Milan Kurota. (source: SME/Marko Erd)
When it comes to attracting qualified people, Slovakia is lagging behind neighbouring countries. According to Milan Kurota, the head of the consulting company SlovakiaInvest, educated foreigners from countries outside the EU — programmers from India or Belarus, for example — are facing barriers in Slovakia.
He says that the Foreigners' Police are looking for errors in their papers, and the system is built on bureaucracy.
"The foreigner agenda is not under public control. When the conditions are tightened, Slovaks are happy, because after all, we don't need them. When the police do not meet deadlines, humiliate applicants, no one is bothered," says Kurota.
Temporary residence permits only help large industrial factories and personnel agencies that are looking for cheap labour in Vietnam or Nepal.
"In recent years, the quality of foreigners from third countries who come to Slovakia has been constantly declining. Fewer and fewer entrepreneurs or people who would work in positions with higher added value want to come. On the contrary, the supply of cheap labour is increasing," says Milan Kurota.
The Foreigners' Police have long been known for poor organisation. Foreigners have difficulty getting appointments and have to pay bribes to people who have hacked the system. The Interior Ministry wants to solve this with a new law. Will it help?
No. I'm more of the opinion that Slovakia has definitively given up on trying to attract qualified labour from third countries, including entrepreneurs who want to start a business or trade in Slovakia but need a temporary residence permit to do so. The law introduces quotas for the number of such applications, with a maximum of 700 per year. I have no idea why this specific number was chosen. There are also limits on how many applications can come from individual third countries. Applications will have to be submitted exclusively at Slovak consulates, which is restrictive. Many Slovak consulates communicate poorly, and getting an appointment is almost impossible. As a result, entrepreneurs who want to start a business in Slovakia often won't even get the opportunity to submit an application.
The new thing is that everyone must write a business plan. Who will assess it?
The Economy Ministry. Until now, it wasn't mandatory, but sometimes the police requested one if they found something questionable in the application. I see the problem in that assessing a business plan is a lengthy and subjective process. We've prepared several for our clients, stating that they would employ several people and expect profits in the tens of thousands of euros. Although not millions, this is a realistic figure for a small business. In several cases, we received negative opinions, with reasoning that sometimes made no sense — as if the official hadn't even read the business plan. The explanation was basically that they did not meet the conditions, with no further reasoning given. So it is impossible to predict who will be given a positive or negative opinion.
What are the requirements for a business plan?
Formally, an entrepreneur should create at least two or three job positions and generate a profit of around €20,000 per year. They gain more points for knowing Slovak and having a university education. When we put it all together, one client got 90 points out of 100 — and still, the ministry rejected the application.
Why would the ministry want to reject applicants and not give them a chance?
Because no one cares. The foreigner agenda is not under public control. When the conditions are tightened, Slovaks are pleased, because apparently we don’t need them. When the police don't meet deadlines or humiliate applicants, no one is bothered. A foreigner won't complain — they'll be deported and their application rejected. Or maybe in five years they'll win a court case, but by then it's too late. It takes long queues in front of the Foreigners' Police caused by a dysfunctional system for the media to notice. It's no secret that even now appointments are unavailable and are being bought by scammers who sell them for €200 — which is disgusting. They still haven't managed to create a functional system that can prevent internet bots. It's shameful.
