This article covers just the salary and related benefits of the Frontex Advanced Level European Border and Coast Guards. If you want to get a broader overview, read this article about the European Border and Coast Guard Standing Corps.
The ‘full salary package’ of the Advanced Level Frontex border guard greatly depends on whether you are a foreigner in Poland and whether you have dependents. Read below on how this is calculated.
* Polish residents without children can expect a monthly paycheck of EUR 3652.
* Foreigners without children can expect a monthly paycheck of EUR 4538.
* Foreigners with children can expect a monthly paycheck of EUR 5100.
Basic salary and benefits
Remember that the ‘basic salary’ forms only approximately 50-60% of the total remuneration package, plus, there are significant other benefits of employment like health insurance and pension rights.
| Type of benefit | Amount in EUR |
|---|---|
| Basic salary (after deductions) | AD 7, step 1 = EUR 3232 AD 7, step 2 = EUR 3348 |
| Household allowances | AD 7, step 1 = EUR 213 AD 7, step 2 = EUR 216 |
| Expatriation allowance | AD 7, step 1 = EUR 673 – 842 AD 7, step 2 = EUR 701 – 871 |
| Foreign residence allowance | AD 7, step 1 = EUR 168 – 210 AD 7, step 2 = EUR 175 – 218 |
| Dependent child allowances for each child | EUR 281 |
| Preschool allowance | EUR 69 |
| Education allowance | EUR 382 |
| Shift allowance | EUR 420 – 946 |
| Standby duty allowance | EUR 2 per hour during weekday EUR 4 EUR per hour during weekends / public holidays |
A sample calculation
The below table and text presents an overview of the full-benefits package of a successful candidate non-Polish candidate that has two school-age kids and 8 years of professional experience (step 1).
If you are a Polish citizen or have resided in Poland for the past five years, you will not receive the Household, Expatriation and Foreign residence allowances. However, you can count on the rest of the benefits.
| Type of benefit | Polish resident, no children | Non-Polish resident, no children | Non-Polish resident, 2 children |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic salary (after deductions) | EUR 3232 | EUR 3232 | EUR 3232 |
| Household allowances | n/a | EUR 213 | EUR 213 |
| Expatriation allowance | n/a | EUR 673 | EUR 673 |
| Foreign residence allowance | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Dependent child allowances for each child | n/a | n/a | EUR 281 x 2 = EUR 562 (not applicable if children attend European School) |
| Preschool allowance | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Education allowance (up to) | EUR 382 x 2 = EUR 764 (not applicable if children attend European School), not included in the final calculation | n/a | EUR 382 x 2 = EUR 764 (Paid according to real expenses like entry and regular fees, transportation), not included in the final calculation |
| Shift allowance | EUR 420+ | EUR 420+ | EUR 420+ |
| Standby duty allowance | Depends on duties | Depends on duties | Depends on duties |
| TOTAL: | At least EUR 3652 | At least EUR 4628 | At least EUR 5190 |
Salary calculation, Frontex Border Guard – Advanced Level AD7
Allowances and other benefits for employees of the European Commission and other EU institutions
Several allowances and other benefits can boost your income by as much as 100% depending whether you are an expat and have a spouse and children. When considering a job at an EU institution, people too seldom take these benefits into account. Important – these benefits are available to both temporary agents (AD 5-16 and AST 1-11) and contract agents (FG I to FG IV).
- Travel costs on taking up duties
- Daily subsistence allowance (during probation period)
- Installation allowance and coverage of removal costs (one-time payments)
- Expatriation allowance or Foreign Residence allowance
- Household allowance
- Dependent child allowance
- European School enrollment for children or Education allowance if there is no local EU school
- Healthcare costs reimbursement to a level of 80-85% through the EU’s Joint Sickness Insurance Scheme (JSIS) for the employee and any direct family members and dependents. 100% reimbursement of costs in case of a serious illness
- Accident insurance
- Annual travel compensation. If your institution is in Brussels, for a 4-person family from Rome this will amount to EUR 2781. For a single person the amount will be EUR 677.
- Birth grant
- Parental leave
- Unemployment allowance
- Removal expenses when leaving your home country and again when leaving your EU institution
- EU pension, survivors and orphan’s pensions, invalidity allowance
- Lump sum payments in case of permanent invalidity or death
- Lump sum funeral expenses, around EUR 2350
Contract duration and probation period
Contract type. Under the ‘Advanced Level’, candidates are offered an initial Frontex contract of 5 years that can be prolonged once to another 5 years. This means that after 10 years in one post the officer’s contract will run out. If you will want to stay with Frontex, you will have to get another post before the 10-year deadline.
This is contrary to the European Commission practice that temporary agents (grades AD and AST) are granted indefinite contracts after serving two 5-year contracts.
There is a probation period of nine months. It is unclear from the Frontex vacancy announcement when the probation period is started – 1st day of training of 1st day of assuming duties with the agency.
Vacancy announcement
You can download the full Frontex Border Guard 2019 vacancy announcement here. It should be very similar to all the upcoming rounds of selections of the European Border and Coast Guard Officers.
Frontex video about Standing Corps
Do you have question or suggestion for this article? Please share in a comment below and let’s make this resource better for you and other readers!
7 responses to “Salary and benefits – Frontex Border Guard Officer, ADVANCED Level (AD 7)”
Hello Ben . Thank you for all the great information you share with us.
Im confused about the salary of standing corps (AD7) . In your article ”how much do EU officials earn” the salary of an official who is (AD7 ) starts from 6 294,84 euro according to the table that is projected there . On the contrary , in another article of yours (Salary and benefits – Frontex Border Guard Officer, ADVANCED Level AD7 ) and in the official selection notice for AD7 standing corps , the salary is approximately 4000 euro .
1) What Im getting wrong here ..?? Do standing coprs get paid less than the other officials of the same grade ..??
2) What happens after 10 years of service in standing corps ? You get dismissed from frontex ? you have to pass again some exams so you can continue to serve there ? or you continue to serve there without any changes ..??
Im serving as a police officer (chief of an opperation squad) at Greek police for 15 years , speak C2 English and B2 French and Im single .
3) In what step could I possibly be placed if I was accepted as AD7 standing corps ?
4) Could you give me a real life scenario about the life of someone serving on standing corps ? He is based in Warsaw lets say for 9 months and then he is deployed for 3 months somewhere else .??
Sorry for so many questions but I think many will be helped by your answer .
Thank you in advance
Konstantinos, hi!
1) The general article about AD7 salaries lists only the basic salary and without the correction coefficient. The dedicated standing corps article takes into account the information provided by Frontex, including impact of the correction coefficient. Be assured – SC get the same salary as “regular” AD7s.
2) According to my understanding, SC officers, if they don’t find another position, will be terminated. Most EU officials with time-limited contracts are always on a lookout for a permanent contract and just move as soon as there’s an opportunity. If you find out anything else about this, please let us all know. It’s possible that something will change in the next 10 years. I assume that the Member States didn’t want to be permanently “burdened” by a large border force in case there is no need for it in the future. There is nothing that prohibits the EU to take a decision that allows to extend SC members’ contracts.
A positive thing in all of this – after 10 years of service you will be entitled to an EU pension and JSIS (EU health insurance coverage as of 66 or 58 for early retirees).
3) You will be anyway placed in step 1, unless the vacancy notice foresees that people are place in step 2 or higher steps based on longer worked experience or other criteria.
4) I’m not able to answer to this. The best place I’ve found where to ask questions about this is this online forum (https://britishexpats.com/forum/police-79/frontex-border-guard-930437/page167/). There are also some discussion fora on Facebook where existing SC members hang out, maybe you can clarify in these locations.
Got the question.
Assume that I’m Polish. If I would be transferred to other country for a support on the external EU border, or during training period (assume that it would be outside Poland) would I receive the Household, Expatriation and Foreign residence allowances, or not??? (Ofc only for that time outside Poland) ???
Hi, Peter! Usually all allowances and other benefits are calculated based on your family situation and ‘place of employment’. Even if you go on long-term missions, you receive all benefits according to the geographical location where your institution is located in.
However, the Frontex Standing Corps are a bit of a special case where I don’t know the detailed regulations. It would be important to know if the country you are “commanded” to changes you ‘place of employment’ or not.
Even if you don’t get, for example, a better correction coefficient during the deployment, there might be some additional allowances to cover the time spend in another EU member state.
Please consult Frontex HR.
If possible, please report back so that we can improve the article for ohter readers. Thank you!
Hi Ben!
Thanks for all the details regarding the salary “package” for the AD7 level EBCG. I am a candidate myself and all these information were quite eye-opening! However, I ‘ve got some further questions:
-Regarding Steps 1 & 2: I am not sure what these represent…could you give me some details about this?
-Secondly, I would like to ask you whether there are any bonuses like on Christmas or on holidays further to these you have already mentioned?
Thank you in advance
Probation starts with first day of contract, training included. It is stipulated in the selection notice.
Also, you put 430 euro as expatriation allowance, but frontex in the job offer put 711 euro minimum, net.
You put 420 euro in shift allowance, but that may not be the case.
And the base salary they put in offer for ad7, step 1 is 3427 euro.
Hi! Regarding the basic salary, it indeed is higher as of 1 January 2020 as the Correction Coefficient for Poland went up. This means that all allowance amounts will also be a bit higher. I just didn’t have the precise 2020 figures so I used information from the vacancy announcement.
Regarding shift allowance, it’s just an assumption for the average situation, but at least gives an impression of what to expect. I know that many people looking for an EU job think that they will only get the basic salary.
Thanks for spotting the calculation mistake for for the expatriation allowance. Now corrected to the figure in the vacancy announcement for consistency’s sake.