Changes in the Area of Employment of Foreigners

Article 25 of ZZSDT regulates the conditions for approving uniform residence and work permit applications for the purpose of training or continuing professional development and, from now on, also for approving a uniform permit for foreign nationals that want to complete an internship. Slovenia’s employment service approves uniform permit applications based on attestations required under Article 25(1), which includes, among other things, a favorable opinion from the business association, chamber of commerce or ministry, responsible for the field of the activity covered by the training program or internship. 

Once the amendment enters into force the condition from the first point of the first indent of Article 17 of ZZSDT must be met in order for an application to be approved, meaning that there is no suitably qualified unemployed person on file to cover the vacancy in question. Foreign nationals holding a one-year residence permit for the purpose of attending a training program may extend the permit by six months if the course is extended by the same length of time. The exception to the rule are residence permit extensions for those attending medical courses, in which case the residence permit may be extended until the course completion date. 

Article 38 of ZZSDT now gives the employment service the power to revoke the favorable opinion for a valid uniform residence and work permit if it learns that a worker has not been registered for social security on basis of work or self-employment for more than six months and fails to do so during permit revocation procedure. If a foreign national holds a valid residence and work permit but is not registered for social security, he is then in breach of the residence permit as he is neither employed or self-employed. 

ZTuj-2F regulates new types of uniform residence and work permits, relevant to job-seeking foreign nationals. Article 44d regulates uniform permits for internships, Article 38č regulates temporary residence permits for employment or self-employment seeking researchers that have completed research work in Slovenia and Article 44b for those who have graduated from a higher education program in the last two years. Article 44č regulates temporary residence permits for volunteer work. 

Article 17 of ZZSDT which regulates employment of foreign nationals directly from unemployed persons register has also been amended. Now employers can hire an employee without the need to prove or demonstrate to the employment service that the conditions for approving a uniform work permit are met, if the foreign national is in receipt of unemployment benefits and is referred to the employer by the service. Under the amendment, an employer can hire an employee registered on the unemployment register without the need to prove or demonstrate to the employment service that the conditions for approving a uniform work permit are met if they have not laid off a suitably qualified employee due to business reasons in the past four months. The amendment was added to put a stop to employers laying off employees and then re-hiring the same employees when they were no longer entitled to unemployment benefits. 

Author: Eva Jean, Associate