If you can run a section of a busy kitchen, Europe wants you. Cooks and chefs are among the most widespread shortage occupations in Europe, and kitchens are one of the few workplaces where proven skill counts for more than a university degree. Hotels, resorts, restaurants, canteens and cruise ships all recruit across borders. What separates a good move from a bad one is not finding an offer — it is finding a legal one, with a written contract, a proper work permit and pay at or above the legal minimum.
This guide covers the demand, the pay, the requirements, and the offers to walk away from.
Why Kitchens Abroad Hire Foreign Cooks
The shortage is documented, not anecdotal. The EURES report on labour shortages and surpluses, produced for the European Labour Authority, counts cooks among Europe's most widespread shortage occupations — reported in short supply in 17 countries, and chefs in 16. Migrants already make up a larger share of the cook workforce than of almost any other shortage occupation: international kitchen teams are the norm, not the exception.
The reasons are practical: split shifts, weekends and holiday peaks are exactly when local applicants are hardest to find, and a hotel cannot open its restaurant without a kitchen brigade. Some countries formalise the shortage: Austria lists trained restaurant cooks on its official shortage occupation list, giving qualified cooks from outside the EU a defined route to a Red-White-Red Card skilled worker permit.
Roles and Levels
Professional kitchens run on a hierarchy; where you enter depends on what you can prove:
- Kitchen helper / commis chef — prep work, basic cooking under supervision, cleaning and storage. The usual entry point, where employers most often accept experience in place of certificates.
- Chef de partie — you run one section (grill, sauces, pastry, cold kitchen). Most foreign cooks with several years of documented experience enter here.
- Sous chef — the head chef's deputy: ordering, rosters, quality control. Employers usually want experience in a similar kitchen plus the local language.
- Head chef / executive chef — menus, budgets, hiring and food-cost targets. Rarely given to a new arrival, as it carries legal and financial responsibility for the operation.
Not every kitchen is fine dining: hospitals, canteens, schools and catering firms employ many cooks on steadier daytime hours, and cruise ships hire internationally under maritime contracts — read those with extra care.
Salaries: What to Expect
Kitchen pay has a hard legal floor and a wide range above it:
- The floor is the statutory minimum wage where one exists. In Germany, the federal minimum wage is €13.90 gross per hour from 1 January 2026, as published by the German customs administration, which enforces it. No legal contract there can pay less.
- Collective agreements sit above the floor. Hospitality pay in Germany is often set by regional collective agreements, and Austria has a nationwide hospitality agreement fixing minimum salaries by role and experience, traditionally paid in 14 instalments a year. Where one applies, a qualified cook starts above minimum wage.
- Typical ranges (indicative only). Kitchen helpers tend to earn at or just above minimum wage; qualified cooks in much of Western and Central Europe commonly land around €2,200–€3,000 gross a month, and sous chefs and head chefs clearly more. Treat any figure without an official source as an estimate, and judge offers against the minimum wage and collective agreement, not internet averages.
- The package matters. Seasonal resort contracts often include staff accommodation and meals, which can make a modest wage go far — or quietly eat it, if deductions are high. The contract must state what is deducted and how much.
Requirements
Employers and immigration offices look for the same core evidence:
- Proven skill. A completed vocational qualification (in Germany, cook is a three-year dual training occupation) is the strongest card you can hold, and what shortage-occupation permit routes usually ask for. Without one, documented experience — contracts, payslips, reference letters — can still get you hired, especially at helper and commis level.
- Food hygiene. EU food hygiene law (Regulation (EC) No 852/2004) requires every food business to work to HACCP-based procedures, and employers must ensure staff are trained in them. Some countries add a personal certificate: in Germany you cannot start in a commercial kitchen without the infection-protection instruction certificate under Section 43 of the Infection Protection Act, issued by the local health office before you begin, with employer refreshers every two years.
- Language that matches the role. A commis in an international resort kitchen may work mainly in English; a chef de partie giving orders and reading delivery notes needs the local language, and head chef roles effectively require it. In German-speaking kitchens, expect German around B1 as the practical minimum.
- The right to work. EU/EEA and Swiss citizens need no permit. Everyone else needs the job offer first, then a permit for that employer and country before starting — there is no general European cook visa.
Seasonal vs Year-Round Work
A large share of foreign kitchen hiring is seasonal, and the calendar is predictable: alpine resorts recruit for winter (roughly December to April), Mediterranean destinations for summer (roughly May to October), and many cooks chain the two. Several countries run a dedicated seasonal channel.
In Austria, for example, the employer applies to the public employment service (AMS) for a quota-based seasonal permit: it runs for up to six months, and at most nine months within any twelve, and the employer must show that locally customary accommodation is available for you, according to the European Commission's immigration portal. France has its own seasonal worker permit — explained in our guide to seasonal work in France.
Seasonal contracts are the easiest door in: hiring is fast, accommodation is often included, and a good season regularly turns into an offer to return. Permanent jobs offer steadier hours and a promotion path, but employers can afford to be pickier.
How to Find Work
- Pick the market and the season. Check the EURES country pages and shortage lists for where cooks are officially in demand.
- Build an evidence-based CV. List kitchens, roles, cuisines and team sizes, and attach certificates and references. Our guide to writing a CV for jobs abroad shows the format employers expect.
- Search official channels first. The EURES portal carries vacancies from national employment services across Europe and its advisers are free; add the destination's public job board and the career pages of hotel and restaurant groups.
- Apply early. Resorts typically hire three to six months before the season opens. Late applicants compete for the jobs nobody else wanted.
- Interview and, if offered, do a short trial. A few hours or a single trial shift is normal. Anything longer belongs in the red-flag section below.
- Sign the contract, then do the permit. For non-EU cooks, the employer starts the work permit or seasonal quota application; travel only once the permit and any entry visa are granted.
Documents
- Valid passport (plus residence documents, if you already live in the EU)
- CV in the language of the job advert, or English for international employers
- Vocational training certificates, with certified translations where the employer or authority asks
- Proof of experience: reference letters, old contracts or payslips showing your role
- Food-hygiene or HACCP training certificates, and language certificates, if you hold any
- Criminal record certificate, where the employer or permit route requires one
Red Flags
- Unpaid "trial weeks". A short trial shift is normal; weeks of full service without pay or a contract is unpaid labour, whatever the employer calls it.
- No written contract, or a contract only in a language you cannot read, with pressure to sign immediately.
- Pay below the legal minimum, "cash in hand" arrangements, or a wage that only works because of undocumented overtime.
- No days off in the contract. Kitchen hours are long, but rest days and maximum working times are set by law and collective agreements — a roster with none is a warning sign.
- Vague or unlimited accommodation deductions. A fair seasonal contract prices the room; an unfair one uses it to claw back your wage.
- Anyone keeping your passport, or an agency charging you a placement fee. Public employment services and EURES advisers never charge jobseekers.
FAQ
Do I need a diploma to work as a cook abroad?
Not for every job — helpers and commis chefs are often hired on experience alone. But a completed culinary qualification opens the skilled routes: permits such as Austria's Red-White-Red Card for restaurant cooks expect formal training, and pay grades reward it.
Can I work in a European kitchen without speaking the local language?
Sometimes, at entry level in international hotels, resorts and big-city kitchens where English is the working language. Your ceiling is low without the local language, though: section responsibility, hygiene records and promotion all depend on it.
Is staff accommodation a normal part of the deal?
In seasonal resort work, yes — common enough that Austrian seasonal permits require the employer to show accommodation is available. Get any deduction in writing before you travel.
Can a seasonal kitchen job become permanent?
Regularly. Employers prefer promoting a cook they have watched through a full season, and returning seasonal workers are exactly who gets offered year-round contracts.
Summary
Cooks are in genuine, officially documented shortage across much of Europe, and kitchens hire on skill more readily than most sectors. Your strongest combination is a training certificate or documented experience, food-hygiene knowledge, and enough language for the role you want. Use official channels such as EURES, apply ahead of the season, and judge every offer against the minimum wage, the collective agreement and the contract in your hand.