AD vs AST vs CAST: Which EU Career Path Should You Apply For?

Most people who decide they want to work for the EU institutions begin by searching for an open competition, finding one, and applying. This is understandable and usually wrong. The routes in differ enormously in what they require, what they pay, how secure they are, and how long they take — and the best route for you depends on facts about your situation that no competition notice will tell you.

This guide lays out every path, with the official figures.

The five routes at a glance

What each path actually pays

These are the official basic monthly salary figures applicable from 1 July 2025, as published in the Official Journal (C/2025/6564, 11 December 2025). They are gross basic salary before allowances and before deductions — the real numbers, not estimates.

Permanent officials: AD and AST (Article 66)

Both AD and AST use the same grade scale; the difference is which grades you occupy.

Secretaries and clerks: AST/SC (Article 66)

Contract agents: FG I–IV (Article 93)

Contract-agent grades run on a different scale with seven steps.

Note the overlap worth understanding: FG IV grade 13 (€4,449.31) and FG III grade 10 (€4,449.30) are effectively identical, and an experienced FG III at grade 12 (€5,695.80) out-earns an entry-level FG IV. Function group is not a straightforward ranking of pay.

What sits on top of basic salary

Basic salary is not take-home, and the gap runs in both directions.

Additions. An expatriation allowance for staff working outside their own country — a minimum of €714.89 per month for officials, with a separate rate of €513.91 under Article 134 of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants. A household allowance with a basic amount of €241.21. A dependent child allowance of €527.06 per child. Education allowances of €357.62 and €128.76 under Article 3(1) and 3(2). An installation allowance on taking up duties.

Adjustments. Salaries are multiplied by a correction coefficient reflecting the cost of living at your duty station. From 1 July 2025: Germany 102.7 (Munich 112.0), France 113.6, Italy 87.5, Spain 92.4, Poland 82.3, Ireland 130.7, Denmark 130.5, Bulgaria 66.1, Romania 72.9. Belgium and Luxembourg are the reference and carry no coefficient. The same grade is worth substantially different amounts in Copenhagen and Sofia.

Deductions. EU staff are exempt from national income tax on their EU salary but pay an EU-internal tax, plus pension and joint sickness-insurance contributions.

The routes in detail

AD — Administrator

The policy track. Administrators work across justice, finance, environment, foreign affairs, agriculture, IT and communication, doing policy development, analysis, regulatory work, international negotiation and drafting of legal texts. The career spans AD 5 to AD 16, with AD 15–16 reserved for Directors-General. Grades AD 9–12 correspond to middle management, and previous management experience is mandatory for recruitment directly at those grades.

AD 5 is the entry grade for university graduates and requires no professional experience — genuinely unusual in a labour market where entry-level roles routinely demand three years of it. The 2026 AD5 competition (EPSO/AD/427/26) required a degree attesting to completed university studies of at least three years, and explicitly stated that no professional experience was required.

Choose this if you have a degree and want policy work, and can tolerate a long selection process. Be aware that competition is severe: the 2026 AD5 competition sought 1,490 successful candidates and drew 174,922 applicants, with the process running over a year from application to reserve list.

AST — Assistant

Executive and technical roles supporting operations across finance, communication, administration, research, IT and policy implementation. The career runs AST 1 to AST 11, with entry typically at AST 1 or 3.

AST work is substantive. The distinction from AD is one of role type rather than seniority — an experienced AST 8 earns €8,911.48 at step 1, comfortably above an AD 6. Choose this if your strength is execution and technical delivery rather than policy formulation, or if you have strong relevant experience without the degree profile AD competitions expect.

AST/SC — Secretary and Clerk

Office management and administrative and technical support: finalising documents and files, supporting meetings, travel and diary management, maintaining databases. The career runs AST/SC 1 to 6, with entry usually at AST/SC 1 or 2.

Choose this if you have secondary education and strong organisational skills and want permanent official status. Be aware that the ceiling is real — the top of the scale, grade 6 step 5 at €6,906.06, sits between an AD 5's starting salary and an AD 6's. The compensating advantages are a shorter, less brutal selection process and permanent status.

Contract Agent (FG I–IV) via CAST Permanent

This is the route most people underrate, and it works completely differently from the others.

There is no competition to wait for. CAST Permanent operates on continuous registration — you can apply at any time. You create an EPSO account, select the job profile matching your background, complete your details, and you are in the contract-staff database. You can update your profile as you gain experience and register for multiple profiles.

Recruitment then works in reverse from an open competition. When recruiting services in the institutions, bodies and agencies have a need, they search the database and shortlist candidates who match. Shortlisted candidates are invited to computer-based reasoning tests — verbal, numerical and abstract — organised by EPSO. Those who pass may be invited to interview with the recruiting institution, and successful interviewees can be offered a position.

• FG IV (grades 13–18) — administrative, advisory, linguistic and equivalent technical tasks. Requires a university degree.
• FG III (grades 8–12) — executive tasks, drafting, accountancy and equivalent technical tasks.
• FG II (grades 4–7) — clerical and secretarial tasks, office management.
• FG I (grades 1–3) — manual and administrative support tasks.

Choose this if you want to start working for the institutions in months rather than years, or want to build EU experience while preparing for a competition, or are targeting a specific agency. Be aware that being in the database does not generate interviews on its own — profile quality and keyword matching determine whether recruiters find you.

Temporary Agent

Recruited to fill vacant posts for a fixed period ranging from months to several years, doing regulatory, legal, scientific or financial support, policy and data analysis, IT, administrative, research and communication work. Administrators are typically recruited from AD 5 up to AD 6 or higher; assistant grades range from AST 1 to AST 3, with higher levels for specialised roles.

Temporary agents are recruited against published vacancy notices rather than through EPSO competitions, so the process is faster and closer to ordinary job applications. Choose this if you have specialist expertise and want to work at a specific agency — agencies rely heavily on temporary agents for niche profiles no generalist competition covers.

Which should you choose?

You have a degree, no work experience, and time. Apply for AD 5 when a competition opens — the only route where a lack of experience is not a disadvantage. Register for CAST Permanent in parallel; there is no reason not to.

You have a degree and 5+ years of relevant experience. Look at three things at once: specialist AD 6/7 competitions, CAST FG IV, and temporary-agent vacancies at agencies in your field. Your experience is worth more in the vacancy-based routes than in a generalist competition, where it earns no additional credit.

You have secondary or post-secondary education. AST and AST/SC competitions for permanent status; CAST FG II or FG III for speed. Remember FG III grade 10 pays the same as FG IV grade 13 — do not assume the higher function group is the better offer.

You need to be employed soon. CAST Permanent, without hesitation. Registration is open now and recruitment is need-driven, not calendar-driven.

You want an EU career specifically, and permanence is the point. Open competitions are the only route to permanent official status. Contract and temporary roles do not convert into official status — becoming an official requires passing a competition. Contract-agent-first, competition-later is a legitimate strategy, but the competition is unavoidable.

You are geographically constrained. Check the correction coefficient before comparing offers: the same nominal grade in Sofia (66.1) and Copenhagen (130.5) are very different propositions in real terms, and your duty station is generally not negotiable.

Before you commit

Three things worth knowing regardless of route. All routes require EU citizenship, full enjoyment of your rights as a citizen, fulfilment of any military-service obligations, and the character requirements for the duties. All routes require two official EU languages — typically thorough knowledge (C1) of one and satisfactory knowledge (B2) of a second; linguistic profiles usually require three. And being on a reserve list is not a job offer: inclusion confers no right to or guarantee of recruitment, and some laureates wait a long time.

Whichever path you pick, the reasoning tests decide whether you clear the first gate. Our verbal reasoning guide and its companion piece on sitting verbal reasoning in a second language are the fastest way to see what you are up against.

Salary figures are basic monthly amounts applicable from 1 July 2025, from the annual update published in the Official Journal of the European Union, C/2025/6564 of 11 December 2025. AD5 competition details are drawn from Notice of Open Competition EPSO/AD/427/26, OJ C/2026/711 of 5 February 2026. Salaries are updated annually and eligibility conditions vary between competitions — always check the notice governing the procedure you are applying to.

Frequently asked questions