- Who shall issue a work permit in BiH and when?
Work permit shall be issued by the Service for Foreigners based on the specified work permit quota. Work permit quota is the number of work permits that may be issued to aliens of various occupations or aliens performing specific activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina within one year who shall need their work permits for working in Bosnia and Herzegovina and shall enter into the quota. Annual quota of work permits shall be determined by the Council of Ministers in accordance with migration policy and recognizing the situation in the labour market.
Therefore, a work permit may be issued irrespective of the specified quota in following cases:
- to an alien who has education that corresponds to the higher education,
completed post-graduate or Ph. degree in Bosnia and Herzegovina;
- to an alien whose work in Bosnia and Herzegovina is based on an international agreement;
- to an alien who performs key jobs in a business entity,
- to teachers of specific skills who teach or assist in teaching in educational institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina;
- to professional athletes or sports workers who work in Bosnia and Herzegovina on the basis of a valid contract, and
- to an alien who is marital or extra-marital partner of an alien who has permanent resident permit in Bosnia and Herzegovina, or is a child of an alien with permanent resident permit in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
While Labour Law covers the general work rules in BiH, the Law on Aliens and Law on Employment of Foreigners bring a specialised framework for treatment of the work of aliens.
- Brief overview of the procedure for obtaining a work permit and regulating residence in Bosnia and Herzegovina
In order to provide you with the simple demonstration of the actions necessary to undertake for obtaining a work permit, we shall summarise the steps as follows:
1 → An alien finds a job or he/she is invited to work
2 → The employer obtains a work permit for the alien in the Employment Institute. The alien shall enter Bosnia and Herzegovina only after the work permit had been obtained.
3 → On the basis of work permit issued, an alien shall submit an application for approval of temporary residence in BiH.
The rule is that the application for approval of the first temporary residence should be submitted in person by an alien outside BiH through BiH Diplomatic and Consular Office. In the territory of BiH, an alien may submit an application for granting the first temporary residence to the competent organizational unit of the Service in BiH in only two situations:
- if the alien has entered BiH with a long-term stay visa (Visa - D)
- if the alien is a citizen of non-visa regime country (countries having a visa regime with BiH)
Temporary residence is the right of residence in Bosnia and Herzegovina for a period of one year unless otherwise determined by the residence approval.
Regarding the approval of permanent residence of foreign nationals, the main precondition shall be as follows:
→ based on the granted temporary residence, a person resides on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina for a continuous period of at least five years prior to submitting an application for permanent residence. An alien shall be considered as having continuously stay in BiH even if within a period of five years he/she was absent from Bosnia and Herzegovina up to ten months intermittently, or up to six months at a stretch.
At the time of submission and decision-making on the application for permanent residence permit, the alien must be granted temporary residence in BiH.
By granting the permanent residence you are also on the right track to possibly obtain a citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina about which you can find more information on our web site: https://odvjetnistvo-ljubic.com/acquisition-and-renunciation-citizenship-of-bosnia-and-herzegovina
- Work permit validity
It is important to note that a work permit may be issued for a period of validity not exceeding one year. If you want to know the contents of the Decision on work permit, check our text here.
- Concluding the Employment Contract with an alien
When concluding the employment contract with an alien we encounter certain particularities regarding the contract duration. To be specific, an employment contract of an indefinite period of time cannot be concluded for the reasons that the alien is employed on the basis of a work permit. Therefore, the duration of the contract has been conditioned by the validity period of the work permit.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
