Programme participants can be divided into the individual participants of the study visits/job shadowing, as well as the institutions participating (i.e. the sending and host institutions).

A person seeking to become a participant of the Argonauts Programme, and to take part in a study visit, must meet all the conditions described below.

• be a Polish citizen employed in a public administration body (sending institution) under a contract of employment concluded for an indefinite period and in place for at least two years before the date of submission of the application form;
• have documented knowledge of a foreign language (English, German, French or other required by the host institution), on at least B2 level (spoken and written); if there is no document confirming the knowledge of a foreign language, that knowledge will be verified by the National School of Public Administration;
• submit a written commitment to not resign from employment in public administration for at least one year after return from the mobility scheme;
• be in possession of the consent of the head of the sending institution to go, and present in the course of the application process the benefits for the sending and host institutions of his or her mobility;
• submit a post-mobility report describing the solutions the participant became acquainted with during the visit, with this extending to analysis of possibilities of application (and feasibility of implementation) at the sending (home) institution.

Institutions sending officials to take part in study visits are referred to as “public administration” in the programme. Sending institution can be offices employing people who are members of the Civil Service Corps, as well as those who are not. In the process by which applications are evaluated, priority will be given to projects planned for implementation by offices and participants employed in institutions outside Warsaw. The institution employing the project participant is to be an active entity in the process of implementing or planning public policies. Moreover, the project must ensure that support is extended to participants prior to their going abroad. In particular, this support must result in the establishment of the Programme, and achievement of planned outcomes of the transnational mobility scheme.