Making talent mobility work for Europe’s innovators: Why the EU Talent Pool alone is not enough
Access to highly skilled talent from outside the EU is a critical success factor for Europe’s digital SMEs and start-ups. To address growing skills shortages and facilitate talent attraction, the European Commission is finalising the adoption of the EU Talent Pool, a new EU-level platform designed to connect employers in the EU with skilled workers from third countries and ease legal labour migration. In parallel, the Commission is preparing an update of the EU Visa Strategy, aimed at modernising and streamlining Europe’s approach to talent mobility and labour migration.
Together, these initiatives create a timely opportunity to strengthen Europe’s talent-attraction framework. However, for many SMEs, access to non-EU talent remains slow, complex, and risky. Without visa procedures that match business realities, the Talent Pool and the revised strategy risk falling short of their objectives, particularly for innovative SMEs operating under tight timelines and limited administrative capacity.
The Reality for SMEs Hiring from Abroad
The experience of ComplyMarket, a Munich-based software company developing compliance management systems and advanced AI technologies, illustrates the gap between policy ambition and business reality. Faced with persistent barriers to hiring skilled workers from third countries, the company established an Egyptian sister company as a more practical alternative to expanding its workforce in Europe.
For digital SMEs like ComplyMarket, recruitment is driven by immediate operational needs. When the right candidate is identified, the business needs that person now – not in six months. Yet current visa and Blue Card procedures remain fundamentally misaligned with how SMEs operate.
Key challenges faced by SMEs recruiting from outside the EU, as highlighted by ComplyMarket, include:
- Excessively long Blue Card processing times, with EU embassies unable to respond at the speed required by SMEs.
- Salary thresholds that are too high, effectively reserving visa sponsorship for large corporations with far greater financial flexibility.
- Wide disparities between Member States, forcing SMEs to consider complex workarounds, such as establishing legal entities in countries with lower thresholds.
- Asymmetric competition for talent, particularly in tech hubs like Munich, where skilled workers gravitate toward large corporates offering higher salaries and benefits.
- High recruitment risk for SMEs, which invest time and resources only to see employees quickly move to larger companies once in the EU.
- Overwhelming administrative complexity, often making it easier to hire and operate outside the EU than to bring talent in.
- Severely limited access to business visas, affecting even senior executives and restricting participation in trade fairs, interviews, and collaboration opportunities.
These barriers reduce the practical feasibility of hiring in the EU for many SMEs, despite their willingness to grow and invest in Europe. The result is a stark conclusion for many SMEs: If travel abroad is already required to meet candidates, hiring and growing outside Europe can appear the more efficient choice.
Turning Momentum into Action: A Visa Framework That Works for SMEs
Recent policy developments in the United States – specifically, Trump’s decision to impose a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications – are not just a minor change but a significant shift in the cost of hiring skilled foreign workers. This measure dramatically raises the financial burden for American employers, hitting start-ups and smaller companies hardest and increasing uncertainty for international talent considering the U.S. market. On the other hand, it creates a concrete and strategic window of opportunity for the EU to position itself as a more accessible and predictable destination for skilled workers globally.
In this perspective, the EU Talent Pool is a necessary and positive step to improve employer-talent matching within EU and third countries and address skills shortages. However, a matching platform alone cannot overcome structural weaknesses in the visa system. Without faster, more predictable, and more harmonised Visa procedures, the Talent Pool risks falling short of its potential – particularly for SMEs.
To translate strategic objectives into actionable results, DIGITAL SME calls for targeted reforms, including:
- a dedicated SME fast track at EU embassies;
- an audited SME sponsorship system with scalable quotas;
- an EU-level one-stop shop for talent visas and deeper harmonisation of rules;
- a specific SME-sponsored visa category to reduce poaching risks; and
- full digitalisation of visa procedures to reduce administrative burden.
Looking ahead: The update of the EU Visa Strategy
These challenges and proposals were brought directly to the European Commission during the Implementation Dialogue on the EU Talent Pool hosted by Commissioner Brunner, where DIGITAL SME ensured that the perspective of digital SMEs was clearly represented. DIGITAL SME was joined by ComplyMarket, whose CEO Mohamed Kassem shared first-hand evidence of how current visa procedures influence concrete business decisions.
As the European Commission prepares to publish its updated EU Visa Strategy, foreseen for 20 January, DIGITAL SME hopes that the concerns raised and solutions proposed will be taken into account. Aligning the EU Talent Pool with a modern, harmonised, SME-friendly visa framework is essential if Europe is to seize the current momentum and position itself as a competitive destination for global talent.
