Temporary Residence of Foreign Nationals for the Purpose of Employment

The employment of third-country nationals is subject to special rules. Depending on the length of their stay in the territory of the Slovak Republic, a third-country national may be employed either within the framework of a short-term stay of up to 90 days – typically in the case of seasonal employment, or during a stay exceeding 90 days, for example on the basis of a granted national visa, temporary residence, or permanent residence.

In the case where the employer is a temporary employment agency, special conditions apply to the employment of third-country nationals, which differ from the general regime applicable to direct employment.

Likewise, there are differences in the employment of citizens of the Member States of the European Union, to whom the same conditions as for third-country nationals do not apply. Employers must take into account the specific rules arising from EU law, in particular the principle of the free movement of workers.

An employer who intends to employ a third-country national on the basis of a confirmation of the possibility to fill a vacancy is obliged to notify the Labour, Social Affairs and Family Office (hereinafter referred to as the “ÚPSVaR”) in writing of the vacancies, their number, and their characteristics at least 20 working days prior to submitting an application for the granting of temporary residence for the purpose of employment.

The job offer is published on the website.

We also note that it is necessary to report the vacancy in every case, including cases where the labour market situation is not taken into account when filling the position. In such a case, when reporting the vacancy, it must be indicated that the employment is of a type where the authority does not assess the labour market situation.

The authority shall issue a confirmation of the possibility to fill the vacancy, which contains either consent or refusal to fill the position, within 15 working days from the date of delivery of the application by the employer who intends to employ a third-country national, for the purpose of proceedings on granting temporary residence for the purpose of employment.

The practical procedure is therefore as follows: the employer notifies the Labour, Social Affairs and Family Office (ÚPSVaR) of the vacancy; after the expiry of at least 20 working days from the publication of the vacancy, the employer may apply to the Labour Office for consent to fill it. The Labour Office will send its consent directly to the competent Alien Police Department. Subsequently, the foreign national may submit an application for the granting of temporary residence. Despite the fact that the Labour Office sends the consent directly to the Alien Police Department, we recommend taking a copy of it with you when submitting the application.

The situation is simplified in the following cases, when the Labour, Social Affairs and Family Office (ÚPSVaR) issues this consent without taking into account the labour market situation, if it concerns a third-country national who performs in the Slovak Republic:

Another exception, when the Labour, Social Affairs and Family Office (ÚPSVaR) issues consent without further examination of the labour market situation (without the need to observe the above-mentioned 20 days), is the case where the employment concerns a shortage occupation performed by a third-country national in a district pursuant to § 12 letter ad). The list of these shortage occupations is available on the website of the Central Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family.

However, an additional condition is that the employer who intends to employ such a worker – a foreign national – employs less than 45% of third-country nationals out of the total number of employees, whereby employees employed under an employment contract agreed for at least half of the statutory weekly working time are included in the total number of employees. For the purpose of meeting this condition, one of the required attachments is also the employer’s statutory declaration. This statutory declaration must be submitted on the official form of the Central Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family.

We note that the employment of a third-country national, as stated above, is possible only on the basis of an employment contract (and not an agreement on work performed outside the employment relationship).

The application for the granting of temporary residence must include a valid travel document, a certificate of good conduct, proof of accommodation (i.e. a title deed or an extract from the title deed from the real estate cadastre issued in the name of the foreign national, a lease agreement with the owner or user of the property and an extract from the title deed or another document proving the right to use the property, confirmation from an accommodation facility on the provision of accommodation, or a statutory declaration of a natural person or legal entity on the provision of accommodation to the foreign national in the territory of the Slovak Republic together with an extract from the title deed or a document proving the right to use the property), and the administrative fee.

An employer may employ a third-country national on the basis of an issued confirmation of the possibility to fill a vacancy corresponding to highly qualified employment.

The Blue Card entitles the foreign national to enter, reside, and work in the territory of the Slovak Republic, to leave the territory of the Slovak Republic, and to re-enter the territory of the Slovak Republic. The Blue Card is issued on the basis of an application by the police department for the purpose of highly qualified employment.

This concerns employment for which a higher professional qualification is required, demonstrated by proof of university education. The Blue Card for the purpose of highly qualified employment is granted for 5 years, or if the duration of the employment relationship is shorter than 5 years, the police department shall grant the Blue Card for the period of the employment relationship extended by 90 days.

The disadvantage of this process is that recognition of the educational document in the Slovak Republic is required, which significantly prolongs the entire procedure of obtaining residence documents.

The confirmation of the possibility to fill a vacancy corresponding to highly qualified employment is issued by the Labour Office within 15 working days from the date of delivery of the application by the employer who intends to employ a third-country national in highly qualified employment. The confirmation contains either consent or refusal to fill the vacancy and is issued in the following cases:

In the cases stipulated by law, a confirmation of the possibility to fill a vacancy is not required; instead, a work permit is required.

The authority, after the conditions for granting a work permit have been met, shall issue the work permit on the basis of a written application submitted by the third-country national, the employer, or a legal or natural person to whom the third-country national is to be assigned to perform work, if the vacancy cannot be filled by a jobseeker registered in the register of jobseekers. When granting a work permit, the authority shall take into account the labour market situation, unless otherwise provided by law.

In the following cases, it is necessary to notify the vacancy at least ten working days before submitting an application for the granting of a work permit (§ 22 para. 2), if the foreign national:

For the purposes of this Act, seasonal employment is an activity that does not exceed 240 days during 12 consecutive months and is tied to a specific period of the year by a recurring event or a recurring sequence of events associated with seasonal conditions, during which a substantially higher volume of work is required. Seasonal employment is carried out under an employment relationship concluded for a definite period of time. The list of sectors of seasonal employment shall be established by a generally binding legal regulation issued by the ministry.

The application for the granting of a work permit shall be submitted on the prescribed form together with the annexes pursuant to § 22 para. 4 of the Employment Services Act:

An annex to the application is also proof of accommodation, as well as proof of health insurance.

The time limit for issuing a work permit is:

The Labour Office may, at the request of a third-country national, extend the work permit for a maximum of two years, and this may be done repeatedly. The work permit for the purpose of seasonal employment may be extended once, upon the fulfilment of the conditions for its extension, if the work permit was granted for less than 90 days, provided that the total duration of the work permit does not exceed 90 days during 12 consecutive months; this also applies to employment with another employer.

In this case, the foreign national or his/her employer shall first submit an application for the issuance of a work permit at the competent Labour Office and, after it has been granted, submit an application for the issuance of temporary residence for the purpose of employment at the competent Alien Police Department.

The same procedure applies if the foreign national has been granted the status of a long-term resident in another Member State after the expiry of 12 months from the beginning of residence in the Slovak Republic (e.g. in the Czech Republic such residence may be applied for at the workplace of the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic) – in such case the police department shall grant temporary residence for the period necessary to achieve the purpose, but not more than 5 years. Granted temporary residence is not required for such a foreign national within 90 days from the beginning of residence in the territory of the Slovak Republic, provided that he/she fulfils the obligation to notify the police department of the beginning, place, and anticipated duration of residence.

The procedure for the employer and the foreign national is similar to the case of a confirmation of the possibility to fill a vacancy, however the time limits are shortened to 15 days and no administrative fee is payable for the application. If the foreign national meets the above conditions, he/she may apply for the issuance of a work permit (in the form of a prescribed application form). The application for the work permit must include the following: a valid travel document, an employment contract or a promise by the employer to employ the foreign national, a decision on the recognition of the educational document / a document on the highest attained education in the case of a regulated profession, and a copy of the document proving the recognised status of a long-term resident in a Member State of the European Union. The police department issues the work permit for the period specified in this article below.

The Employment Services Act, in § 23a, contains several dozen exceptions where it is possible to employ a foreign national without the need for a confirmation of the possibility to fill a vacancy or a work permit. The exceptions apply to the following cases of a third-country national:

A foreign national may also be employed in Slovakia on the basis of a national visa type D, which may be granted in a simplified manner under several Government Regulations of the Slovak Republic. These regulations apply to selected groups of third-country nationals, such as industrial workers, drivers, highly qualified professionals, relocated foreigners, or third-country nationals within the framework of support for business relations and investments. A national visa granted in this way allows foreigners to work legally in the territory of the Slovak Republic under conditions that are simpler than those applicable to the standard procedures for granting residence and work permits.

During the validity of the granted national visa and residence in the territory of the Slovak Republic, a third-country national may apply for the granting of temporary residence. This procedure enables him or her, after the expiry of the visa, to continue to live and work in Slovakia without interruption of legal status.

One of the options for temporary residence for the purpose of employment is also an intra-corporate transfer. According to the provision of § 2 para. 1 letter s), an intra-corporate transfer is defined as “the temporary posting for more than 90 days of a third-country national for the purpose of employment or professional training, who, at the time of submitting the application for the granting of temporary residence, is located outside the territory of the Slovak Republic and the Member States, by an employer established outside the territory of the Slovak Republic and the Member States, with whom the third-country national has concluded an employment contract before and during the transfer, to the same employer or to an employer within the same group of employers established in the Slovak Republic.”

We note, however, that in this way it is possible to employ only managers, qualified specialists, or trainees.

Temporary residence may be granted for a maximum of three years in the case of a manager or specialist, and for a maximum of one year in the case of an employee – trainee.

Temporary residence for the purpose of employment is granted by the police department for a maximum period of 5 years.

An exception is temporary residence for the purpose of seasonal employment, where residence is granted for a maximum of 240 days during 12 consecutive months. In the event that the validity of the foreign national’s travel document is shorter than 240 days, the police department shall grant temporary residence for no longer than the validity period of the travel document.

In the case of an intra-corporate transfer, residence is granted for a maximum of three years in the case of a manager or specialist, and for a maximum of one year in the case of an employee – trainee.

However, it is also necessary to take into account § 21b para. 8 of the Employment Services Act, which specifies the duration of residence granted where a confirmation of the possibility to fill a vacancy is required, since such confirmation is issued for a maximum of:

Thus, in the event that a confirmation is issued with a validity of two years, the temporary residence shall likewise be granted only for a period of two years.

The documents to be attached to the application must not be older than 90 days, with the exception of civil status documents. All documents must be originals or notarised copies, and if issued abroad, they must also be apostilled or superlegalised, depending on the country in which they were issued.

The application for the granting of temporary residence shall be submitted by a third-country national on the official form. At the time of submission, the third-country national is obliged to present a valid travel document. In the case of temporary residence for the purpose of employment on the basis of a confirmation of the possibility to fill a vacancy, it is not necessary that all documents are complete at the time of submitting the application for residence; they may also be submitted later. This is different from other types of residence, where the application will not be accepted if it is incomplete. However, the advantage of submitting a complete application is that the foreign national may start working after its submission and does not have to wait for the granting of temporary residence.

List of documents that must be submitted with the application for temporary residence for the purpose of employment:

Accommodation is proven by submitting the following documents:

The signatures on the accommodation document must be officially certified.

Accommodation must be secured for a period of at least 6 months from the granting of residence (not from the submission of the application). We also note that in some cases the validity of the accommodation document also affects the validity of the residence card: “A third-country national who has been granted temporary residence shall be issued a residence document by the police department with validity according to the period for which temporary residence has been granted; if he/she has secured accommodation for a shorter period than the period of temporary residence granted, the police department shall issue a residence document valid for the period for which accommodation has been secured.”

We note that all changes in the issued residence document (for example, also a change of the foreign national’s address) must be reported to the Alien Police within 5 working days. This follows from § 111 para. 1 letter g) of the Act on the Residence of Foreigners: “A third-country national is obliged to report to the police department a change of name, surname, marital status, nationality, data in the travel document within five working days from the date on which the change occurred, and the replacement of the travel document.”

A person may be employed under an employment relationship only from the first day of validity of the temporary residence permit for the purpose of employment. The employment of a third-country national who has been granted a work permit may only be in the form of an employment relationship based on a written employment contract. The work permit is tied to a specific employer, type of activity, and place of work.

According to the Act on the Residence of Foreigners, the granted temporary residence entitles a third-country national to reside, leave, and re-enter the territory of the Slovak Republic during the period for which it has been granted. This means that with granted temporary residence it is also possible to travel to other Schengen countries.

After the granting of residence, the third-country national is obliged to undergo a medical examination and submit a certificate that he/she does not suffer from a disease that endangers public health to the competent Alien Police Department within 30 days from the date of receiving the residence card.

The current form of the commitment to hire / employment commitment can be found on the website of the Labor Office.

AFFIDAVIT

I, the undersigned, Name and Surname, born on ___, passport number: ___, nationality: ___, permanent residence: ___, hereby solemnly declare that I will provide financial and material support to my son / wife / daughter (or another person – as applicable), Name and Surname, born on ___, passport number: ___, nationality: ___, permanent residence: ___, for the entire duration of his / her stay in the territory of the Slovak Republic. Date, place, signature (officially certified)

Documents in a foreign language must be officially translated into Slovak. A specific requirement is that official translations should be carried out by Slovak translators. Such a translation must be done by a court-appointed translator who is registered in the List of Experts, Interpreters, and Translators maintained by the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic.

It is not sufficient to provide only an official translation prepared by a translator abroad, even if that translator is registered in a foreign registry of translators. In such cases, it is also necessary to submit confirmation from the Slovak diplomatic mission that the foreign translator is authorized to produce translations. An official translation into the Czech language is also acceptable.

This requirement follows from § 126(4) of the Foreign Nationals Residence Act, which states: “Applications and documents required in proceedings under this Act issued in a foreign language must be submitted by the foreign national in an official translation into the state language, in the original or in an officially certified copy; documents issued or certified by the competent authorities of the Czech Republic in the Czech language may also be submitted. A foreign national may also submit applications and documents issued in a foreign language in an official translation into the Czech language. For a translation prepared abroad, the foreign national must submit confirmation from the diplomatic mission that the translation was prepared by an authorized person. The diplomatic mission may refuse to issue confirmation if the authorization of the person who prepared the translation cannot be reliably verified within the territorial jurisdiction of the mission.”

The signatures on attachments to the application that must be certified are regulated by § 126(5) of the Foreign Nationals Residence Act: „Signatures on affidavits, powers of attorney, and lease agreements submitted in proceedings under this Act must be certified; this does not apply if the power of attorney is declared into the record before the administrative authority or if it concerns an affidavit or power of attorney in proceedings on administrative expulsion or detention.”

In practice, signatures on employer’s statements have generally not required official certification, with the exception of an affidavit on salary (income confirmation).

The police department shall decide on the application within 60 days from its delivery. In the case of employment in shortage occupations in a district where the average registered unemployment rate is below 5%, or in the case of employees of technology centers, the decision must be made within 30 days.

It should be noted that the period begins to run from the date the application is delivered to the Foreign Police. If the residence application is submitted at a diplomatic mission abroad, this period is extended, as the mission sends the documents together with the application by diplomatic mail to Slovakia, which in some cases may take around a month. The mail is then further sorted, which again extends the time.

If there are no grounds for rejection after submission of the application, the police department will grant temporary residence for the purpose of employment.

Under the Foreign Nationals Residence Act, a foreign national may submit an application for residence for the purpose of employment either at a police department in Slovakia or at a diplomatic mission abroad.

In Slovakia, a foreign national may submit an application to the Foreign Police only if they are residing in the territory of the Slovak Republic on the basis of:

A foreign national cannot apply for residence in the territory of Slovakia if they are only holding Schengen visa “C” (tourist / business). In such cases, they must have been granted a national visa “D.”

According to § 125(1) of the Foreign Nationals Residence Act, the competent Foreign Police Department is determined as follows: “In matters of residence under this Act, the police department with jurisdiction over the place of residence or intended residence shall act, unless otherwise provided by this Act or a special regulation. If the third-country national regularly commutes to work across the state border from a neighboring country, the competent police department shall be the one with jurisdiction over the place of employment; and if the third-country national regularly commutes across the state border from a neighboring country to attend school, the competent police department shall be the one with jurisdiction over the school. In justified cases, the Ministry of the Interior may designate another police department as competent to receive the residence application or to conduct the residence proceedings.”

In all other cases, the application must be submitted abroad at the diplomatic mission accredited for the state that issued the foreign national’s travel document, or at the diplomatic mission accredited for the state of residence.

It should be noted that third-country nationals who do not require a visa are not authorized to work in Slovakia solely on the basis of visa-free entry, even if they are present in the country.

When submitting an application for temporary residence for the purpose of employment, in the reservation system select the option: “1. Application for Granting of Residence – Employment.”

In the case of a third-country national who does not have visa-free access to the Slovak Republic, in addition to the application for the granting of temporary residence, he or she will also have to apply for the granting of a national visa. The national visa will allow him or her to legally enter and stay in the territory of Slovakia.

The following documents are generally required when applying for a D visa:

The diplomatic mission may also require additional documents: “…the diplomatic mission may request supplementary documents if the documents submitted are insufficient for making a decision. This may be due to local specifics or requirements of the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic, conditioned by a particular increased migration risk. Without further information, it is not possible to verify such requirements directly with the diplomatic mission. The employer is not obliged to prove the applicant’s financial means for residence. However, if the applicant is unable to credibly demonstrate their financial security, the employer may do so. A confirmation of the salary the applicant will receive is not sufficient proof of financial means for the period before the applicant starts working. It must be kept in mind that the applicant must have the means to live until they begin employment and receive their first salary, and submitting a residence application does not mean that residence will automatically be granted.”
Source: mizv.sk

For an employee – a third-country national, contributions are paid in the same way as for a Slovak citizen. It is necessary to register him or her for both health insurance and social insurance. The health insurance company is chosen from the system of public insurance (VŠZP, UNION, Dôvera). A specific feature is that before registration the foreign national will most likely have to visit the branch office of the health insurance company in order to be registered by the insurer. Only thereafter will the employer be able to register him or her. In practice, this process usually takes about one week.

The employer is obliged to notify the Labour Office of the commencement and termination of the employment relationship of a foreign national, as well as of the foreign national’s failure to take up employment.

All obligations are also stated in the instructions that the foreign national received at the Alien Police Department. The instructions also include the obligation to submit a medical report confirming that the foreign national does not suffer from a disease endangering public health within 30 days from the date of receipt of the residence card.

To a certain extent, the performance of work by third-country nationals is also possible under a commercial contract between a Slovak company and an employer in a non-EU country. According to § 23a(1)(m) of the Employment Services Act: “An employer may employ a third-country national who, on the basis of a commercial contract, provides the supply of goods or services and delivers such goods or, in connection with the supply of goods, carries out assembly, warranty and repair work, work related to the adjustment of production equipment systems, or, in connection with the supply of goods or services, performs programming work or professional training, provided that the duration of the employment relationship or assignment does not exceed a total of 90 days in a calendar year.”

In this context, it is important to emphasize that employment under such a commercial contract is not suitable for just any type of work. The above definition must be adhered to. This provision may apply, for example, when a Slovak company purchases a new machine from a third country and it is necessary for the supplier’s employees to come to Slovakia to assemble, set up, and train local employees to operate the machine. However, this provision is not suitable for cases where third-country nationals would be assigned to a Slovak employer to perform routine work, such as on a production line.

We recommend consulting an expert in this field as well as the competent labor office in advance when choosing the appropriate option for employing foreign nationals.