Erasmus+ Eligibility Requirements: Who Qualifies and Who Doesn’t

Erasmus+ eligibility is one of the most misunderstood aspects of the programme. Many organisations assume they qualify — because they are a registered non-profit, because they work in education, or because a colleague told them Erasmus+ is “open to everyone” — without ever checking the specific requirements for the Key Action they want to apply for. Eligibility is checked at the admissibility stage, before any evaluation takes place. An application that fails eligibility is rejected regardless of how strong the project idea is.

This guide sets out the eligibility requirements clearly — who qualifies, who does not, how requirements vary by Key Action, which countries are included and the most common eligibility errors to fix before you submit.

1. How Erasmus+ Eligibility Works

Erasmus+ eligibility is assessed at two levels: the organisation level and the project level. Both must be satisfied for an application to pass the admissibility check.

Organisation-level eligibility covers the legal and operational status of each organisation in the consortium — whether it is a legally registered entity, whether it is based in an eligible country and whether its activities are relevant to the sector in which it applies. These requirements apply to every organisation in the application — coordinator and partners alike.

Project-level eligibility covers the structural requirements of the application itself — the minimum number of partner organisations, the minimum number of participating countries, the project duration, the grant amount and — for KA220 — the presence of signed mandate letters. These requirements vary by Key Action and are checked against the rules defined in the Programme Guide for the relevant call year.

Eligibility is a binary check — an application either passes or fails. There is no partial eligibility, no remediation period and no opportunity to correct an eligibility failure after the submission deadline. An application that is strong on quality but fails any eligibility criterion will be rejected at admissibility and will not reach the evaluation stage.

2. Who Qualifies: Eligible Organisation Types

The following organisation types are eligible to apply for or participate in Erasmus+ KA1 and KA2 actions, provided they meet the additional sector and country requirements described in subsequent sections.

Organisation Type	Examples	Key Eligibility Condition
Registered NGO, association or foundation	Youth NGO, cultural association, civil society foundation, community organisation	Formally registered as a legal entity; activities relevant to education, training or youth
School or educational institution	Primary school, secondary school, special needs school, pre-school	Formally recognised by national education authorities; apply under School Education sector
VET provider or training centre	Vocational college, apprenticeship provider, professional training centre, enterprise training department	Delivers recognised vocational or professional training; apply under VET sector
University or higher education institution	University, polytechnic, university college, research-intensive HEI	Hold a valid Erasmus Charter for Higher Education (ECHE) for KA131; apply under Higher Education sector
Adult education provider	Community learning centre, adult literacy programme, non-formal adult education organisation	Delivers non-vocational adult learning; apply under Adult Education sector
Youth organisation or youth centre	Registered youth club, national youth council, international youth network member	Formally registered; primary mission in youth work or youth development; apply under Youth sector
Local, regional or national public authority	Municipality, regional government department, national ministry with education or youth remit	Public body with legal status; activities relevant to education, training or youth
Social enterprise or private body active in education or youth	Social enterprise running training programmes, private language school, community interest company	Formal legal registration; demonstrable activity in education, training or youth — not purely commercial
Informal group of young people	Unregistered group of young people with a shared project idea	Minimum 4 members; at least 1 member aged 18+; eligible for KA1 Youth and KA210-YOU only

3. Who Does Not Qualify

The following organisation types and situations are not eligible for Erasmus+ KA1 and KA2 actions. These are absolute exclusions — they cannot be resolved by reframing the project idea or changing the application strategy.

Organisation / Situation	Why Not Eligible	Possible Alternative
For-profit company with no education or youth mission	Erasmus+ funds organisations active in education, training or youth — purely commercial entities without a documented mission in these fields do not meet the eligibility criteria	Apply as an associated partner (non-funded) or explore Horizon Europe for research and innovation
Unregistered informal group (except KA1 Youth and KA210-YOU)	All Key Actions except KA1 Youth and KA210 Youth sector require formal legal registration. An unregistered group cannot sign a grant agreement or open a project bank account	Register formally, or apply under KA1 Youth / KA210-YOU where informal group provision exists
Organisation based in a non-programme country (as coordinator)	Coordinators must be based in an Erasmus+ programme country. Organisations from partner countries (e.g. Morocco, Jordan, Georgia) cannot lead an application	Participate as a partner under a programme country coordinator in specific international actions
Individual person applying in their own name	Erasmus+ funds organisations, not individuals. A freelancer, consultant or independent professional cannot apply as a coordinator or partner in their personal capacity	Work as a subcontractor to an eligible organisation, or establish a registered legal entity
Organisation applying in the wrong sector	A youth NGO applying under Adult Education, or a school applying under Youth, will be assessed against criteria calibrated for that sector — and may fail admissibility if its organisational profile does not match	Resubmit in the correct sector matching the organisation’s primary mission
All partners from the same country (KA2)	KA210 requires partners from at least 2 different programme countries; KA220 requires at least 3 different countries. A consortium where all organisations are from the same country fails the transnational requirement	Find at least one partner from a different programme country before applying
Organisation without a validated OID at submission	Every organisation in the application must have a validated Organisation ID from the EU Funding and Tenders Portal. An OID pending validation at the time of submission cannot be included	Register OIDs at least 2 weeks before the deadline — allow processing time

4. Eligibility by Key Action

Eligibility requirements are not the same across all Key Actions. The table below compares the key eligibility conditions for the four most commonly applied-for actions by GrowthProjects.eu clients.

Requirement	KA210	KA220	KA152 (Youth Exchanges)	KA122 (Short-term Mobility)
Min. organisations	2	3	2	1 (sending) + receiving host
Min. countries	2 programme countries	3 programme countries	2 programme countries	2 countries (sending + receiving)
Formal legal registration	Required (informal groups allowed in Youth sector only)	Required — all partners	Required or informal group (4+ members, 1 adult aged 18+)	Required
OID required	Yes — all organisations	Yes — all organisations	Yes — all organisations	Yes — all organisations
Mandate letters	Not required	Required — all partners	Not required	Not required
Max grant	€60,000 (lump sum)	€400,000 (unit + real costs)	Unit costs (no fixed cap)	Unit costs (no fixed cap)
Project duration	12–24 months	12–48 months	3–24 months	12–24 months
Coordinator must be in programme country	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

5. Country Eligibility: Programme Countries vs Partner Countries

Erasmus+ divides the world into two categories of countries — programme countries and partner countries. The distinction is critical for eligibility: only organisations based in programme countries can coordinate KA1 and KA2 applications. Partner country organisations can participate under specific conditions in some actions, but cannot lead.

Programme countries (33 total) are the countries whose National Agencies manage KA1 and KA2 actions. Any organisation based in a programme country can apply as coordinator for any Key Action available in its sector. The 33 programme countries are:

ERASMUS+ PROGRAMME COUNTRIES (2021–2027)
EU Member States (27) Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden	EEA Countries (3) Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway	Candidate/Associated Countries (3) North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye

Partner countries are countries outside the 33 programme countries. Organisations based in partner countries — such as Ukraine, Morocco, Georgia, Jordan, Tunisia or Albania (which is not yet a programme country) — cannot coordinate KA1 or KA2 applications. In some specific international mobility actions, partner country organisations can participate as partners under a programme country coordinator, but this applies only to designated international actions and not to the standard KA210 and KA220 cooperation actions.

UK organisations — following the UK’s withdrawal from the Erasmus+ programme — are not eligible to participate in standard KA1 and KA2 actions as of the 2021–2027 programme generation. UK organisations can however engage through bilateral education agreements between the UK and EU member states.

6. Most Common Eligibility Mistakes

Not verifying eligibility before investing in the application. Organisations sometimes spend 4–6 weeks writing a KA220 application before discovering that a key partner is based in a non-programme country, or that their own organisation does not meet the legal registration requirement for the sector they applied in. Check eligibility for every organisation in the consortium — coordinator and all partners — before beginning the application. Use our free eligibility checker as a starting point.

Applying in the wrong sector. Each Erasmus+ sector has a distinct set of eligible organisation types, evaluation priorities and National Agency contact. An adult education NGO that applies under Youth — because the project involves young adults — may fail admissibility if its organisational profile is assessed as not matching the Youth sector. Always apply in the sector that best matches your organisation’s primary registered mission, not the sector of the specific project topic.

Partner OIDs not validated by deadline. A partner whose OID is submitted but not yet validated at the time of the application deadline cannot be included in the application. There is no grace period, no emergency processing and no workaround. OID registration must be completed — and validation confirmed — at least two weeks before the submission deadline for all organisations in the consortium. For the full OID registration walkthrough see our Beneficiary Module guide.

KA220 mandate letters missing at submission. KA220 applications require signed mandate letters from all partner organisations to be uploaded in the Beneficiary Module before submission. The platform will not allow submission if mandate letters are missing. Set an internal mandate letter deadline at least two weeks before the submission deadline — and confirm receipt before beginning the final form checks.

Including a partner from a non-programme country. An organisation based in a country that is not on the Erasmus+ programme country list cannot be included as a partner in a standard KA210 or KA220 application. Including a partner from a non-programme country — even with a strong project rationale — makes the application ineligible. Verify the programme country status of every partner organisation before the application process begins.

Using last year’s Programme Guide. Eligibility rules, country lists and grant ceilings are updated annually. An organisation that checks eligibility using the 2025 Programme Guide and applies in the 2026 call may encounter changed rules — a country whose status has changed, a grant ceiling that has been revised or a new requirement introduced for the current year. Always download and use the Programme Guide for the specific call year.

7. Eligibility Checklist

• ✅ Programme Guide for the current call year downloaded — not last year’s version
• ✅ Coordinator organisation has formal legal registration in its country
• ✅ Coordinator is based in one of the 33 Erasmus+ programme countries
• ✅ Coordinator’s activities are relevant to the sector of application
• ✅ Correct sector confirmed — matches organisation’s primary mission, not secondary activity
• ✅ All partner organisations have formal legal registration (except informal group provision for KA1 Youth and KA210-YOU)
• ✅ All partner organisations are based in Erasmus+ programme countries — status verified for each
• ✅ Minimum number of organisations met — 2 for KA210 and KA152, 3 for KA220
• ✅ Minimum number of countries met — all from different programme countries
• ✅ OID registered for all organisations — validation confirmed at least 2 weeks before deadline
• ✅ For KA220: signed mandate letters collected from all partners and ready for upload
• ✅ Project duration within the eligible range for the Key Action selected
• ✅ Grant amount within the maximum ceiling for the Key Action selected
• ✅ For KA131: ECHE confirmed for all participating higher education institutions
• ✅ Eligibility checker completed — no red flags identified before beginning the application