Welding is on the shortage list of almost every industrial economy, so finding welder jobs abroad is not the hard part. The hard part is that your ticket does not travel. Europe certifies welders to ISO 9606, Canada to CSA and ASME, the United States to AWS, and holding one of those does not make you certified under another.
That is the thing to plan around, and it is the thing every listings page on this subject leaves out. Below is where welders are formally listed as short, and what each country will want to see before you strike an arc.
Lithuania lists welding eight separate ways
Lithuania is the clearest case in Europe and the least written about. Its shortage occupations list does not say “welder” once and leave it there. It names eight welding classifications, across both construction and industry, and if your work matches one of them the employer does not need a work permit for you at all:
| Code | Classification |
|---|---|
| 721206 | Welder |
| 721210 | Contact welder |
| 721212 | Electric welder |
| 721213 | Gas welder |
| 721214 | Gas and electric welder |
| 721215 | Manual electric welder |
| 721218 | Spot welder |
| 723348 | Locksmith welder, industry only |
The reason to care about the codes rather than the word is that Lithuania classifies by code. If you are a spot welder, 721218 is your entry, and it is a different entry from manual electric welding. Being on the list removes the labour market test and the work permit, though not the visa or the residence permit. Full detail is in our guide to the Lithuanian shortage occupations list.
Where else welders are formally short
| Country | Status | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Lithuania | On the shortage list, eight classifications | No work permit and no labour market test |
| Austria | On the 2026 shortage occupation list | No labour market test. You still need 55 of 90 points, and a vocational qualification is worth 30 of them |
| Germany | A bottleneck trade | Drops the EU Blue Card salary threshold to EUR 45,934.20, and since November 2023 a recognised vocational qualification opens any qualified job |
| Poland | On the shortage occupations list | Employers are used to sponsoring welders, and processing is quick by European standards |
| Canada | Trades category in Express Entry | Invited through a category draw rather than a general one. Needs one full year of experience in the trade within the last three, raised from six months for 2026 |
Notice what these have in common. None of them is asking for a degree. Every one is asking for a qualification a national body recognises, which for a welder means a certificate to a standard that country accepts.
The certification problem, in practical terms
Welder qualification is per process, per material, per position and per standard. A certificate says you welded a specific joint configuration to a specific code, and it is that narrow on purpose. Which means moving country usually involves re-testing rather than paperwork.
| Region | The standard you will be tested to |
|---|---|
| Europe, including all the EU countries above | ISO 9606, the international standard for welder qualification, which replaced the older EN 287 series |
| Canada | CSA standards for structural and general fabrication, ASME for pressure vessels and pressure piping |
| United States | AWS codes, with D1.1 for structural steel the most commonly demanded |
Two things follow. First, the test is usually short: a qualification test to a new standard is days, not years, which is why welding is a faster trade to move with than most. Second, someone has to pay for it, and in a shortage market that is often the employer. Ask.
If you already hold AWS certification and are looking at Germany, AWS lists international certification agents and GSI Gesellschaft fuer Schweisstechnik International in Munich is the German one, which is a shorter route than starting from nothing.
What decides which country suits you
- Check whether your exact classification is listed, not whether welding in general is. Lithuania’s eight entries are the clearest illustration of why that matters.
- Find out which standard your certificate is under and which the destination uses. If both are ISO 9606, you are in a much stronger position than you think.
- Ask who pays for re-testing. In a genuine shortage the employer often does, and an employer who refuses is telling you how short they really are.
- Decide whether you want settlement. Germany, Austria, Lithuania and Canada all lead to residency. Pick on that and not on the hourly rate.
Country detail: Germany’s bottleneck professions, the Austrian shortage occupation list, the Polish work visa and Canada’s category based draws. Welding is also one of the trades behind our guide to work visas that do not require a degree.
Browse welding and fabrication roles with visa sponsorship on our board.
Last checked September 2026. Shortage lists are reissued annually and classification codes change, so check your own code against the current list before acting.
