ANALYSIS
Work Permit Process for Foreigners
Continues to Change
Several recent changes to the Law on Employment and Work on Foreigners may relieve
some of the burden.
Despite the Government’s energetic efforts to attract foreign investors to Macedonia in recent years,
the country’s business visa and work permit processes reflect a more protectionist stance. Anyone who
has applied for a work permit in Macedonia knows
it is a serious undertaking that includes a surprising
number of in-person trips to various institutions to
submit myriad original documents, many times the
same ones in a number of places. Several changes to
the Law on Employment and Work on Foreigners adopted by parliament in September will hopefully relieve at least some of that burden.
The first clarification that these changes provide is
that the Ministry of Interior (the police) is the ultimate decision maker in the work permit application
process. This is the first time that the role of the police is clearly defined in law, but will not change the
process in practice.
The good news:
• The State Employment Agency (SEA) is now required to gather all required documents issued
by other State institutions (e.g., Central Registry), relieving companies of this burden while applying for work permits.
• Companies will no longer be required to report
the termination of the employment of a foreign
national they employ when their work permit expires. The SEA will now update their records automatically and even offers to send an e-reminder to the foreign employee or to the employer
before the current work permit expires.
• According to SEA Director, Popovski, companies
should be able to initiate work permit applications online soon.
• Foreigners will still be required to submit a surprising number of original, hard copy documents,
as before (e.g., employment contract, apartment
rental contract, employee diplomas and professional certificates).
At the same time, the Law on Foreigners was also
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