New Employment Legislation Brings Simplifications For Foreigners

The recently adopted ZZSDT, which enters into force on 1 September 2015, sets out new conditions for the employment, self-employment and work of foreigners and indirectly transposes the relevant EU Directive into national legislation. The so-called "one-stop shop" principle, which has so far been established only with regard to highly qualified occupations (EU Blue Card), is now available for all third-country job seekers in Slovenia.

The purpose of the redefined conditions is to protect foreign workers against abuses of the law that have been repeatedly identified in the past. In order to prevent such violations, employers in breach will also be subject to costlier penalties.

New legal background for foreigners working in Slovenia

Adopted in June 2015, the new Employment, Self-Employment and Work of Foreigners Act (Zakon o zaposlovanju, samozaposlovanju in delu tujcev; "ZZSDT") aims at harmonizing local legislation with EU acquis in the field of employment and work of non-EU citizens (i.e. foreigners respectively third-country nationals). The ZZSDT was primarily adopted in order to align with the provisions of the Foreigners Act (Zakon o tujcih; "FA"), which transposed the provisions of the Directive 2011/98/EU ("Directive"). Following the provisions of the Directive, a single application procedure for a single permit for third-country nationals to reside and work in the territory of a Member State was also set in the Slovenian legal system in 2011. The Directive tends to reconcile national laws in the field of residence of foreigners in Member States and establish a common set of rights for such third-country nationals legally residing in a Member State.

Other changes brought about by the new legislation framework inter alia address abuse prevention, protection of the rights of foreigners who are employed or work at Slovenian employers, reduction of administrative barriers, and higher penalties for breaches.

Key changes

The implementation of the "one-stop shop" principle for foreign workers is one of the major legal novelties that have been introduced by the newly adopted legislation. Under the pre-existing legal system, foreigners who wanted to work in Slovenia had to apply for both a residence and a work permit, separately, at two different authorities. The FA and ZZSDT now simplify permitting procedures by introducing a single permit application procedure for third-country nationals, which encompasses both the resident and the work...