Guidelines for Work Permit in Slovakia
Employment of Foreigners
Indian professionals taking part in legal relationships emerged pursuant the Employment Services Act have the same legal status as citizens of the Slovak Republic if have been granted a work permit and a permit for a temporary stay for employment purposes.
Prior to arriving in the Slovak Republic foreigners shall submit a written work permit application at the relevant authority. This application can be filed by themselves, by their prospective employer, or by the natural person or legal entity at whose premises the work is to be carried out. The relevant office granting work permit is the office in whose territorial circuit the foreigner is going to perform his/her work.
Employers seated in the territory of the Slovak Republic can only employ foreigners who have been granted a temporary stay permit for employment purposes in the territory of the Slovak Republic and a work permit by the relevant office unless stipulated otherwise by the law.
Among the activities of the Office in connection with the employment of foreigners are:
- to inform the Central Office of any job vacancies available to foreigners,
- to provide information to foreigners about:
- employment possibilities in their territorial circuit,
- grant foreigners work permit,
- inform the Central Office of the amount of work permits granted for the relevant month, namely within the 20th day of the following calendar month.
Work Permit Application
The essentials of the work permit application are:
- name, surname and date of birth of the foreigner,
- address in the country of permanent residence and address for delivery of documents,
- number of travel document and name of entity that issued it,
- name, address, identification number and type of economic activity of employer,
- type of work, place of performance and planned duration of the work.
Part of the work permit application is a promise by the prospective employer to employ the foreigner.
Work Permit
When conceding a work permit, the relevant local Office for Labour, Social Affairs and Family shall take into consideration the situation in the labour market. The competent office can grant a work permit when the job vacancy cannot be occupied by a registered job seeker. Conceding a work permit is not granted by law.
Regardless of the situation in the labour market the Office can grant a work permit to a foreigner:
- if this is stipulated in an international agreement that binds the Slovak Republic,
- who will be employed for a specified period for the purpose of improving his/her qualification in the performed job (work-study program) for a period not longer than one year,
- under 26 years of age, who is engaged in occasional and temporary attachments in the frame of exchange scholarships or programs for the youth the Slovak Republic participates in,
- who carries out a systematic didactic or scientific activity as an educational employee, as an academic employee of a university, or as a scientific, research, or development employee in research activities in the Slovak Republic,
- who carries out spiritual activities by order of a registered church or religious society,
- who has been granted a permit for a tolerated stay and has been provided temporary refuge pursuant Act 48/2002 Coll. on the Stay of Foreigners, or cannot be deported pursuant ยง 2 letter e) of Act 480/2002 on Asylum.
Work permit is also required if the foreigner
- stands in working relationship with an employer seated or who has an organizational unit with labour-law personality seated outside the territory of the Slovak Republic, and who is sending him/her based on an agreement concluded with a legal or natural entity to carry out work in the territory of the Slovak Republic,
- will be employed in the cross-border area of the Slovak Republic and at least once a week will return to one of Slovakia's bordering states, in which he/she has permanent residence.
Work permit obligation does not apply for foreigners:
- with permanent residence permit in the territory of the Slovak Republic,
- with Expatriate status,
- who have been granted asylum,
- who have been provided temporary refuge,
- whose employment activities in the territory of the Slovak Republic have not exceeded seven consecutive calendar days or a total of 30 calendar days within one calendar year, who are:
- educational or academic employees of a university, or scientific, research or development
- workers or participating in specialized scientific events,
- performing artists taking part in an artistic event,
- pupils or students under 26 years of age,
- persons supplying goods or services in the Slovak Republic, or supplying or installing goods
- based on a business agreement, or carrying out guarantee repairs and reparation works,
- employed on the basis of an international agreement that binds the Slovak Republic, which
- specifies that employing foreigners does not require work permit,
- family members of a member of a diplomatic mission, of an employee of a consular office, or of
- an employee of an international governmental organization seated in the territory of the Slovak
- Republic if the international agreement concluded in the name of the government of the
- Slovak Republic guarantees reciprocity,
- members of a rescue unit providing aid on the basis of an international agreement on mutual
- aid for the elimination of the effects of accidents and natural disasters, and in cases of
- humanitarian aid,
- members of the armed forces or of a civic unit of the armed forces of the sending state
- (pursuant an Agreement among member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and
- other states present in the Partnership for Peace concerning the status of armed forces),
- conduct systematic professional preparation activities at schools and school premises included in
- the network of schools, school premises or pre-school premises,
- sent to the territory of the Slovak Republic by an employer seated in another Member State of
- the European Union to carry out services provided by this employer,
- associates or statutory bodies or members of a business society developing duties for the
- business society by conducting activities in the territory of the Slovak Republic, or members of
- a cooperative or statutory body or other bodies of a cooperative conducting activities for the
- cooperative in the territory of the Slovak Republic,
- employed in international public transport if sent to the territory of the Slovak Republic by their
- foreign employer to carry out work,
- accredited in the area of information media.
The Office shall not grant permission for employment to foreigners applying for asylum, or to foreigners who fail to meet any of the requisites for conferring permission for employment stipulated by the Employment Services Act.
Validity of Work Permit
The validity of the work permit expires:
- when the period it was conferred for expires,
- when the employment is terminated before the period it was conferred for expires,
- when the period the stay permit conferred to the foreigner expires, or
- when the stay permit terminates for any other reason.
The Office shall confer permission for employment for a period not longer than one year; in case of seasonal employment, for a period not longer than six months in one calendar year. In this instance, the period between two employment stays in the territory of the Slovak Republic shall be at least six months. Taking into account the situation in the labour market, the Office can prolong this permission on the foreigner's request and do it repeatedly for a period not longer than one year. A condition necessary for prolonging the work permit is that the foreigner is employed at the same employer's. Foreigners shall submit a written application for the prolongation of the work permit not later than 30 days before the valid work permit expires.
The employer has the obligation to inform the Office for Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the initiation and termination of an employment relationship with a foreigner in writing within seven working days after the relationship is initiated or terminated.
