interested in, a topic you enjoy, and the area in which you want to help.