New Rulebook on Employment Work Permits (hereinafter: the “Rulebook”) within the competence of the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veterans’ and Social Affairs is applicable from 25 August 2018.
The Rulebook closely prescribes the method of issuance, i.e. extension of work permits, the method of proving compliance with conditions and necessary evidences for the issuance or extension of work permits, as well as the form and content of work permits.
Compared to previous rulebook related to the same matters, the Rulebook, inter alia, prescribes the following:
– Request for issuance of the:
- personal work permits, and work permits for self-employment are submitted by the foreigner;
- employment work permits, work permits for seconded person and work permits for independent professionals are submitted by the employer;
- work permits for moving within a company are submitted by the branch of the company or an affiliated company in Serbia;
- work permits for training and improvement are submitted by the employer or the foreigner.
– New Rulebook prescribes that the National Employment Service (hereinafter: the “NES”) ex officio obtains, from the competent authorities, documents issued by them (e.g. decision on registration of the employer at the Serbian Business Registers Agency, temporary residence permit);
– The employer is obliged to submit request for employment intermediation, i.e. for conducting a labour market test no later than 10 days (but 60 days at the earliest), unlike the previous deadline of no later than 30 days prior to issuance of the work permit.
The labour market test is the procedure conducted by the NES in order to determine whether the employer could find Serbian citizens, persons who have free access to the country’s labour market or foreign citizens with a personal work permits with the requested qualifications in the records of the NES.
Exceptionally, in accordance with the new Law on Employment of the Foreigners, the Minister responsible for labour matters may determine period shorter than 10 days if that is in the Serbian interest or if that is required by Serbian internationally accepted obligations.
– After the labour market test is completed by the NES, the employer is obliged to respond to NES’s report on implementation of employment needs within 3 days (instead of previous 15 days).