Erasmus+ OID Registration: Step-by-Step Guide

Before any Erasmus+ application can be submitted — whether you are the coordinator or a partner organisation — every organisation in the consortium must have a valid Organisation ID, known as an OID. No OID means no application. An organisation without a validated OID cannot be added to a project, and an application submitted with a missing or unvalidated OID will be rejected at admissibility.

The registration process itself is free and takes around 20 minutes to complete. The only unpredictable element is processing time — validation by the European Commission takes between 1 and 5 working days, and there is no way to expedite it. This guide walks you through every step of the registration process, clarifies which system you actually need to use, shows you how to find an OID that may already exist for your organisation, and covers the most common errors that delay or block validation.

1. What Is an Erasmus+ OID — and Which System Do You Need

An Organisation ID (OID) is a unique identifier assigned to every organisation that registers via the Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps Organisation Registration System. It is how National Agencies identify and verify organisations for Erasmus+ actions they manage directly.

This is the point that trips up the most applicants, so it’s worth being precise: Erasmus+ actually uses two different registration systems, and which one applies to you depends on who manages your action.

Actions managed by National Agencies — this covers KA210, KA1 mobility actions, and most of the KA2 actions applicants typically work with — require registration via the Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps Organisation Registration System, which issues an OID.

Actions managed by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) — larger, centrally managed actions — require registration via the general EU Funding & Tenders Portal, which issues a different code, a Participant Identification Code (PIC). If your organisation already has a PIC from participating in another EU programme (Horizon Europe, for example), that PIC remains valid for any EACEA-managed Erasmus+ action — you don’t need to register again for those specifically.

For the vast majority of applicants working on KA210, KA1, and NA-managed KA220 projects, the OID — via the Organisation Registration System — is what you need. If you’re unsure which system applies to your specific action, check the call documentation for that action or ask your National Agency directly.

Detail	Information
Where it is registered	Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps Organisation Registration System — webgate.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-esc
Applies to	National-Agency-managed actions — KA210, KA1 mobility, and most KA220 applications
Cost	Free — no registration fee
Processing time	1–5 working days — cannot be expedited
Validity	Permanent — reused for all future NA-managed Erasmus+ applications
Who needs one	Every organisation in every NA-managed KA1 and KA2 application — coordinator and all partners
Per organisation	One OID per organisation — not per person, not per project

2. What You Need Before You Start

Before beginning the registration process, gather the following information and documents. Having them ready before opening the registration system prevents the most common interruption — reaching a required field and not having the data to hand, which often results in a partially saved registration that requires restarting.

An EU Login account. The Organisation Registration System requires an EU Login account to access. EU Login is a personal account — it belongs to the individual, not the organisation. If you do not have an EU Login account, create one first. Use your professional email address — the one associated with your organisation.

Organisation legal name. The full official name of the organisation exactly as it appears in its national registration documents — including any legal suffix (e.g. “Ltd”, “A.Ε.”, “GmbH”, “ONG”). Discrepancies between the name submitted and the name in official documents can delay validation or require correction.

Legal registration number. The national registration number of the organisation — the identifier assigned by the national body that registered it (company register, NGO registry, chamber of associations, etc.). This number is what the European Commission uses to verify that the organisation is a legitimate legal entity in its country.

Official registered address. The organisation’s full registered address — street, city, postcode and country — as it appears in the national registration documents. Note that this is the registered address, not necessarily the office address or the project address.

Organisation type. The legal form of the organisation — NGO/association, school, university, public authority, private company, etc. The registration system provides a dropdown list of organisation types; select the one that most closely matches your organisation’s legal form as registered in your country.

Legal representative details. The name, title and contact email of the person who is the organisation’s legal representative — the individual authorised to sign contracts and legal documents on behalf of the organisation. This is typically the director, president, CEO or equivalent. For KA220, this person’s details also need to be consistent across the registration and the partner mandate/authorisation you complete separately.

Bank account details (for coordinators). Organisations that will act as coordinator — and therefore receive the grant directly from the NA — need to provide bank account details as part of the broader application/financial-capacity process: account number/IBAN, BIC/SWIFT code and bank name. For organisations receiving grants above €60,000, additional financial capacity documentation is also required. Partner organisations that receive funds through the coordinator typically don’t need to submit bank details themselves.

3. Step-by-Step OID Registration Guide

Follow these steps in order. Do not skip ahead before each section is complete — the system requires each section to be saved before the next one becomes available.

Step 1 — Log into the Erasmus+ and ESC Organisation Registration System. Go to webgate.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-esc and sign in using your EU Login credentials. If you do not yet have an EU Login account, create one first at webgate.ec.europa.eu/cas before returning to this step.

Step 2 — Check whether your organisation is already registered. Once logged in, check whether your organisation already appears with an OID linked to your account. This section shows all organisations currently linked to your EU Login account. If this is your first registration, the list will be empty.

Step 3 — Register a new organisation. If no existing registration is found, start a new organisation registration. Work through each section in order — do not skip fields. Required sections typically include: organisation identification (legal name, registration number, country), organisation address, legal representative information, and organisation type. Complete every mandatory field before attempting to save.

Step 4 — Enter the organisation name exactly. In the “Organisation legal name” field, enter the name precisely as it appears in your national registration document — including capitalisation, punctuation and legal suffix. Do not use abbreviations, common names or translated versions of the name unless these are the official registered name. Inconsistencies trigger a manual review that significantly extends processing time.

Step 5 — Select the correct organisation type. Use the organisation type dropdown to select the category that best matches your organisation’s legal form. If none of the listed types perfectly match your organisation’s legal form, select the closest equivalent and note the specifics in the description field if one is available.

Step 6 — Upload supporting documents if prompted. Depending on your organisation type and country, you may be asked to upload a copy of your official registration document — the national registry entry, founding statute or equivalent. Prepare a PDF scan of the relevant document before beginning the registration.

Step 7 — Submit and note your reference. Once all fields are completed and all required documents uploaded, submit the registration. You’ll typically receive a reference you can use to track the status while it’s being processed — this reference is not the OID itself; the OID is assigned only after validation is complete.

Step 8 — Wait for validation and receive your OID. The European Commission validates the registration within 1–5 working days. You will receive an email confirmation at the address associated with your EU Login account when the OID has been assigned. Log back in after receiving the confirmation to verify the OID is displayed correctly. Share the OID with the coordinator of your consortium immediately upon receipt.

4. How to Find an Existing OID for Your Organisation

Before registering a new OID, always check whether your organisation already has one. Duplicate registrations — two OIDs for the same legal entity — cause problems at the grant agreement stage and must be resolved with the National Agency before the project can proceed. There are three ways to check.

Method 1 — Check the Organisation Registration System directly. Log in with your EU Login account and check your linked organisations. If your organisation is already registered and linked to your EU Login account, it will appear here with its OID displayed. If the organisation was registered by a colleague using a different EU Login account, it may not appear in your personal view — in that case, use Method 2.

Method 2 — Ask colleagues who may have previously registered. Since OID registration is tied to an individual’s EU Login account initially, the most reliable way to find an existing OID that isn’t visible to you is to ask colleagues in your organisation — particularly anyone who has previously worked on an EU-funded project — whether they registered the organisation. Check with whoever manages your organisation’s EU project administration.

Method 3 — Check previous grant documents. If your organisation has participated in any NA-managed Erasmus+ project since 2021 — as coordinator or partner — the OID will appear in the grant agreement, the project record and all official correspondence from the National Agency. Search your organisation’s email archive and file system for any documents referencing an OID number.

If you find a PIC but no OID. A Participant Identification Code (PIC) is a different code — a 9-digit identifier issued through the EU Funding & Tenders Portal for EACEA-managed actions and other EU programmes. It does not substitute for an OID. If your organisation has a PIC but needs to apply for an NA-managed action like KA210, you’ll still need to complete OID registration through the Erasmus+ and ESC Organisation Registration System separately.

5. After Registration: What Happens Next

Once your OID has been validated and confirmed, there are several immediate actions to take — both to prepare for the current application and to ensure the OID remains useful for future ones.

Share the OID with the coordinator immediately. The moment your OID is confirmed, send it to the coordinator of your consortium. The coordinator needs every partner’s OID to be able to add them to the application. Delays in sharing OIDs after validation cause unnecessary last-minute pressure for the coordinator.

Confirm access to your National Agency’s application platform. The specific application platform and process varies by National Agency — confirm with your NA (or check the call documentation for your action) how your validated OID connects to the application form you’ll actually be completing.

Confirm who is authorised to sign and submit on behalf of the organisation. Only a properly authorised person can sign grant agreements and submit applications on behalf of the organisation — typically the legal representative or someone they’ve formally delegated. Confirm this is set up correctly well before the application deadline, since it usually requires that person’s own EU Login account to be properly linked.

Keep the registration profile up to date. If your organisation’s legal name, address, legal representative or bank account details change after OID registration, update the profile promptly. Outdated data — particularly bank account details or legal representative information — can block grant agreement signature and payment processing. Assign a named person in your organisation to be responsible for keeping this current.

Store the OID in an accessible location. Record the OID in your organisation’s project management system, your shared documents folder and your email signature template for EU project correspondence. The OID is required for every NA-managed Erasmus+ application your organisation submits and should be as readily accessible as your VAT number or registration number.

6. Most Common OID Registration Errors

Registering in the wrong system. Because Erasmus+ uses two separate registration systems depending on who manages the action, some applicants end up registering for a PIC via the Funding & Tenders Portal when they actually needed an OID via the Organisation Registration System — or vice versa. Confirm which system applies to your specific action before registering anything.

Organisation name entered incorrectly. The most common validation delay is a mismatch between the name entered and the name in the national registration documents. Common causes include entering the trading name instead of the legal name, omitting the legal suffix (Ltd, NGO, A.Ε.), translating the name into English when the registered name is in another language, or punctuation inconsistencies. Always copy the name directly from the official registration document — do not type it from memory.

Registering a duplicate OID. When multiple people in an organisation independently try to register an OID — because each assumed the other had not done it — the result is two OID registrations for the same legal entity. This typically needs to be resolved with the National Agency before either can be used. Check first using Method 2 in Section 4 before beginning a new registration.

Wrong organisation type selected. Selecting “Private company” for a registered NGO, or “Higher Education Institution” for a VET provider, can trigger additional validation steps or require correction before the OID is confirmed. Use the organisation type that most closely matches your legal form as registered in your country — not the type that sounds most prestigious or most aligned with the project topic.

Using a personal email account for the organisation. EU Login accounts are personal — they belong to an individual, not an organisation. Registering the OID under a personal email account that is not associated with the organisation creates access management problems when the individual leaves the organisation or changes roles. Always use a professional email address linked to the organisation.

Not updating the profile after legal changes. An organisation that changes its legal name, registered address or legal representative and does not update its registration profile will face problems at the grant agreement stage — the NA will cross-check the profile against the application and flag any discrepancies. Update the profile immediately whenever any of these details change.

Confusing OID with PIC. These are genuinely different codes from different systems, issued for different categories of Erasmus+ actions. If a partner sends you a code and you’re not sure whether it’s an OID or a PIC, don’t assume — confirm which system it came from before treating it as valid for your specific action.

Starting the application before all partner OIDs are confirmed. Beginning the application form before all partner OIDs are validated does not save time — it creates a partially complete application that cannot be submitted until the missing OIDs arrive. If a partner’s OID is not validated by the submission deadline, they cannot be included. Confirm all OIDs before starting the application form.

7. OID Registration Checklist

• ✅ Confirmed which registration system applies to your specific action — OID (NA-managed) vs PIC (EACEA-managed)
• ✅ Checked whether the organisation already has an OID before starting a new registration
• ✅ EU Login account created using a professional organisational email address
• ✅ Organisation’s official legal name copied exactly from national registration documents
• ✅ Legal registration number from national registry confirmed and ready
• ✅ Registered address verified against official documents — not office or project address
• ✅ Correct organisation type selected
• ✅ Legal representative details entered — name, title and contact email consistent with official documents
• ✅ Supporting registration documents uploaded as PDF if required
• ✅ Bank account and financial capacity details in order for coordinator organisations
• ✅ Registration submitted and reference noted
• ✅ OID validation confirmed by email
• ✅ OID shared with the consortium coordinator immediately after validation
• ✅ Confirmed how your OID connects to your National Agency’s application platform
• ✅ OID stored in organisation’s project management records for future use
• ✅ All partner OIDs confirmed as validated before beginning the application form