How to verify a European employer or job offer is real

Job scams targeting people who want to work in Europe are an industry of their own. They imitate real companies, real recruiters and even real government portals. The good news: Europe is unusually easy to verify things in, because every EU country runs a public company register. Here is a practical checklist before you sign anything or send anyone money - which, spoiler, you should never do.

Rule zero: nobody legitimate charges workers for a job

In most EU countries it is illegal for recruitment agencies to charge job seekers placement fees. Real employers pay recruiters; recruiters do not charge workers. Requests for "visa processing fees", "work permit deposits", "guaranteed job fees" or airline tickets paid to the recruiter are the defining feature of a scam. Genuine visa fees are paid by you directly to an embassy or immigration authority, never through a middleman's personal account.

Step 1: check the company exists

• Every EU country has a business register, and most are searchable free online - for example Germany's Handelsregister, France's registre du commerce, the Dutch KVK, Poland's KRS. The EU also runs a cross-border search at e-justice.europa.eu.
• Match the exact legal name and registration number on the offer letter to the register. A scammer often uses a real company's name with a slightly different email domain.
• Check the company's real website independently - search for it yourself rather than clicking links in the email - and compare contact details.

Step 2: check the people and the communication

• Email domain: offers from @gmail.com, @outlook.com or lookalike domains (company-hr-europe.com instead of company.com) are the most common tell.
• Interview: a real employer interviews you, on video, with a person whose name appears on LinkedIn or the company site. "You are hired, no interview needed" is not how European hiring works.
• Pressure: artificial urgency - "pay today or lose the position" - is a manipulation technique, not a hiring practice.

Step 3: check the offer against reality

• Compare the salary to typical wages for that job and country. A cleaner offered 4,000 EUR per month in Portugal is fiction.
• A genuine offer names the legal employer, job title, location, salary, and start date, and leads to a written contract in the language of the country (often with a translation).
• For non-EU citizens, the employer must usually be involved in the permit process. If the "employer" tells you to arrange everything through a paid agent, be suspicious - read how EU employer sponsorship actually works so you can spot a process that does not match.

Step 4: verify the permit route

Check the immigration website of the actual destination country (or eures.europa.eu for EU-wide information) and confirm the visa type the recruiter mentions exists and fits your job. Scammers love inventing visa categories. Embassies will also confirm whether a claimed "approval letter" is genuine - they deal with these queries constantly.

How the common scams are structured

Knowing the scripts helps you recognise them instantly. The fake agency posts real-looking ads for cleaners or warehouse staff in Germany or the Netherlands, "shortlists" everyone, then asks for a registration or medical-test fee. The cloned employer copies a genuine company's website and job ads, changing only the contact email; victims often only discover the fraud when they call the real company. The visa broker claims special relationships with embassies and sells "guaranteed appointment slots" or "pre-approved permits" - neither exists; appointments are free or fixed-fee directly with consulates. The arrival scam is the cruellest: the job is real enough to get you on a plane, but the contract that appears on arrival has a lower wage and huge deductions for housing and "paperwork". That last one is why you should insist on the signed contract, in writing, before you travel - and why the pre-travel checks above matter.

If you have already paid

Report it to your bank immediately (chargebacks are sometimes possible), to the police in your country, and to the platform where you found the ad. Keep every message as evidence.

This article is general information, not legal advice; for official visa information always rely on the destination country's immigration authority or eures.europa.eu.

One structural way to avoid scams: reverse the direction of contact. On Workuro, you create a profile and verified employers contact you - you are not chasing ads. It is free, with no credit card, ever. Create your free profile and let real employers find you.