EU opens Legal Gateway Office in India to boost student, tech mobility

European Union launches Legal Gateway Office in India to ease student and professional mobility, boost ICT talent flow and ensure safe migration pathways

Published on: Feb 18, 2026, 20:11:33 IST

By Rezaul H Laskar

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New Delhi: The European Union on Wednesday launched the European Legal Gateway Office, a one-stop hub for Indian students and professionals seeking opportunities in EU member states, with external affairs minister S Jaishankar emphasising Indian contributions to global talent pools in digital, scientific and emerging technologies.

External affairs minister S Jaishankar emphasised Indian contributions to global talent pools in digital, scientific and emerging technologies. (ANI)

The Gateway Office is the first of its kind in a partner country and is aimed at facilitating safe and legal migration and mobility from India to EU member states. In the initial stage, it will focus on the ICT sector. It is the first deliverable from the India-EU Summit last month to be implemented and will dovetail with a mobility agreement signed by the two sides.

The Gateway Office will support Indian students, researchers and professionals in the ICT sector by providing reliable information on mobility pathways and various skills and qualification requirements across all 27 EU member states. It will also support EU-based employers and higher education institutions in engaging with Indian talent.

Jaishankar — who participated in the launch ceremony with Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission’s executive vice-president for tech sovereignty and security — highlighted India’s contributions to global talent pools, especially in digital, scientific and emerging technologies, thanks to the country’s young population and growing skills base.

He emphasised the importance of talent flows at a time of profound changes in the global economy. “De-risking is a growing priority. Supply chains are being reconfigured. Technology is reshaping work. Demographics are diverging sharply across geographies,” he said.

“The concept of a global workforce is an emerging reality. Countries that can connect talent flows with seizing opportunities, while ensuring legality, transparency and fairness, will be best positioned to navigate this transition.”

India’s international engagements reflect a belief that global challenges require connected societies and cooperative solutions. “Talent mobility, when responsibly promoted, is part of that solution,” Jaishankar said.

Virkkunen pointed to India’s role as a global leader in digital skills and said Indians make up the largest group entering the EU for study and research. “Indian students, researchers and professionals are already making an enormous contribution to Europe’s universities, laboratories and companies… And we want this exchange to be in a structured, transparent and mutually beneficial way,” she said.

“With a physical presence in New Delhi and Brussels, and also through job fairs, study visits and targeted outreach, this initiative will create a trusted and practical talent corridor between India and Europe,” Virkkunen said.

The initiative will operate through three pillars — the European Legal Gateway Office in India, a support office in the EU and a digital tool that will act as a one-stop hub for reliable information on work, study and research mobility opportunities.

The launch of the Gateway Office comes less than a month after the India-EU Summit on January 27, when the two sides also announced the conclusion of negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) described by both sides as the “mother of all trade deals”. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa took part in the summit a day after participating in the Republic Day celebrations as chief guests.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rezaul H Laskar
Rezaul Hasan Laskar is Foreign Editor with the Hindustan Times, which he joined in 2015. He began as a journalist in his hometown of Shillong in northeast India and has worked in newspapers and wire services over the years. He moved to New Delhi in 1997 and initially focused on defence, national security, Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast, while also working of foreign policy and international relations. He has been part of the media delegation accompanying PMs on foreign visits and has reported from destinations ranging from Tibet to Ukraine. Between 2007 and 2013, he was the Press Trust of India correspondent in Pakistan, one of only two Indian journalists allowed to report from the country. He extensively covered Pakistan’s domestic politics and the life of the common people, as well as the fallout of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on India-Pakistan relations and the subsequent trial in Pakistan of the suspects involved in the attack. As part of his reportage in Pakistan, he travelled the breadth of the country, from the Swat Valley to Balochistan. Reza’s first gig in journalism was writing a weekly music column, and music – especially classic rock – remains a keen interest. He is also a movie buff and a keen photographer.Read More

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