Around 2.500 foreigners obtain a working permit in Bosnia and Herzegovina every year. According to the Agency for Labor and Employment of BiH, the largest number of foreigners who work in BiH come from Serbia, Turkey and China.
In 2015, the Council of Ministers of BiH defined a quota of 1.886 working permits, of which 890 referred to the territory of FBiH.
However, 1.129 new working permits were issued in 2015, of which 536 permits refer to new employment and the rest to the extension of already issued permits. When the number of working permits obtained by foreigners based on the Article 79 of the Law on Movement and Stay of Foreigners and Asylum in BiH is added to this number, 4.465 foreigners in total worked in BiH in 2015.
In the previous five years, the number of employed foreigners in BiH also ranged between 2.000 and 2.500.
Looking at the countries from where foreigners come to work in BiH, the largest number of them come from Serbia (701), Turjey (353), China (238), Croatia (214), Italy (109), Kuwait (75), Montenegro (74), Slovenia (59), Saudi Arabia (54), Russia (49), etc. In 2015, foreigners who worked in BiH originated from 65 different countries. Almost identical trend of the origin of foreigners who work in BiH has been recorded in all previous five years, with Serbia, Turkey and China always taking the first three places.
When classifying foreigners who work in BiH according to activities, the largest number is of those dealing with wholesale or retail (600), manufacturing industry (370) and education (327).
The Agency for Statistics of BiH stated that the largest number of foreigners deal with trade because of the fact that foreigners, in accordance with the Law on Movement and Stay of Foreigners and Asylum in BiH, have the right to obtain a working permit for every opened branch office or during launching of their own business.
Regarding the quotas for issuance of working permits to foreigners, they are defined by cantonal and entity employment services. According to the Agency for Labor and Employment of BiH, an increased need for staff in the field of education has been noticed lately, due to an increasing number of private schools and universities that are being opened in BiH with foreign languages as mediums of instruction.
Data published by the Agency for Labor and Employment in BiH also shows a significant increase in the number of people who obtained working permits for working in real estate sector. Thus, in 2010 there were only 37 foreigners in BiH who dealt with real estate, and in 2015 the number of foreigners dealing with real estate in BiH rose to 160.
(Source: klix.ba)
