Moving to another country is almost always stressful for a person. In a new place, a person faces new challenges and a million tasks: from where to find an apartment to how to find a job with (and in most cases without) knowledge of the language.
Today we will talk about Work in Serbia: where to start, where to look, legal aspects and more.
So, you have recently moved to Serbia, sorted out your primary tasks (schools, kindergartens, housing, etc.) and are now actively looking for ways to earn money in Serbia.
The first group of people who have active-passive income in the form of remote work, namely: current contracts with foreign employers. If we are talking about Russian employers, many of them have switched to civil-law contracts (direct contracts with individuals) from labor relations.
The second group is the so-called economic migrants - those who moved with the companies where they worked or potentially plan to work.
The third group are people who have moved to an empty space and are literally starting to build their lives from scratch, actively looking for work or looking for options for their own business.
It is worth noting that over the past year in Serbia, many foreigners have opened their own small and medium-sized businesses and have been actively looking for employees.
If you are currently looking for a job, we would recommend that you take the following paths:
Monitor the most popular job search sites and look for vacancies that require knowledge of English. Here are the most popular sites: klikdoposla.com, lakodoposla.com, jooble.org, halooglasi.rs
Go to meetings of foreign expats. Many future employers (who are in the process of opening their own business or planning to) go there too.
Fomasters are in great demand (beauty industry, construction) feel free to come and offer your candidacy
It is more difficult to find a job with a Serbian employer than with a Foreign one. Firstly, the difference in mentality and language. Secondly, it is simply more expensive to employ a foreigner.
According to Serbian law, if you want to employ a foreigner, the employer must go through a whole procedure: first, offer a vacancy to a local through the State Employment Office (Zavod za zaposljavanje) and only then can you offer the position to a foreigner. The procedure itself takes 10 days from the date of filing the Application. After passing the Market Test (Prijava Potrebe za zaposljavanjem), you can sign an employment contract and go through the procedure for obtaining a work permit.
It is important to remember that a work permit is issued upon the availability of a residence permit or a work visa D. In other words, you first receive a residence permit on the basis of employment, and only then receive a work permit. The state fee for a work permit is about 15,000 dinars.
Agree, the procedure is quite drawn out. Often, a Serbian employer does not want to deal with this paperwork and, all other things being equal, will choose a Serb.
Currently, Serbia is actively holding hearings on changing key laws for foreigners: the Citizenship Law, the Law on Employment of Foreigners and the Law on Foreigners. If all the proposed changes are passed without changes, then as early as February 2024 we can expect to receive a residence permit and a work permit for three years instead of 1 year, as is the case now! This will be a real breakthrough! Moreover, a combined procedure for obtaining a work permit and a residence permit is envisaged, which will allow foreigners to save time and money.
A change to the Citizenship Law is also being considered. Amendments have been proposed to the right to apply for permanent residence after 3 years (currently, for most reasons, it is 5 years) and, after receiving permanent residence, the possibility of applying for Serbian citizenship.
From the changes in legislation, we see that Serbia is very interested in brain gain and is changing its legislation in order to facilitate the legalization procedure and make the country more attractive for moving. Bravo, Serbia! Keep it up!
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