The House of Peoples of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has adopted amendments to the Law on the Employment of Foreigners, introducing significant innovations aimed at facilitating the recruitment of workers and better adapting to the needs of the labor market.
At the 25th regular session, 53 delegates voted in favor of these amendments, four abstained, and one delegate was against. The adopted law introduces a series of concrete measures that should simplify the procedures for employing foreign workers, especially in sectors where there is a shortage of domestic workers.
One of the key innovations is the introduction of a list of shortage occupations – professions for which there are not enough qualified workers on the domestic market. This list will be established by the Federal Employment Agency for the following year every year, no later than October 30th. Employers who employ workers in these occupations will no longer have to go through the procedure of checking whether there are domestic candidates on the unemployment register, which will significantly speed up the employment process.
The list of shortage occupations will be formed in cooperation with the Economic and Social Council, with the consent of the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, and will be based on real market needs, the lack of certain worker profiles, as well as planned investments and strategic projects.
The amendments to the law also introduce more precisely defined deadlines for extending work permits. Employers will have to submit a request for extension between 60 and 30 days before the expiration of the existing permit, while the competent cantonal services will be obliged to decide on the request within 30 days of receiving complete documentation.
In addition, it is possible to issue work permits to persons who have previously renounced their citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which opens up space for the return of the workforce from the diaspora. The law also introduces an obligation for employers to report to the competent institutions any change in the status of a foreign worker – whether it is a termination of employment or a situation where the worker does not start work at all. This application must be made within 15 days. The adopted amendments will enter into force eight days after their publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation of BiH, and are expected to have a significant impact on the labor market and economic development in the Federation.
