That's true. But I think for people who don't have a self-employment status yet, this is a big obstacle to even apply.

Maybe it would make sense to open up the application for everybody, but to connect the grants to the self-employment status (i.e. the applicant get some timeframe to register the self-employment and if necessary talk to the employer).

I just think the rules lead to a strong restriction of the applicant pool and also the possible grant-worthy projects. But this might be intended...