In order to make labor market in Serbia more attractive for foreign citizens and investors, as well as to continue harmonization of Serbia’s legislation with EU legislation (Especially Directive – 2011/98 EU), the National Assembly of Republic of Serbia adopted significant amendments to the Law on Foreigners and the Law on Employment of Foreigners which came into force in August 2023. Implementation of the amendments in practice and adoption of relevant by-laws for that purpose had been put on hold until 1 February 2024, from which date the new regulations have started to apply.
The main novelties brought by amendments were focused on:
- simplification of the procedure for issuance of the relevant permits (temporary residence permit, visa, single permit and permanent residence permit),
- liberalization of the labor market in Serbia for foreigners,
- digitalization of the procedures for issuance of the mentioned relevant permits, and
- introduction, for the very first time, of the single permit for temporary residence and work of foreigners (the “Single permit”).
The most important novelty according to relevant stakeholders and public is the introduction of Single permit. Starting from 1 February 2024 foreigners that wish to work in Serbia would not be obliged to firstly obtain temporary residence permit before Ministry of Interior in burdensome procedure as precondition to be able to obtain work permit from Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs. This means that from 1 February 2024, both these permits are replaced with one single permit that is issued by the competent body of the Ministry of Interior based on one request submitted in completely digitalized procedure. In other words, hard copy materials and long procedures that often included waiting in the lines in premises of relevant authorities are no longer necessary.
The procedure of issuance of the Single permit is further elaborated in the Rulebook on issuance of single permit for temporary residence and work of foreigners recently adopted mutually by the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs that came into force on 1 February 2024 (the “Rulebook”).
- Legal grounds based on which the request for issuance of single permit might be submitted
Article 4 of the Rulebook prescribes multiple legal grounds for issuance of the single permit, precisely:
- Employment of the foreigner by Serbian employer;
- Sending of the foreigner to work in Serbia with Serbian Employer under the instructions of foreign employer in accordance with the agreement on cooperation between foreign and Serbian’s employer;
- Sending of the foreigner by the foreign company – employer to work in Serbia within its subsidiary company established in Serbia (or company affiliated in other way);
- foreigner providing services as independent professional in Serbia,
- foreigner attending professional practice for the purpose of training and development with the Serbian’s employer; and
- Self-employment of the foreigner.
As we can see, the Rulebook envisages wide area of work and professional engagement forms of a foreigner that qualifies him for single permit.
- Who is authorized to submit the request for issuance (extension) of the single permit?
The electronic request should be submitted electronically through the portal – Portal for foreigners (officials have announced that the portal will be available in March 2024) (the “Portal”) by:
- a foreigner,
- a Serbian employer on behalf of the foreigner, and
- a person authorized by either foreigner or Serbian employer.
The request might be submitted outside the territory of Serbia and the employer has option to submit one request for multiple foreigners based on the same legal ground which is very effective option due to the time and cost savings.
The portal is expected to be available 24 hours every day in a year.
Digitization will affect the reduction of administration and paperwork, thus affecting the improvement of the economic environment in Serbia.
- Documentation to be submitted along the request:
Article 3 of the Rulebook prescribes the documents that should be submitted along the request, as follows:
- Foreigner’s valid passport or identity card (if identity card is an option under international conventions with certain countries),
- Proves on fulfillment of legal grounds for issuance of the single permit (The Rulebook lists necessary proves and documents for each legal ground in Articles 6 – 11),
- Information on address of residence in Serbia, or statement on intended address of residence for foreigner who submits the request from abroad (e.g. lease agreement of the apartment in Serbia will be sufficient evidence), and
- Power of attorney issued by foreigner to the employer or other authorized person if the request is not to be submitted by the foreigner.
Documents shall be submitted in electronic original form or in the form of digitalized document. Documents not issued by the Serbian authorities or not made in Serbian language must be translated into Serbian language by official court interpreter.
- Deadline for issuance, Validity of the single permit, extension and other related matters
The Ministry of Interior issues the permit within 15 days as of the date of receiving the request.
Once issued the single permit is valid up to 3 years and might be extended multiple times for the period of 3 years (instead of 1 year as prescribed in previous legislation). The request for extension might be submitted at the earliest 3 months before expiration of the single permit or at the day of expiration of the single permit at the latest.
During that period the foreigner (or other authorized persons) may submit through the Portal electronic request for obtaining consent for change of employment, change of employer or for employment with two or more employers. After consent is obtained the foreigner may perform mentioned employment related changes which does not change the single permit itself.
For single permit to be created the foreigner must personally visit the officials in order to share his biometric data and collect the permit himself. The single permit is issued in the physical form of a biometric plastic card (the form of the single permit is attached as Form 1 to the Rulebook).
- How new rules affects foreigners that have already obtained work permits and temporary residence approval / have initiated such procedures in accordance with previous legislation?
The Rulebook regulates this matter in very simple manner, i.e. it prescribes three different situations:
- The foreigner that already obtained work permit and temporary residence in accordance with legislation that was into force until the new legislation, continues to work and reside based on issued permits,
- Already initiated procedures will be completed in accordance with the previous legislation, and
- The foreigner that obtained temporary residence approval in accordance with previous legislation now obtains work permit in accordance with the legislation that was in force at the moment of approval of temporary residence.
We would like to point out that despite facing the labor shortage on the domestic labor market in certain sectors, and liberalization of the market for foreigners, the new legal solutions as well protect the domestic labor market, primarily through the implementation of the labor market test. The application of the concept of the labor market test implies that a foreigner can be employed in the Republic of Serbia only when it is established that there are no domestic citizens on the records of the National Employment Service who meet the requirements of the employer’s request for a specific position.
Whether the new procedures will attract foreign labor and accelerate foreign investments remains to be seen in the upcoming period. However, it can certainly be said that with this step Republic of Serbia boldly made a step towards further harmonization of its regulations with EU legislation and showed determination in opening the domestic labor market for foreign labor force that is badly needed in certain industries (especially construction industry).
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