Slovenia Simplifies Issuance of Residence, Work, and Employment Permits for Foreigners
A law cancelling the local jurisdiction in issuing residence and work permits to foreigners and simplifying their employment has entered into force in Slovenia today, the N1 reports.
The first part of the new law's measures is a permanent mechanism that will allow applications for these procedures to be made in any administrative unit. These measures will relieve administrative units and their employees, facilitate faster case resolution and reduce the backlog in this area, the Ministry of State Administration said.
Thus, the law regulates the optimisation of administrative procedures for obtaining unified residence permits and work permits for foreign workers, which, according to the Ministry, is urgently needed by the Slovenian economy, which will also have a positive impact on the competitiveness of the Slovenian economy, they believe.
On the basis of a certificate of the submitted application and the institution's consent to a single residence and work permit, a foreigner can be employed. The institution transmits the consent to the applicant and the administrative unit that manages the procedure. In addition, the institution issues an information sheet and passes it on to the employer, and the foreigner starts working no later than the 15th day after the issuance of the information sheet.
Earlier, the law was approved by the National Assembly in the first half of July and published in the Official Gazette. At the first extraordinary session convened on 15 July, MPs voted 45 in favour and 31 against the law on measures to optimise certain procedures in the OTP. It was not supported by the Left, NSi and SDS; the Left, for example, did not support it because, among other things, it is basically a ‘law on the immediate employment of cheap labour’.
The NSi assessed that the law was poorly written and that the digitalisation of operations would make it easier for workers, while the SDS had reservations because ‘the labour market for foreigners is opened up to all professions without appropriate security checks’.