Employment of foreign citizens
Foreign citizens may be employed on condition that they possess a long-stay visa granted on the grounds of employment, a temporary or permanent residence permit and the single permit, unless otherwise stipulated by this Law.
An employer may conclude an employment contract with a foreign citizen in compliance with the law regulating labour.
Other than for reasons stipulated by the law regulating labour, a foreigner’s employment relationship shall also be terminated upon the expiration of the validity of the single permit.
An employer may not hire employers or use their services if they are illegally staying in the Republic of Serbia and if they do not meet the requirements for employment / temporary employment.
Within 30 days of the termination of the employment contract, or another contract under which a foreigner is entitled to labour-related rights stipulated by law without entering into an employment relationship, the foreigner shall conclude a new employment contract or another contract under which a foreigner is entitled to labour-related rights stipulated by law without entering into an employment relationship; otherwise, the provisions of the law regulating the requirements for the entry, movement, stay, and repatriation of foreigners shall apply.
The employer shall keep the evidence that the hired foreigner has fulfilled the requirements for employment / temporary employment.
Change of employer, work for two or more employers, change of the grounds on which the single permit is issued during its validity period
Foreigners working in the Republic of Serbia in jobs for which they have been issued a Single Permit (residence and work permit) may change their employer, or work for two or more employers, or change the grounds of which the Single Permit is issued during the validity of the Single Permit, subject to APPROVAL from the National Employment Service (NES).
The request for changing the grounds on which the Single Permit is issued, changing the employer or taking up work with two or more employers may be submitted by the foreigner, or the employer on behalf of the foreigner, or by a legal or natural person authorized by the foreigner or the employer.
The request will be decided upon by the locally competent organizational unit of the National Employment Service, within 10 days of receiving an appropriately submitted request. The request for approval shall be submitted to the NES branch office competent for the territory in which the employer has it seat.
A foreigner may change the grounds on which the Single Permit is issued, change the employer or take up work with two or more employers, upon obtaining the NES approval.
Until the establishment of the service on the Single Portal intended for submitting the request for approval, it can be submitted to the National Employment Service by email, at the NES registry office, or by mail.
Once the tehnical conditions are met, the request for approval will be submitted electronically via the Single Portal, within the service for issuing single permits to foreigners, in accordance with the instructions for using the service for issuing single permits to foreigners.
The requirements or proof to be attached to the request for approval are identical to the requirements and proof needed for a specific type of assessment that the NES performs as part of the procedure of issuing the single permit (for example, in the case of employment with a new or different employer, the assessment requirements for employment must be fulfilled, or in the case of registering a sole proprietorship, the assessment requirements for self-employment must be fulfilled).
Request fee
Pursuant to the Law on Administrative Fees (“Official Gazette of the RS, No. 43/03......, 113/2017, 3/2018, 95/18, 86/19, 90/19 - corrigendum, 147/20 and 62/21 – adjusted RSD amount), a request fee must be paid when submitting the request for approval:
The request fee is charged in accordance with tariff item 1:
Fee amount: RSD 380.00
Recipient: Budget of the Republic of Serbia
Account No: 840-742221843-57
REFERENCE – MUNICIPALITY CODE >>
Labor Market Testing
National Employment Service conducts labour market testing, i.e. interregional employment mediation in accordance with the legislation in the area of employment, by identifying whether there are appropriate candidates in its Register who satisfy the conditions set by employer for particular vacancy (i.e. persons that have the right to work in accordance with this law and satisfy job requirements for particular vacancy).
The employer who wishes to hire a foreigner has the obligation to initiate the labour market testing process by submitting the Vacancy Registration Form (PPZ form).
Vacancy Registration Form should be submitted by the employer or legal/natural person authorized by the employer.
When the employer (or legal/natural person authorized by the employer) is submitting the request for issuing the single permit on behalf of the foreigner, the request for labour market testing and PPZ form should be submitted simultaneously, by filling in the relevant request online (which can be found on the Portal for Foreigners, within the request for single permit issuing).
The employer may submit the PPZ form also via the eGovernment portal, by filling in the request online, max 60 days before or on the date of submitting the request for single permit at the latest).
After registering the request for labour market testing, the number of the request is generated by the system (hereinafter: ID Number) and entered into appropriate field within the request for single permit issuing.
When the foreigner submits the request for single permit, he/she should obtain the ID Number from employer.
The employer (or legal/natural person authorized by the employer) who already has the ID Number (of valid labour market testing) when submitting the request for single permit should only enter that number into the appropriate field (it is not necessary to initiate a new labour market testing process).
The group request for single permit for a larger number of persons is submitted for the same or smaller number of persons than the number of persons encompassed by a single request for labour market testing for the same job title and description in the same occupation.
Note
Certain terms used in the text have the following meaning:
Employment of foreigners – conclusion of an employment contract with a foreigner, or another contract under which a foreigner is entitled to labour-related rights stipulated by law without entering into an employment relationship
Employer – a legal or natural person registered to conduct business activities in the Republic of Serbia
Single Permit – permit for temporary residence and work of a foreigner in the Republic of Serbia, issued by the Ministry of the Interior
Assessment – verification of the fulfillment of requirements for the employment of foreigners, special cases of employment of foreigners, and self-employment of foreigners, conducted by the National Employment Service, as part of the process of issuing a Single Permit, in conformity with the law.
PPZ form - Vacancy Registration Form
ID Number – the number of labour market testing request that is generated by the system when submitting and registering the PPZ Form on the eGovernment/Single Portal
