Labour Ministry plans to offer work visas to 2,000 foreigners from next year

Several thousands of foreigners from selected countries may receive visas to work in Slovakia from next year.

The Labour Ministry proposal targets 2,000 people from Central Asia and Caucasus Region countries, the Balkans, and Ukraine every year.

The visas should be issued for one year only and should not be renewed, but a foreigner could still extend their stay by applying for temporary residence afterwards. In the proposal, the ministry lists six professions for which the visas should be granted. Also, the foreign workers awarded the visas would solely be able to work at mechanical engineering and metal production firms that have operated in Slovakia for at least four years. The proposal concerns car plants, too.

If the proposal is greenlit by the government, it will come into force on January 1 of next year.

However, employers are calling on the government to significantly increase the number of these visas and expand the list of jobs for which the visas should be issued. They add that Slovakia is “captive to long-term political positions built on anti-immigration rhetoric”, as quoted by the Pravda daily.

In Slovakia, there were almost 79,000 job vacancies in June and almost 100,000 foreigners on the labour market.

A similar visa-related proposal, regarding passenger and freight transport, has been in place since April. The regulation mentions 150 national visas for bus drivers and up to 5,000 visas for lorry drivers.