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The latest changes to the Law on the Employment of Foreigners made it possible to build a new legislative framework that is determined by flexibility, economy and expediency.

The basic principle for employment of foreigners is still the requirement to have a visa for a long stay based on employment, approval for temporary residence or permanent residence and unique permits. Given that the unique permit institute incorporates both the right to stay and the right to work, the employment or self-employment of foreigners is carried out by obtaining an unique permit. We elaborated on this in more detail in one of our previous articles.

EMPLOYMENT OF FOREIGNERS IN SERBIA WITHOUT UNIQUE PERMIT

One of the significant novelties is the possibility for certain categories of foreigners to work in the Republic of Serbia without obtaining an unique permit. It is about the fact that the legislator recognized that there are categories of foreigners who should be made accessible to the labor market in the form of complete liberalization of their employment, respecting their specific ties with the Republic of Serbia, i.e. with its citizens.

Namely, the right to work in the Republic of Serbia, without an unique permit, is exercised by a foreigner who has been granted temporary residence on the basis of: 1) family reunification with a member of the immediate family of a citizen of Serbia, i.e. a foreigner who has been granted permanent residence; 2) ownership of real estate; 3) humanitarian residence; 4) studies; 5) scientific research work; 6) the status of presumed victim of human trafficking and victim of human trafficking; 7) independent residence; 8) performing the duties of an accredited foreign journalist; 9) volunteering; 10) religious service, etc.

These novelties represent a significant step forward in the direction of increasing the availability of the labor market for foreigners, thus making it easier for domestic employers to hire foreign nationals without going through standard procedures. Previously, foreigners, family members of Serbian citizens, i.e. foreigners permanently residing in Serbia, had to attach a personal work permit in order to be able to work.

THE ROLE OF THE NATIONAL EMPLOYMENT SERVICE

The National Employment Service has retained its important role in the employment procedures for foreigners, with its actions limited to shorter deadlines than before. Namely, the National Employment Service assesses the fulfillment of the requirements for:

1. employment;
2. special cases of employment, namely:

• for referred persons,
• for movement within the company,
• for an independent professional
• for training and improvement

3)  self-employment

4)  a visa for a longer stay based on employment

The assessment for employment is carried out by assessing the fulfillment of the conditions, namely:

1. that the employer did not fire employees due to technological, economic or organizational changes in the workplace for which a unique permit is requested within 90 days before submitting the request for a unique permit
2. that the employer initiated the implementation of the labor market test
3. the existence of an employment contract or other contract by which rights based on employment are exercised

The request for conducting the labor market test is an integral part of the request for issuing an unique permit and is submitted by the employer electronically on the single portal. The National Employment Service conducts a labor market test by determining whether there are persons on the record who meet the requirements of the employer’s request for employment in a specific workplace. On the occasion of the submitted request for the implementation of the labor market test, the National Employment Service prepares a report on the realization of the need for employment within 4 days.

The National Employment Service evaluates the fulfillment of employment conditions, special cases of employment or self-employment of a foreigner with a rating of “fulfills” or “does not fulfill”. The grade “fulfills” also includes the time period for which the assessment is made, which can be up to three years at the longest. On the other hand, the grade “does not fulfill” contains the reasoning why the conditions for employment, special cases of employment or self-employment of a foreigner are not met. The assessment is carried out and submitted to the Directorate for Foreigners within 10 days from the day of receipt of the orderly request for issuing an unique permit.

ASSESSMENT FOR SPECIAL CASES OF EMPLOYMENT OF FOREIGNERS

The National Employment Service evaluates the fulfillment of requirements in special cases of employment of foreigners: with referred persons, with movement within a company and with independent professionals.

The National Employment Service assesses the employment of referred persons based on the fulfillment of the following conditions:

• the existence of a contract on business-technical cooperation between the employer and the foreign employer
• that the referred person has been employed and registered for compulsory social insurance with a foreign employer for at least one year
• the existence of an act between the employer and the foreign employer on the referral to temporary work in Serbia
• that the foreigner will be returned to work for a foreign employer after the temporary assignment expires

The act on assignment to temporary work in Serbia prescribes rights and obligations based on work, and in particular must contain: working conditions, method of providing and amount of salary, salary compensation, working hours, method of exercising the right to annual leave, safety and health conditions at work, period of work, as well as the way of providing accommodation, food and transportation. The referred person cannot work under less favorable working conditions than those attributed to the Labor Law, e.g. full-time work cannot last longer than 40 hours per week, the duration of annual leave cannot be less than 20 days, etc.

The assessment for referred persons is carried out for a period of up to 3 years and can be extended for a maximum of another 3 years.

The Law on the employment of foreigners under the regime of movement within a company implies the temporary assignment of an employee to a foreign employer for at least one year as a manager or specialist to work in a branch, representative office or subsidiary registered in Serbia.

Under the term manager, the legislator considers a person: (i) who performs management tasks (who is a director or manager in a foreign company ); (ii) who is a member of the management of a foreign company;  (iii) who manages the organizational unit; (iv) who monitors and controls the work of professional or managerial staff. On the other hand, a specialist is considered a person who possesses special professional knowledge required for the business of a foreign company, which implies a high degree of professional competence, or appropriate professional experience and possibly membership in a professional association.

The National Employment Service makes an assessment for moving within a company based on the fulfillment of the following conditions:

• that the referred person has been employed by a foreign employer for at least 1 year
• the existence of an act of referral to temporary work in Serbia as a manager or specialist
• that the foreigner will be returned to the foreign employer after the temporary assignment expires 

For more information on this, as well as other issues in the field of employment of foreigners, you can contact a lawyer.