The situation
The Labor Office in the Slovak Republic recently published the list of shortage occupations in regions where the unemployment rate is less than 5%.
The shortage occupation list will be reviewed and updated annually by January 31.
Impact for foreign nationals
Submitting a Single Permit application for an occupation on the shortage list allows visa-exempt nationals to conduct on-the-job training immediately after filing their application, instead of having to wait for permit approval to start training, as is required for applications for occupations not on the shortage list. However, as a reminder, foreign nationals may not stay in the Schengen area for more than 90 days in a 180-day period during this training period.
Visa-exempt nationals can train under this scheme for up to six weeks per year. The Slovak employer must notify the Labor Office within seven business days of the start of training.
Impact for employers
Eventually, employers will not have to publish advertisements for vacant positions or notify the Labor Office before hiring a foreign national for a job on the shortage list. The change will result in faster processing of Single Permit applications, with less risk of local staff being selected over a preferred foreign candidate.
As a reminder, the exemption from labor market testing applies to a maximum of 30% of the Slovak employer’s non-EU workforce.
Transitionary measures
Employers should continue to advertise vacant positions with the Labor Office so that the Labor Office can use the advertisement results to create future shortage occupation lists.
Background
The labor market test waiver is part of the immigration reforms which went into effect on May 1, 2018.
The originally-published reforms stated that employers will still need to submit a request for vacant positions to the Ministry of Labor, but this request would be approved automatically if the position is on the shortage occupations list.
This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to [email protected].
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