Filipino Nurses and Caregivers: Europe’s New Bilateral Agreements in 2026

The Philippines is the world’s largest exporter of nurses — roughly one in every four nurses working outside their home country is Filipino, out of more than 200,000 deployed globally. For decades, the Gulf region absorbed most of that talent. In 2026, that balance is visibly shifting: a wave of new bilateral labour agreements is turning Filipino nurses and caregivers toward Europe at a pace not seen before.

Europe’s new bilateral agreements with the Philippines

In May 2026, Italy announced it intends to recruit thousands of Filipino nurses, identifying the Philippines as a key partner for its healthcare workforce gap, and confirmed an extension of work validity for Filipino nurses already in Italy through 2029. Denmark signed a government-to-government agreement in December 2025 to deploy Filipino caregivers starting in 2027, as part of a country that needs around 24,000 additional healthcare workers. Germany continues to expand its long-running Triple Win programme, a joint initiative between GIZ, Germany’s Federal Employment Agency, and the Philippine Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), specifically built to recruit Filipino nurses into German hospitals and care homes.

Two distinct pathways: nurses vs caregivers

Filipino nurses generally need licensing recognition specific to each destination country before practising, alongside the standard bilateral programme requirements. Filipino caregivers, by contrast, typically hold the TESDA Caregiving NC II credential — a 786-hour vocational programme covering personal care, household management, and elderly care — combined with English fluency at B2-C1 level. For caregivers specifically, a realistic first-wave deployment to an EU healthcare employer runs 14 to 18 weeks from selection to arrival, a timeline that reflects the same structural healthcare shortage we cover in our article on nurses and caregivers being recruited across Europe.

What this « European turn » means for candidates in 2026

This pivot didn’t happen by accident: worsening conditions in parts of the Gulf combined with acute structural shortages in Europe pushed the Philippine government to actively negotiate more bilateral labour agreements with European governments, offering better rights protections in exchange for deployment access. For a Filipino nurse or caregiver today, this means more legal, government-backed pathways into Europe than at almost any point before — not just to Germany, Italy, and Denmark, but increasingly the Netherlands and Croatia as well.

The real bottleneck: getting matched with the right employer

Bilateral agreements open the door at government level, but an individual candidate still needs to be discovered by the right hospital, care home, or recruitment agency actually hiring under these programmes. This is exactly where Jobito fits in: a verified profile becomes visible directly to active European recruiters, including those in healthcare sectors currently expanding their international hiring — a broader shift we detail in our article on the sectors hiring across Europe and Canada in 2026.

How to get started now

1. Confirm your certification track — nursing licensure exams for your target country, or TESDA Caregiving NC II for caregiver roles.
2. Check your English level, generally B2 or higher for caregiver placements.
3. Register with DMW for deployment clearance before pursuing any private or bilateral pathway.
4. Create a verified profile on Jobito to become visible to European healthcare recruiters directly.

2026: Europe’s turn, and the Philippines is ready

With an education and deployment system built specifically for overseas healthcare work, and European governments now actively negotiating for that talent, Filipino nurses and caregivers are arguably better positioned in 2026 than at any previous point to build a stable, well-protected healthcare career in Europe rather than the Gulf.