Confirmation of the possibility to fill a vacant position
If easier employment conditions (when a work permit or the confirmation from the Labour Office are not required) are not applicable to your case, the labour market situation will be taken into account when assessing your application. A vacancy for which you should be hired must be reported to the Labour Office beforehand and you can be granted a temporary residence for the purpose of employment only upon a confirmation of the possibility to fill a vacant position issued by the Labour Office.
An employer that wants to employ a third country national is obliged to report a vacancy to the Labour Office competent according to the place of work at least 20 working days prior to submitting the application for a temporary residence for the purpose of employment. A job vacancy may be reported in person, in writing, by telephone, e-mail or via the online system ISTP. In case the job vacancy cannot be filled by a registered jobseeker, the employer can conclude an employment contract with you or issue a written promise to employ you. These documents (any of them) serve as a proof of the purpose of your stay are to be enclosed along with the application for a temporary residence. The job vacancy shall be cancelled only after you are granted the temporary residence.
The majority of foreigners applying for a temporary residence for the purpose of employment or their employers do no need to apply for a specific work permit at the competent Labour Office. It is sufficient to apply for a temporary residence at the Slovak Embassy or at a competent Foreign Police Department. In the process of examining the application the Foreign Police will request “Confirmation of the possibility to fill a vacant position" directly from a competent Labour Office.
If you want to change your employment, the new vacancy must also be reported to the competent Labour Office at least 20 working days prior to the notification of such a change to the Foreign Police. The labour market situation will be assessed again.
You can apply for a temporary residence for the purpose of employment at the Slovak embassy/consulate or at a Foreign Police department 20 working days after the notification of a vacancy at the Labour Office, at the earliest.
The employer may employ a third county national in shortage occupation using accelerated procedure – without a job vacancy notice and without requiring of expiry period between reporting a vacancy and submitting an application for the purpose of employment. The employer must comply with the legal requirements, e.g. the number of the employed foreigners must be less than 30% of the total number of employees14. The list of shortage occupations is quarterly updated in the districts with the average registered unemployment rate lower than 5 % in the previous quarter of a calendar year by the Central Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family.
NOTE: If a third- country national will be employed in district with no shortage occupation the Office of Labour will take into account the labour market situation and the minimum period of notice required to report a vacancy.
Special provisions in case of continuous educational or scientific activity:
In case of a third country national will perform in Slovakia continuous educational activity or scientific activity as an educational staff, university teacher, researcher and art scholars, research or development employee in a research activity the Labour Office will issue a confirmation of the possibility to fill a vacant position without taking into account the situation on the labour market.
NOTE: With effect from January 1, 2019, an employer intending to employ a third- country national for educational or research activities as a pedagogic employee, university teacher, researcher or artist at a higher education institution, or research or development staff must report a job vacancy to the competent Office of Labour via the online system ISTP or via the form „Nahláška voľného pracovného miesta“. There is no time limit to do so. A third- country national may apply for the temporary residence immediately by completing a tempory residence application form. In this case the Labour Office will issue a confirmation of the possibility to fill a vacant position without taking into account the situation on the labour market.
More information regarding the procedure related to the temporary residence for the purpose of employment can be found in the section Temporary residence for the purpose of employment.