Know your rights in Slovenia?

When you first come to Slovenia to work, you don’t have all the rights workers who are EU passport holders have. For example you can´t change employers without the Employment Service of Slovenia’s consent, you can’t receive a welfare benefit if you are unemployed and if your employer fires you, you have to find a new employer within a month or two or else your TRC card gets canceled. This makes you much more dependent on your employer than your co-workers who are EU passport holders. This segregation benefits employers, because workers who are scared of losing their jobs are  more easily forced  to work for lower wages, longer hours, accept worse working conditions and are hesitant to report illegal practices of their employers.

A fellow migrant, now living in Slovenia for a good number of years, described her experience of living in this country as a slow accumulation of rights over time. Note that only the time during which you are legally employed full-time in Slovenia counts toward this accumulation! The time spent working in Slovenia as a student worker with a student visa, as a seasonal worker or as a posted worker doesn’t count (or, for certain rights counts only as half). Time spent working informally (for cash) also doesn’t count. Only if your employer pays for the contributions for the obligatory insurances the time starts running, so make sure to check if you are insured!

• Arriving to Slovenia

single residency and work permit, work contract with Slovenian company for a duration of one year (which usually include a probation period of 1-3 months), information sheet (informativni list) list issued for your employer. 

You can change the employer, but to do that, your new employer will have to acquire a consent for employing a migrant worker from an Employment Service (more below). If you lose your job, you have to find a new one within a month or two, or the procedure of cancelling your TRC card will start. You can´t receive an unemployment benefit or apply as a job seeker. 

• After 10 months (or after 6 months if you are under 30 years old) of working in Slovenia: right to register as unemployed and receive unemployment benefit.

If you get fired because of business reasons or your contract expires and the employer does not extend it, you can receive an unemployment benefit for 3 months (or 2 months if you only worked for 6 months and you are under 30). If you are receiving unemployment benefit and your TRC card expires in the meantime, you can renew it without a new work contract. Before this 3 (or 2) months period ends, you need to find a new job. 

• After 20 months of working (if you are unskilled worker, 30 months): right to personal informative list.

If you are a skilled worker, you can apply for a personal information list after 20 months of working in Slovenia. If you are an unskilled worker, you can apply for a personal information list after 30 months of working in Slovenia. 

If you lose your job and you have a personal information list, you have 6 months to find a new one. There is also no longer necessary to go to the administrative unit/ get a consent from the Employment Service because the information list is linked to you (the worker) and not to the employer.

• After 1 year: right to family reunification.

• After 5 years of working in Slovenia, you can apply for a permanent residency.

(In addition you will have to proof basic Slovenian language skills – A2 level) 

With permanent residency you have full open access to the labor market and with that you also receive the majority of rights Slovenian citizens have. For example, you can enroll in the faculty programs at the public universities and obtain a degree for free. If you have sufficient funds in your bank account you can also start a family reunification procedure to bring your family members to Slovenia. 

• Citizenship 

You obtain Slovenian citizenship through a process of naturalisation. Conditions are available here.   

All of the organisations listed below are non-for-profit and they all offer their services free of charge. Governmental agencies are financed with tax-payer money. Non-governmental organisations and unions are financed with membership fees or through project funds and rely heavily on volunteer work. 

Non-governmental organisations and unions: 

Razredni broj, a collective that prepared this leaflet. You can contact us via our email info@razrednibroj.si or visit us every Sunday from 6pm onwards at Ulica Vide Pregarčeve 11, Ljubljana. You can visit us even if you have no problems and just want to meet new people, hang out or help others. Everyone is welcome!

Infokolpa, a collective that mostly works with refugees, asylum seekers and irregular migrants that are illegalised in Slovenia and EU. If you don’t have a valid TRC card, are here illegally, or you want to apply for the asylum, they will help you legalize your status, apply for the asylum or just help you survive. You can contact them via their Facebook page or visit them every Thursday from 6pm onwards at Ulica Vide Pregarčeve 11, Ljubljana. You can visit them even if you have no problems and just want to meet new people, hang out or help others. Everyone is welcome!

Neodvisni sindikat delavcev Slovenije (Independent trade union of workers in Slovenia, NSDS) is a non-governmental organisation that provides free-of-charge legal help for migrant workers working in Slovenia (if you are regularly employed and in a good material situation you can become a member and pay a small membership fee). Contact them via email info@nsds-sindikat.si or visit them at Slovenska cesta 54, Ljubljana (9th floor, ask for the NSDS at the reception on the ground floor) Monday to Friday from 8am-4pm. 

Marko Tanasić, an officer for the area of work related migration at the Association of free trade unions of Slovenia (ZSSS). His office is located at Dalmatinova ulica 4, Ljubljana (ask for Marko Tanasić at the reception on the ground floor). Before visiting Marko in his office, ask for the appointment via email marko.tanasic@sindikat-zsss.si 

Delavska svetovalnica (Workers´counseling office) also offers legal help and counseling to migrant workers in Slovenia. However, they only offer help to their members, so you will have to become a member first and pay a small monthly membership fee (3-12 euros per month). You can call them 080 14 34 or write to them info@delavskasvetovalnica.si They are located at Dalmatinova ulica 4, Ljubljana (ask for Delavska svetovalnica at the reception on the ground floor). 

Društvo Ključ, a non-governmental organisation that helps victims and prosecutes human–trafficking. If you were manipulated and lied to with an aim to get your consent for illegal (informal) work, were given forged documents, your employer or someone else took your documents, your employer or someone else limited your movement or prohibited you from leaving work, house, town or country, you might be a victim of human trafficking. Contact Društvo Ključ immediately! Call them 080 17 22 or write to them info@drustvo-kljuc.si 

Governmental (public) services: 

The Info point for Foreigners is a governmental service operated by the Employment Service of Slovenia. They can check if your documents (work contract, information list, TRC card) are valid, they can also check the background of your employer (e.g. if they pay workers regularly, pay taxes, etc.) and advise you. They also have the power to temporarily stall the procedure of cancelling your TRC card if it hadn’t been cancelled yet. Don´t worry even if your informative list expired or you don’t have a valid TRC card, they won’t call the police, they are there to help you. If you are not sure if you want to visit them, you can come to us first and we will accompany you to the Info Point. You can call the Info Point for foreigners +386 (0)1 330 81 20 or write to them info-tocka@ess.gov.si. You can visit them at Dalmatinova 4, Ljubljana (ask for the info point for foreigners at the reception on the ground floor). 

The Information Center for Foreigners is a newly opened governmental service for foreigners operated by the Government Office for the Support and Integration of Migrants. At the office, they can answer questions or help you with problems related to accessing healthcare and social services in Slovenia, as well as education and residency permits. Their office is located at the address Tržaška cesta 21, 1000 Ljubljana. You can visit them in person on Mon, Wed or Fri from 9:00 to 12:00 and on Wed also from 14:00 to 17:00. You can also call them 041 31 80 00 or write to them infotujci@gov.si

The Employement Service of Slovenia is a governmental agency that regulates the Slovenian labor market. When you got the first contract for work in Slovenia, they had to consent to your employer employing you and if you want to change your employer in the first 20-30 months of working in Slovenia (more below), you will need their consent as well. After you have been working for at least 10 months (or 6 if you are younger than 30) in Slovenia and the employer does not extend your contract or you are fired because of business reasons, you can apply for the unemployment benefit (more below) at the Employment office.

Administrative unit is where you file a request for changing your employer and for a renewal of your TRC card. There are 58 administrative units in Slovenia. Each town has its own administrative unit and some government officials working in these administrative units will have more experiences with procedures regarding employing migrants and some less. But almost all will refuse to speak to you in English, so you will want a Slovenian speaking friend to accompany you when going to the administrative unit. Agencies will try to charge you for this service, but you can find the help of one of the trusted organisations in the section useful contacts who will provide someone to go with you free of charge. Administrative units also vary significantly in terms of how much time they need to process your request for changing the employer or TRC card renewal. The administrative unit in Ljubljana is usually the busiest and will take the longest to process your request, that is why we suggest you file your request at one of the administrative units in a smaller towns (you can choose any administrative unit you want, regardless of where you live/your employer is). 

The Labour Inspectorate prosecutes labor law violations (e.g. not working according to the work contract, not taking breaks, informal work, etc.). You can report violations that your employer is committing anonymously and even if you don’t report them anonymously, labor inspector will not disclose your identity to the employer. The Labor Inspectorate can also fine workers and not just employers for violating labor law. For example if they caught you working informally not just your employer but you can be fined as well. This won’t happen if you are the one who reported the labor law violation. In addition to the fine, they can also prohibit your employer from employing migrant workers. They can also help you with collecting evidence against your employer: for example, if you can’t refuse to work unpaid overtime etc., but don’t want to report the employer because you need to work, you can go to the Labour Inspectorate unit closest to you and ask them to make an official record of your statement.

A personal work permit means that the worker is free to change employer – there is no longer need to go to the administrative unit/get a consent from the Employment Service, because the information sheet (informativni list) is linked to the worker, not to the employer.

In this case, if you lose your job, you have 6 months to find a new job (if you are not registered for insurance for more than 6 months, the procedure for cancelling the permit starts).

When can you apply for a personal work permit?

A migrant worker with a professional qualification is given a personal work permit if he or she has been employed in Slovenia for 20 months (in total, not necessarily consecutive) in the last 24 months.

• At the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Gospodarska zbornica Slovenije) they offer some courses and practical exams so you can get a professional qualification (for example: https://bb.si/en/code-95/)
• A diploma is also considered valid if obtained abroad, but the Employment Service would require proof.

An unskilled migrant worker can apply for a personal work permit when she or he has been employed in Slovenia for at least 30 months (in total, not necessarily consecutive) in the last 3 years.

It is therefore important not to have too many gaps between jobs!

If you worked in Slovenia as regularly employed (not as a student-worker) for at least 10 months or, if you are younger than 30 years, for at least 6 months in the last 24 months:

• You can register as unemployed at the Employment Service of Slovenia (address: Parmova 32, Ljubljana) and apply for the unemployment benefit. You need to register in 30 days after your employment is terminated.

• This only applies if your employment was ended for reasons beyond your control (if your fixed-term contract wasn’t renewed, if you were dismissed for business reasons etc.): You will receive the benefit for 2 months if you have been employed for 6 months and for 3 months if you have worked for 10 months.  Before your benefit ends, you need to find a new employer and start the procedure for changing your employer (see below).

• The amount of unemployment benefit is 80% of the average monthly salary. All compulsory social insurance contributions (health, pension and disability, unemployment and parental insurance) are paid by the Employment Service.

• If your visa expires while you are receiving unemployment benefit, you need to start the process for renewing the visa at the administrative unit before it expires.If you are registered at the Employment Service of Slovenia, you don’t need a new employment contract to renew your visa.

• The first day you can register as unemployed is the day after your job ends – what can you do if your single permit expires on the same day? You have to renew your visa before it expires. So you need to start the procedure at the administrative unit before that, even if you don’t have all the necessary documents yet – you will update your application later. In such cases contact Neodvisni sindikat delavcev Slovenije (An independent trade union of workers in Slovenia) via email info@nsds-sindikat.si. 
• More info: https://www.ess.gov.si/en/jobseekers/unemployment-benefit. 

2. If you worked in Slovenia for less than 10 or 6 months:

• You need to find a new employer before the administrative unit cancels your work permit, but you have some time to do this. There isn’t really a deadline for starting the procedure of changing your employer after your contract is terminated. Probably in a few months after you stop working, the administrative unit will start the procedure for cancelling the work permit, but they should contact you and ask you to get new employment within a certain time limit – then you have to contact the person in charge of your procedure and try to get an extension (if you need it).

For more info, contact the Employment Service’s info point for foreign workers: +386 (0)1 330 81 20, info-tocka@ess.gov.si, Dalmatinova 4, Ljubljana

Where to search for a new employer?

• You can check out websites where employers post jobs: https://www.mojedelo.com/.
• Visit Career Fair happening every year in Ljubljana: https://kariernisejem.com/.
• FB groups (zaposlitev/delo, iščem/nudim zaposlitev etc.)

If you need help with preparing a CV or translating it in Slovenian, you can visit us every Sunday from 6pm onwards at Ulica Vide Pregarčeve 11, Ljubljana.

At any time while your residence permit is still valid, you can submit an application to change the employer at the administrative unit. You can do this at any administrative unit: the one in Ljubljana is the busiest and will probably take the longest. Check out the list of documents you need to bring to the administrative unit and the form.

You need the new employment contract signed by the new employer and his statement on whether he provides accommodation for you as well or not. You can submit the application yourself, without any agency or other intermediary. Don’t pay money for help with the documentation. If you and your new employer need help with the procedure and documentation, contact Employment Service’s info point for foreign workers: +386 (0)1 330 81 20, info-tocka@ess.gov.si, Dalmatinova 4, Ljubljana and they will help you for free.

You should be extremely careful if someone else helps you with the procedure. You should always check if the application has really been submitted. You can do this at the Info Point for Foreigners. There are cases where intermediaries give workers fake documents and the workers unknowingly work without actually being employed. Because of this, your work permit can be cancelled. You should always check if your employer registered you for the necessary insurances. You can do this here with your EMŠO (you can find it on your permit card).

After you submit an application, the administrative unit will send it to the Employment Service of Slovenia which will check the requirements, including whether there is a worker who could be employed by the same employer who is already registered as unemployed. If you are registered as unemployed, this step is not necessary and the procedure is faster and easier.

WHEN TO QUIT? You can still work for your current employer even if you submit an application to change your employer. The problem is that once a new information sheet (informativni list) is issued (this takes approximately from 2 weeks to a month), the new employer must register the worker for compulsory insurance within 30 days. So you have one month to start a new job after the new information sheet is issued, but your current employer may have a notice period that is longer than one month. 

• So how to give notice in time if the notice period is too long?
  • 1) The easiest way to change employers is during the probationary period. This is because during the probationary period the legal notice period is 7 days. In this case, it is no problem to wait to get a new informative list and then resign.

2) If the notice period is longer, it makes sense to give notice when you apply for a new information list at the Employment office. Here the worker runs the risk that the Employment office won´t issue consent for changing the employer. This usually happens if the new employer recently fired other workers or hasn’t paid taxes. To reduce the risk, the worker can go to the Info Point for Foreigners (second floor, Dalmatinova 4, ask for infopoint at the reception on the ground floor), where he/she will be told whether the employer is a problematic employer or whether there is no problem to give consent. Only Info Point for Foreigners has this information and they are the only ones who can give credible opinion on your new employer. If a private agency claims that the employer they represent is reliable, don´t trust them, always double-check your new employer yourself at the Info Point for Foreigners. 

Agency workers have an employment relationship with the agency, not with the company they work for. They start working for other companies when the agency, which is their employer, sends them there on a temporary assignment. In the employment contract, the employer is only the agency.

The company where workers actually work then pays the agency which sends them the workers:

1. the cost of using a worker’s labour (worker’s salary and benefits) and
2. the provision, which is how agencies make profit.

How do companies make profit if they have to pay for everything they use – the workers, materials, buildings etc.? The answer is simple, workers create more value for the company than is the cost of their labour. The lower the cost of labour, the bigger the profit for the company. Why would a company then pay not only the cost of labour, but also a provision to the agency? Many agency workers ask the companies they work for if they can employ them directly, but the answer is often no. Wouldn’t it be cheaper for the company not to pay the provision? Do companies just give this money to the agencies?

There must be something that makes agency workers cheaper than regularly employed workers. Either the agency workers are paid less than directly employed workers or the agency workers work more (or can be exploited more) because they can easily be replaced with new, rested, healthy and young workers after they can’t work as efficiently anymore because of their work-related injuries.

According to the Slovenian legislation, the basic working conditions of agency workers must be the same as they would have been if they had been employed in the same job directly by the company, without the agency’s intervention. The pay, working hours, breaks, etc. should therefore be the same for agency workers and for workers employed by the company.

But even if the legislation prohibits it, agency workers often don’t take breaks, work for more hours and work faster than regularly employed, and so they create more profit for the company than regularly employed workers. Why are the agency workers risking their health to generate more profit for the company? Because the company can fire them more easily than regularly employed workers.

In principle, agency work is about workers having a stable and permanent relationship with an agency and then working occasionally/temporarily for other companies – the advantage for companies is that it makes it easier to fire them. But agencies often terminate employment for business reasons after the company no longer needs agency workers, so workers are not really protected by being employed by the agency, even if it’s for an indefinite period.

*

Even when directly employed by the company, companies often find other ways to fire and replace their workers more easily, so they can exploit them more, without worrying if they will be able to work the next day. With that goal in mind, companies often employ workers on one-year contracts, probationary periods, or they set a difficult target that workers must reach or be in breach of their employment contract.If labour legislation or your employment contract is violated, you can contact the Labour Inspectorate of Slovenia: 01 280 36 60, gp.irsd@gov.si.

Student jobs in Slovenia are a special form of agency work meant for students. Only those enrolled in high-school or university programs in Slovenia can work as student workers. Student jobs are even less stable than agency work, because there is no period of notice for terminating your contract. There are also no sick leaves, no paid vacation days, no holiday pay (“regres”), no lunch or travel expenses etc. Another important thing is that the months you work as a student worker aren’t relevant for determining whether you are entitled to the unemployment benefit, so you can’t extend your visa on this ground if you are fired. So even if you work every day for 8 or more hours, just as regularly employed, you don’t have the same rights. Technically, it’s not legal for employers to hire student workers full-time and in court they would rule that it’s bogus student work and you are actually employed and that the employer must pay you all the benefits for the time you worked.

If you work full time (40 hours per week), you are not a student worker but a full-time employee, and you need a work contract with full rights! If you are living in Slovenia on a student visa, you will need to switch to a single work and residency permit. Contact the Employment Service’s info point for foreign workers: +386 (0)1 330 81 20, info-tocka@ess.gov.si, Dalmatinova 4, Ljubljana, and they will help you with switching visas for free.

Officially, student jobs are meant for full-time students to work a few hours per week to earn some extra money and not to work full-time and make a living out of student jobs. However, because student jobs are poorly regulated in Slovenia and there is no limit of how many hours per week a student can work, the reality is that many employers will take advantage of this poor regulation and only provide student jobs when they should employ full-time workers(s).  Employers use this type of employment when they need workers they can easily fire when they no longer need them. For example, if a company is a supplier for another company that needs the products according to demand, the supplier needs more workers in times of high demand, but can’t use them when the demand is low. So one way to lower its costs is to fire workers when demand drops. Student workers and agency workers are the easiest to dismiss, but as Slovenian legislation prevents companies from employing migrant workers as agency workers, student visas are a way around that.

Recruitment agencies don’t have an employment relationship with you: your contract and working permit are connected only to your employer, so the company that you actually work for. For example, you don’t need a recruitment agency to renew your working permit, change your employer etc.

In a way, recruitment “agencies” also sell the commodity of labour-power, but they don’t charge (only) the employer, they charge you.

They capitalize on the fact that you don’t know the language, don’t have connections, don’t know the legislation etc., to charge you for their “services” of intermediation. But do they actually work for you? Is the job they found you paid well, in line with your education level, does it provide stability? Do you come home well rested and healthy, without back pain? Does your accommodation provide you with everything you need to rest, eat, wash your clothes? Do they explain to you everything about your labour rights, the difference between gross and net pay? In whose interest is it that you work and live in such conditions?

If employers don’t want to hire workers recruitment “agencies” provide, the “agencies” go out of business. It’s easier to paint a slightly better picture of life in Slovenia to workers in India, Philippines, Bangladesh, Nepal, than to convince companies to pay more for the commodity they sell – the workers. If your price is too high, if you want, for example, to work in a position that’s in line with your education, recruitment “agencies” don’t bother to help you. And if you don’t pay the commission, if you are already in Slovenia and searching for a job, they will tell you that nothing is available.If a recruitment agency (a company or a person) offers you services like finding a new employer for you, representing you at an Administrative unit or Employment office, etc. in exchange for payment, you should be cautious! Offering payable services like this isn´t legal in Slovenia and recruitment agencies will demand that you pay in cash, meaning there will be no proof you paid for their service in case they don´t provide or something goes wrong. We suggest you avoid recruitment agencies and find a trusted organisation that offers help free of charge in the section useful contacts instead.

The list of illegal practices that employers in Slovenia often commit consist of but is not limited to: 

• Charging workers for finding a new employer and representing them in the official procedures at Administrative unit and Employment service (for more read a section recruitment agencies). In Slovenia it is only legal to charge employers (and not workers) for these services. 
• Manipulating workers into thinking they aren’t allowed to change their employer without an approval of their (old) employer, a certain agency or before a certain period of time passes. Anyone, regardless if they are migrants or not, where they are from, how they came to Slovenia and for how long they have been working in Slovenia, can quit their job or change their employer anytime they wish. You just have to respect the notice period stated in your work contract. But it is true that the procedure for changing your employer is much longer and more demanding if you are a migrant worker (for more see section how can i change employer). 
• Charging workers penalties for not showing up for work, being late, quitting, damaged material, etc. and deducting penalties from the salary. In Slovenia it is not legal to deduct any fee directly from the salary unless the worker signs a permission allowing these deductions. If your employer wants you to sign a permission like this, don´t sign it. 
• Forcing workers fired for business reasons (e.g. because of smaller consumer demand, lack of orders, etc.) to sign agreements about mutual termination of employment. If you sign an agreement like this, the employer doesn’t have to pay you severance pay and respect a notice period. You are also not entitled to an unemployment benefit. If your employer wants you to sign the agreement about mutual termination of employment, don´t sign it. 
• Making workers sign blank documents or empty forms and filling them in later with e.g. agreements about mutual termination of employment, statements that you don’t want to work in Slovenia anymore, etc. Never sign documents that you don’t understand or are blank/ empty forms. Be especially careful if you also signed an authorization with which your employer or agency connected to the employer can represent you in official procedures at the Administrative unit or Employment office. If you change your employer or don´t trust him, you may want to revoke those authorisations. 
• Employing workers informally and paying them in cash. Working informally is especially dangerous if you are a migrant worker because if you get paid in cash it means you are not registered for compulsory insurance (you can check if you are registered here with your EMŠO – you can find it on your permit card) and your TRC card will get cancelled. If you are caught working informally by the police or labor inspector, your employer will get a fine but you can lose the permit for working in the Schengen area. If you report your employer for employing you illegally, only the employer gets fined! It is also illegal to pay a portion of your salary in your bank account and a portion in cash or to demand that you return a portion of your salary to your employer in cash. 
• Manipulating, lying or giving you forged documents with an aim to employ you informally without you knowing. Always check if documents you received from your employer or agency are real (you can do this at the Info Point for Foreign workers) and you are registered for compulsory insurance (you can check this here with your EMŠO – you can find it on your permit card). 
• Confiscating documents. Refusing to return you any of your documents is a serious criminal offence and there is no excuse for doing this. If your employer or anyone else refuses to return your documents back to you with excuses like “it’s so you don’t lose them”, “it’s so you don’t run away”, “it’s because i need them”, etc., contact help (find the right organisation in the section useful contacts). 
• Limiting your movement. No one is allowed to prohibit or limit your movement. If your employer or someone else limits when you can leave work, your accommodation, town or the country or limits who you can talk to, this is also a serious criminal offence. Contact help (find the right organisation in the section useful contacts)!
• Prohibiting or limiting when you can take a sick leave. You have the right to take a sick leave whenever you are too sick to work. Doctor and not an employer needs to approve your sick leave (for more check the section about sick leaves). 
• Demanding from workers to work in dangerous conditions (e.g. at height, operating machines, in extreme heat or extreme cold, with no access to drinking water, etc.) without proper training and proper equipment. You are allowed to refuse work until your employer provides proper conditions, training or equipment that allows you to work safely. If your employer keeps pushing you to work in dangerous conditions or refuses to pay you because you refused to work in dangerous conditions, contact the Labour Inspectorate +386 1 280 36 60

What can you do?

All of the practices listed above are illegal but some are more serious criminal offenses and some are labor law violations. The Labour inspectorate deals with single-time violations of labor law (e.g. prohibiting workers to take a sick leave, etc.) and the police deals with criminal offenses (e.g. confiscating document) and cases of multiple violations of labor-law. 

You can report your employer anonymously to The Labour Inspectorate. If you decide to report your employer or agency to the police, you might want someone who is familiar with police procedures and speaks Slovenian by your side and to help you collect evidence. Find help in the section useful contacts. If you are in Slovenia illegally (you don’t have a valid living permit), you should also ask for help from one of the organisations above before contacting the police. If you were manipulated into working informally (with deception, forged documents etc.) or you are a victim of human-trafficking (confiscated documents, limiting your movement, forced work, etc.), the Slovenian law (ZTuj-2, article 50) allows you to stay and work in Slovenia for the duration of the procedure with the condition that you fully collaborate with authorities. If you think this is a situation you are in, contact one of the trusted organisations listed in the useful contacts section.   

*This also applies if your employer employs you informally (you receive your salary in cash, you are not insured) because your legal status is the same as if your employer never hired you.

In that case, you must find help and act immediately! When days pass and you do nothing, your options are shrinking. If you do nothing, your TRC card will eventually get cancelled (this can happen in one month or a few months) and you will become illegal. To prevent this from happening, you need to take urgent care of two things:

First, you are eligible to file a report against the employer. After you were officially informed that the employer who you signed a contract with won’t enable you to work for him, you have 30 days to dispute your contract in labor court. Besides that, some other legal options are possible in the longer term, which you can discuss with organisation(s) that deal with similar cases and can offer some legal help. Contact Neodvisni sindikat delavcev Slovenije (An independent trade union of workers in Slovenia) via email info@nsds-sindikat.si or us at info@razrednibroj.si 

Second, you must find a new employer before your resident permit (TRC) gets cancelled!

When you find one, he must start the procedure with the Employment service (PDM-KTD form), while you can start the procedure with the administrative unit regarding your employment.

• If your information sheet has been cancelled, you need to start the procedure for a new employment, 
• if not, you need to start the procedure for changing employers.

Be careful, since these two procedures require different forms. You should also check with the employer if they are following the correct procedure.

The procedure is:

• The employer needs to inform the Employment Service that he is looking for new employees and wants to employ a foreigner (more info on that here) and file the PDM-KTD form. After the Employment Service notifies the employer that there isn’t a Slovenian they can hire, the company can hire a foreign worker.

Next, you go to the Administrative unit with:

• A contract signed by the new employer 
• A statement that the employer isn’t providing accommodation

When you correctly start the procedure at the Administrative unit, even when your application is not complete, they must notify you of missing files and give you some time to provide them. During that time, they can not cancel your living permit (TRC).

The procedure described is complicated even for Slovenian speakers who are familiar with Slovenian legislation, and there is a high probability that you lack the language skills and knowledge to submit everything correctly yourself. This is why it is important to ask for help as soon as possible. Check out the organisations in our useful contacts list and see which organisations offer help for free. 

When something like this happens and the procedures are so complicated and long, it may seem like the easiest thing to do is to cross the border into Italy or any other EU country and search for work there. Please don´t do that, but find help with us or any other trusted organisation that offers help for free in Slovenia instead. If you cross the border and look for work in neighbouring countries, you become illegal and can no longer legally work, get insurance, unemployment benefits or bring your family to Slovenia.

WHAT ARE YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING SICK LEAVE?

If you get sick, you are entitled to sick leave and compensation for a salary that’s 80% of your basic salary. In case of work-related disease or injuries, compensation is 100%. Sick leave needs to be approved by your personal doctor in up to three days after you get sick.

If you don’t have your personal doctor:

You go to the clinic that is the closest to your official primary residence – you cannot get assigned sick leave at the emergency room. If the clinic cannot provide you with a doctor, they must find a “replacement doctor” who conducts the medical examination and assigns you sick leave. If the clinic refuses to assign you a doctor or a “temporary doctor”, you should contact the human rights ombudsman. 

You can contact the human rights ombudsman via the phone number: 080 15 30 

If you need help with contacting or writing the complaint for the human rights ombudsman, write us to info@razrednibroj.si 

If you need to take a sick leave that’s longer than 30 days, you need to be examined by a committee and the committee has to confirm the extension of your sick leave. You, the worker, must notify them that you want to prolong your sick leave. If your employer fires you during your sick leave due to “business reasons”, they still need to finance your health insurance for another 6 months. Usually, the health insurance company needs to be made aware of this, so they don’t cancel your health insurance unlawfully.

HOW TO FIND A DOCTOR IN SLOVENIA?https://www.cakalnedobe.si/zdravniki-ki-sprejemajo-nove-paciente/#naroci-se

Conditions for eligibility

The right to family unification is granted by article 47 of the Foreginers Act.

There are two main conditions to be eligible to bring your family: appropriate residency status and sufficient means to support the family.

Your residency status

• you either have to have a permanent residency permit or
• a temporary residency permit valid for at least 1 year and you have already resided in Slovenia for at least 1 year
  

Sufficient means

Your income in the past six months has to cover at least the minimum costs for each family member. The minimum costs are:

Person	Weight	Amount (€)
First adult person (you)	1	494.09
Each additional adult (spouse)	0.57	281.63
Each child	0.59	291.51

So for example to bring a partner and a child you need at least 1.067,23‬ € per month. To bring a partner and two children you need at least 1.358,74 € per month.

The amounts change every year, you can check the current stat on the government website: https://www.gov.si/teme/denarna-socialna-pomoc/

Who counts as family member

These are the people you can bring based on the right to family unification:

• spouse, registered partner or long term partner
• minor unmarried children
• minor unmarried children of your spouse, registered partner or long term partner
• parents (only if you are a minor yourself)
• adult unmarried children, your parents or parents of your spouse or partner if you or your spouse or partner are legally bound to support them under the laws of your country

Procedure

You file the application at Upravna enota.

This is the form you have to fill and this document contains some instructions. Below is a list of documents you’ll need. It is a combination of information from the linked instructions, from infotujci.si and from our inquiry with upravna enota.

All public documents from your country (marriage certificate, certificate of no criminal record, birth certificate, school certificate) have to be apostilled.

• If your country is a signatory of the Apostille convention, the document is apostilled by your country’s authorities. You can check whether your country is a signatory and which are the competent authorities here.
• If your country is not a signatory, you need to certify the documents at the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs or a Slovenian embassy/consulate in your country.

Upravna enota can demand that the documents be officially translated (by a court appointed translator) into Slovenian, but they can also decide to accept them in English. An officer at Upravna enota decides autonomously if he/ she will accept your documents in English or demand the official translation into Slovene. 

Documents for your spouse

• apostilled copy of passport, which has to be valid at least until the end of the period of temporary residency plus 3 months
• a picture of passport quality and size (size 3,5 x 4,5 cm, on photo paper, color)
• marriage certificate, not older than 3 months, apostilled, translated
• certificate of no criminal record, not older than 3 months, apostilled, translated
• you need to prove sufficient funds to support your family, which you do by providing:
  • your employment contract
  • pay slips for the last 6 months + current month
  • statements from your bank account for the last 6 months + current month
  • a signed declaration of support (Izjava o preživljanju). Here is an example you could follow.
  • If your spouse has his/her income, provide his/her pay slips and bank account statements as well (this can help prove sufficient means)
    

Documents for children

• Apostilled copy of passport
• picture
• birth certificate, apostilled, translated
• school certificate if the child is school aged
  

Upravna enota can demand you provide health insurance covering emergency cases for family members. It is not needed when filing an application, if they will demand it, you can provide it later.

Costs

Below are the costs for applications and issuance of documents from infotujci.si.

Item	Cost in EUR
Application filed in Slovenia	4,50
Issuance of temporary residence permit	50,00
Cost of residency card	15,47

Unions are workers’ organisations. Workers form unions aim to confront the employer together and collectively demand better working conditions. Unions are very different from “agencies”, which are essentially businesses – even if they help workers with their documents, searching for an employer etc., the main goal and reason for existence of the agencies is to make profit. 

What do unions do?

• Employers have the obligation to enter into collective bargaining with the representative union. In the collective agreement workers can enforce better working conditions. For the union to be representative, its membership must consist of at least 15% of employed workers.  
• Protect workers who are dismissed or work in unfair conditions 
• Enforce labour legislation.
• Organise collective action.

Employers see unions as a threat especially because unions can organise strikes, slow-downs and other forms of withholding labour and reducing the intensity of work. Many employers organise work in shifts, so the warehouse or factory is active 24 hours a day: an hour when workers don’t move the products or use the tools, means an hour, in which the products and tools, for which the capitalist paid!, are not creating profit. Companies use many different tactics to prevent workers from unionising and striking.

One of such tactics is the establishment of “company unions”, which are created by the company to “bargain” with them only for concessions the company is already ready to give and discourage workers from taking actions such as strikes. You will recognise company unions easily, as they are friendly with the employer and don’t really do anything but accept the companies’ conditions.Another company tactic is creating conditions in which workers fear that if they organise in a union, they will be fired. If a union consists of only a few workers, they easily become the target and are in danger of not getting their contract renewed. But there are ways around this: until the union becomes strong enough, that a bigger mass of workers demands the change of working conditions together, you can organise informally or join the union anonymously.

عند وصولك إلى سلوفينيا للعمل لأول مرة، لا تتمتع بجميع الحقوق التي يتمتع بها العمال حاملو جوازات سفر ا لاتحاد ا لأوروبي. على سبيل ا لمثال، لا يمكنك تغيير صاحب العمل دون موافقة دائرة التوظيف السلوفينية، ولا يمكنك الحصول على إعانة رعاية اجتماعية إذا كنت عاطلاً عن العمل، وإذا طردك صاحب العمل، فعليك إيجاد صاحب عمل جديد خ لال شهر أو شهرين وإلا ستُلغى بطاقة TRC الخاصة بك. هذا يجعلك أكثر اعتما ًدا على صاحبالعملمقارنًةبزملائكفيالعملحامليجوازاتسفرا لاتحادا لأوروبي.هذا التمييزيفيدأصحابالعمل،لأنالعمالالذينيخشونفقدانوظائفهم ُيجبرونبسهولة أكبر على العمل بأجور أقل وساعات أطول، وقبول ظروف عمل أسوأ، ويترددون في ا لإبلاغ عن ا لممارسات غير القانونية لأصحاب عملهم.

وصفت مهاجرة أخرى، تعيش ا لآن في سلوفينيا منذ سنوات، تجربتها في العيش في هذا البلد بأنها تراكم بطيء للحقوق مع مرور الوقت. تجدر ا لإشارة إلى أن الفترة التي تعمل خ لالها بشكل قانوني بدوام كامل في سلوفينيا هي وحدها التي تُحتسب ضمن هذا التراكم! لا ُيحتسب الوقت الذي تقضيه في العمل في سلوفينيا كطالب عامل بتأشيرة طالب، أو كعامل موسمي، أو كعامل منتدب )أو ُيحتسب نصفه فقط لبعض الحقوق(. كما لا

ُيحتسب الوقت الذي تقضيه في العمل غير الرسمي )مقابل أجر(. يبدأ احتساب الوقت فقط إذا سدد صاحب العمل اشتراكات التأمينات ا لإلزامية، لذا تأكد من أنك مؤ ّمن!

–عند الوصول إلى سلوفينيا، يجب الحصول على إقامة عمل فردية، وعقد عمل مع شركة سلوفينية لمدة عام واحد)عادةً ما يتضمن فترة اختبار من شهر إلى ثلاثة أشهر(، وقائمة معلومات صادرة عن صاحب العمل.

يمكنك تغيير صاحب العمل، ولكن للقيام بذلك، يجب على صاحب العمل الجديد الحصول على موافقة من دائرة التوظيف لتوظيف عامل مهاجر . إذا فقدت وظيفتك، فعليك إيجاد وظيفة جديدة خ لال شهر أو شهرين، وإلا ستبدأ إجراءات إلغاء بطاقة تصريح ا لإقامة ا لمؤقتة. لا يمكنك الحصول على إعانة بطالة أو التقدم بطلب كباحث عن عمل.

–بعد ١٠ أشهر )أو ٦ أشهر إذا كنت دون سن الثلاثين( من العمل في سلوفينيا: يحق لك التسجيل كعاطل عن العمل والحصول على إعانة بطالة.

إذا فُصلت من عملك لأسباب تتعلق بالعمل أو انتهى عقدك ولم يمدده صاحب العمل، يمكنك الحصول على إعانة بطالة لمدة ٣ أشهر )أو شهرين إذا كنت قد عملت لمدة ٦ أشهر فقط وكان عمرك دون سن الثلاثين(. إذا كنت تتلقى إعانة بطالة وانتهت صلاحية بطاقة بطاقة تصريح ا لإقامة ا لمؤقتة الخاصة بك خ لال هذه الفترة، فيمكنك تجديدها دون الحاجة إلى عقد عمل جديد. قبل انتهاء فترة الثلاثة أشهر )أو الشهرين(، عليك البحث عن وظيفة جديدة.

بعد ٢٠ شه ًرا من العمل )٣٠ شه ًرا إذا كنت عام ًلا غير ماهر(: يحق لك الحصول على قائمة معلومات شخصية.

إذا كنت عام ًلا ماه ًرا، يمكنك التقدم بطلب للحصول على قائمة معلومات شخصية بعد ٢٠ شه ًرا من العمل في سلوفينيا. أما إذا كنت عام ًلا غير ماهر، فيمكنك التقدم بطلب للحصول على قائمة معلومات شخصية بعد ٣٠ شه ًرا من العمل في سلوفينيا.

إذا فقدت وظيفتك وكانت لديك قائمة معلومات شخصية، فلديك مهلة ستة أشهر لإيجاد قائمة جديدة. كما لم تعد هناك حاجة لم راجعة الوحدة ا لإدارية أو الحصول على موافقة من دائرة التوظيف، لأن قائمة ا لمعلومات مرتبطة بك)العامل( وليس بصاحب العمل.

–بعد عام واحد: الحق في لم شمل الأسرة.

–بعد 5 سنوات من العمل في سلوفينيا، يمكنك التقدم بطلب للحصول على إقامة دائمة. )با لإضافة إلى ذلك، سيتع ين عليك إثبات إجادتك للغة السلوفينية ا لأساسية – مستوى .(A2

مع ا لإقامة الدائمة، تتمتع بحرية كاملة في سوق العمل، وتتمتع أي ًضا بمعظم حقوق ا لمواطنين السلوفينيين. على سبيل ا لمثال، يمكنك التسجيل في برامج التدريس في الجامعاتالحكوميةوالحصولعلىشهادةجامعيةمجانًا.إذاكانلديكرصيدكا ٍففي حسابك ا لمصرفي، يمكنك أي ًضا بدء إجراءات لم شمل ا لأسرة لإحضار أفراد عائلتك إلى سلوفينيا.

الجنسية

تحصل على الجنسية السلوفينية من خ لال عملية التجنس. الشروط متوفرة هنا في هذا الرابط

All of the organisations listed below are non-for-profit and they all offer their services free of charge. Governmental agencies are financed with tax-payer money. Non-governmental organisations and unions are financed with membership fees or through project funds and rely heavily on volunteer work. 

Non-governmental organisations and unions: 

Razredni broj, a collective that prepared this leaflet. You can contact us via our email info@razrednibroj.si or visit us every Sunday from 6pm onwards at Ulica Vide Pregarčeve 11, Ljubljana. You can visit us even if you have no problems and just want to meet new people, hang out or help others. Everyone is welcome!

Infokolpa, a collective that mostly works with refugees, asylum seekers and irregular migrants that are illegalised in Slovenia and EU. If you don’t have a valid TRC card, are here illegally, or you want to apply for the asylum, they will help you legalize your status, apply for the asylum or just help you survive. You can contact them via their Facebook page or visit them every Thursday from 6pm onwards at Ulica Vide Pregarčeve 11, Ljubljana. You can visit them even if you have no problems and just want to meet new people, hang out or help others. Everyone is welcome!

Neodvisni sindikat delavcev Slovenije (Independent trade union of workers in Slovenia, NSDS) is a non-governmental organisation that provides free-of-charge legal help for migrant workers working in Slovenia (if you are regularly employed and in a good material situation you can become a member and pay a small membership fee). Contact them via email info@nsds-sindikat.si or visit them at Slovenska cesta 54, Ljubljana (9th floor, ask for the NSDS at the reception on the ground floor) Monday to Friday from 8am-4pm. 

Marko Tanasić, an officer for the area of work related migration at the Association of free trade unions of Slovenia (ZSSS). His office is located at Dalmatinova ulica 4, Ljubljana (ask for Marko Tanasić at the reception on the ground floor). Before visiting Marko in his office, ask for the appointment via email marko.tanasic@sindikat-zsss.si 

Delavska svetovalnica (Workers´counseling office) also offers legal help and counseling to migrant workers in Slovenia. However, they only offer help to their members, so you will have to become a member first and pay a small monthly membership fee (3-12 euros per month). You can call them 080 14 34 or write to them info@delavskasvetovalnica.si They are located at Dalmatinova ulica 4, Ljubljana (ask for Delavska svetovalnica at the reception on the ground floor). 

Društvo Ključ, a non-governmental organisation that helps victims and prosecutes human–trafficking. If you were manipulated and lied to with an aim to get your consent for illegal (informal) work, were given forged documents, your employer or someone else took your documents, your employer or someone else limited your movement or prohibited you from leaving work, house, town or country, you might be a victim of human trafficking. Contact Društvo Ključ immediately! Call them 080 17 22 or write to them info@drustvo-kljuc.si 

Governmental (public) services: 

The Info point for Foreigners is a governmental service operated by the Employment Service of Slovenia. They can check if your documents (work contract, information list, TRC card) are valid, they can also check the background of your employer (e.g. if they pay workers regularly, pay taxes, etc.) and advise you. They also have the power to temporarily stall the procedure of cancelling your TRC card if it hadn’t been cancelled yet. Don´t worry even if your informative list expired or you don’t have a valid TRC card, they won’t call the police, they are there to help you. If you are not sure if you want to visit them, you can come to us first and we will accompany you to the Info Point. You can call the Info Point for foreigners +386 (0)1 330 81 20 or write to them info-tocka@ess.gov.si. You can visit them at Dalmatinova 4, Ljubljana (ask for the info point for foreigners at the reception on the ground floor). 

The Information Center for Foreigners is a newly opened governmental service for foreigners operated by the Government Office for the Support and Integration of Migrants. At the office, they can answer questions or help you with problems related to accessing healthcare and social services in Slovenia, as well as education and residency permits. Their office is located at the address Tržaška cesta 21, 1000 Ljubljana. You can visit them in person on Mon, Wed or Fri from 9:00 to 12:00 and on Wed also from 14:00 to 17:00. You can also call them 041 31 80 00 or write to them infotujci@gov.si

The Employement Service of Slovenia is a governmental agency that regulates the Slovenian labor market. When you got the first contract for work in Slovenia, they had to consent to your employer employing you and if you want to change your employer in the first 20-30 months of working in Slovenia (more below), you will need their consent as well. After you have been working for at least 10 months (or 6 if you are younger than 30) in Slovenia and the employer does not extend your contract or you are fired because of business reasons, you can apply for the unemployment benefit (more below) at the Employment office.

Administrative unit is where you file a request for changing your employer and for a renewal of your TRC card. There are 58 administrative units in Slovenia. Each town has its own administrative unit and some government officials working in these administrative units will have more experiences with procedures regarding employing migrants and some less. But almost all will refuse to speak to you in English, so you will want a Slovenian speaking friend to accompany you when going to the administrative unit. Agencies will try to charge you for this service, but you can find the help of one of the trusted organisations in the section useful contacts who will provide someone to go with you free of charge. Administrative units also vary significantly in terms of how much time they need to process your request for changing the employer or TRC card renewal. The administrative unit in Ljubljana is usually the busiest and will take the longest to process your request, that is why we suggest you file your request at one of the administrative units in a smaller towns (you can choose any administrative unit you want, regardless of where you live/your employer is). 

The Labour Inspectorate prosecutes labor law violations (e.g. not working according to the work contract, not taking breaks, informal work, etc.). You can report violations that your employer is committing anonymously and even if you don’t report them anonymously, labor inspector will not disclose your identity to the employer. The Labor Inspectorate can also fine workers and not just employers for violating labor law. For example if they caught you working informally not just your employer but you can be fined as well. This won’t happen if you are the one who reported the labor law violation. In addition to the fine, they can also prohibit your employer from employing migrant workers. They can also help you with collecting evidence against your employer: for example, if you can’t refuse to work unpaid overtime etc., but don’t want to report the employer because you need to work, you can go to the Labour Inspectorate unit closest to you and ask them to make an official record of your statement.

A personal work permit means that the worker is free to change employer – there is no longer need to go to the administrative unit/get a consent from the Employment Service, because the information sheet (informativni list) is linked to the worker, not to the employer.

In this case, if you lose your job, you have 6 months to find a new job (if you are not registered for insurance for more than 6 months, the procedure for cancelling the permit starts).

When can you apply for a personal work permit?

A migrant worker with a professional qualification is given a personal work permit if he or she has been employed in Slovenia for 20 months (in total, not necessarily consecutive) in the last 24 months.

• At the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Gospodarska zbornica Slovenije) they offer some courses and practical exams so you can get a professional qualification (for example: https://bb.si/en/code-95/)
• A diploma is also considered valid if obtained abroad, but the Employment Service would require proof.

An unskilled migrant worker can apply for a personal work permit when she or he has been employed in Slovenia for at least 30 months (in total, not necessarily consecutive) in the last 3 years.

It is therefore important not to have too many gaps between jobs!

If you worked in Slovenia as regularly employed (not as a student-worker) for at least 10 months or, if you are younger than 30 years, for at least 6 months in the last 24 months:

• You can register as unemployed at the Employment Service of Slovenia (address: Parmova 32, Ljubljana) and apply for the unemployment benefit. You need to register in 30 days after your employment is terminated.

• This only applies if your employment was ended for reasons beyond your control (if your fixed-term contract wasn’t renewed, if you were dismissed for business reasons etc.): You will receive the benefit for 2 months if you have been employed for 6 months and for 3 months if you have worked for 10 months.  Before your benefit ends, you need to find a new employer and start the procedure for changing your employer (see below).

• The amount of unemployment benefit is 80% of the average monthly salary. All compulsory social insurance contributions (health, pension and disability, unemployment and parental insurance) are paid by the Employment Service.

• If your visa expires while you are receiving unemployment benefit, you need to start the process for renewing the visa at the administrative unit before it expires.If you are registered at the Employment Service of Slovenia, you don’t need a new employment contract to renew your visa.

• The first day you can register as unemployed is the day after your job ends – what can you do if your single permit expires on the same day? You have to renew your visa before it expires. So you need to start the procedure at the administrative unit before that, even if you don’t have all the necessary documents yet – you will update your application later. In such cases contact Neodvisni sindikat delavcev Slovenije (An independent trade union of workers in Slovenia) via email info@nsds-sindikat.si. 
• More info: https://www.ess.gov.si/en/jobseekers/unemployment-benefit. 

2. If you worked in Slovenia for less than 10 or 6 months:

• You need to find a new employer before the administrative unit cancels your work permit, but you have some time to do this. There isn’t really a deadline for starting the procedure of changing your employer after your contract is terminated. Probably in a few months after you stop working, the administrative unit will start the procedure for cancelling the work permit, but they should contact you and ask you to get new employment within a certain time limit – then you have to contact the person in charge of your procedure and try to get an extension (if you need it).

For more info, contact the Employment Service’s info point for foreign workers: +386 (0)1 330 81 20, info-tocka@ess.gov.si, Dalmatinova 4, Ljubljana

Where to search for a new employer?

• You can check out websites where employers post jobs: https://www.mojedelo.com/.
• Visit Career Fair happening every year in Ljubljana: https://kariernisejem.com/.
• FB groups (zaposlitev/delo, iščem/nudim zaposlitev etc.)

If you need help with preparing a CV or translating it in Slovenian, you can visit us every Sunday from 6pm onwards at Ulica Vide Pregarčeve 11, Ljubljana.

At any time while your residence permit is still valid, you can submit an application to change the employer at the administrative unit. You can do this at any administrative unit: the one in Ljubljana is the busiest and will probably take the longest. Check out the list of documents you need to bring to the administrative unit and the form.

You need the new employment contract signed by the new employer and his statement on whether he provides accommodation for you as well or not. You can submit the application yourself, without any agency or other intermediary. Don’t pay money for help with the documentation. If you and your new employer need help with the procedure and documentation, contact Employment Service’s info point for foreign workers: +386 (0)1 330 81 20, info-tocka@ess.gov.si, Dalmatinova 4, Ljubljana and they will help you for free.

You should be extremely careful if someone else helps you with the procedure. You should always check if the application has really been submitted. You can do this at the Info Point for Foreigners. There are cases where intermediaries give workers fake documents and the workers unknowingly work without actually being employed. Because of this, your work permit can be cancelled. You should always check if your employer registered you for the necessary insurances. You can do this here with your EMŠO (you can find it on your permit card).

After you submit an application, the administrative unit will send it to the Employment Service of Slovenia which will check the requirements, including whether there is a worker who could be employed by the same employer who is already registered as unemployed. If you are registered as unemployed, this step is not necessary and the procedure is faster and easier.

WHEN TO QUIT? You can still work for your current employer even if you submit an application to change your employer. The problem is that once a new information sheet (informativni list) is issued (this takes approximately from 2 weeks to a month), the new employer must register the worker for compulsory insurance within 30 days. So you have one month to start a new job after the new information sheet is issued, but your current employer may have a notice period that is longer than one month. 

• So how to give notice in time if the notice period is too long?
  • 1) The easiest way to change employers is during the probationary period. This is because during the probationary period the legal notice period is 7 days. In this case, it is no problem to wait to get a new informative list and then resign.

2) If the notice period is longer, it makes sense to give notice when you apply for a new information list at the Employment office. Here the worker runs the risk that the Employment office won´t issue consent for changing the employer. This usually happens if the new employer recently fired other workers or hasn’t paid taxes. To reduce the risk, the worker can go to the Info Point for Foreigners (second floor, Dalmatinova 4, ask for infopoint at the reception on the ground floor), where he/she will be told whether the employer is a problematic employer or whether there is no problem to give consent. Only Info Point for Foreigners has this information and they are the only ones who can give credible opinion on your new employer. If a private agency claims that the employer they represent is reliable, don´t trust them, always double-check your new employer yourself at the Info Point for Foreigners. 

Agency workers have an employment relationship with the agency, not with the company they work for. They start working for other companies when the agency, which is their employer, sends them there on a temporary assignment. In the employment contract, the employer is only the agency.

The company where workers actually work then pays the agency which sends them the workers:

1. the cost of using a worker’s labour (worker’s salary and benefits) and
2. the provision, which is how agencies make profit.

How do companies make profit if they have to pay for everything they use – the workers, materials, buildings etc.? The answer is simple, workers create more value for the company than is the cost of their labour. The lower the cost of labour, the bigger the profit for the company. Why would a company then pay not only the cost of labour, but also a provision to the agency? Many agency workers ask the companies they work for if they can employ them directly, but the answer is often no. Wouldn’t it be cheaper for the company not to pay the provision? Do companies just give this money to the agencies?

There must be something that makes agency workers cheaper than regularly employed workers. Either the agency workers are paid less than directly employed workers or the agency workers work more (or can be exploited more) because they can easily be replaced with new, rested, healthy and young workers after they can’t work as efficiently anymore because of their work-related injuries.

According to the Slovenian legislation, the basic working conditions of agency workers must be the same as they would have been if they had been employed in the same job directly by the company, without the agency’s intervention. The pay, working hours, breaks, etc. should therefore be the same for agency workers and for workers employed by the company.

But even if the legislation prohibits it, agency workers often don’t take breaks, work for more hours and work faster than regularly employed, and so they create more profit for the company than regularly employed workers. Why are the agency workers risking their health to generate more profit for the company? Because the company can fire them more easily than regularly employed workers.

In principle, agency work is about workers having a stable and permanent relationship with an agency and then working occasionally/temporarily for other companies – the advantage for companies is that it makes it easier to fire them. But agencies often terminate employment for business reasons after the company no longer needs agency workers, so workers are not really protected by being employed by the agency, even if it’s for an indefinite period.

*

Even when directly employed by the company, companies often find other ways to fire and replace their workers more easily, so they can exploit them more, without worrying if they will be able to work the next day. With that goal in mind, companies often employ workers on one-year contracts, probationary periods, or they set a difficult target that workers must reach or be in breach of their employment contract.If labour legislation or your employment contract is violated, you can contact the Labour Inspectorate of Slovenia: 01 280 36 60, gp.irsd@gov.si.

Student jobs in Slovenia are a special form of agency work meant for students. Only those enrolled in high-school or university programs in Slovenia can work as student workers. Student jobs are even less stable than agency work, because there is no period of notice for terminating your contract. There are also no sick leaves, no paid vacation days, no holiday pay (“regres”), no lunch or travel expenses etc. Another important thing is that the months you work as a student worker aren’t relevant for determining whether you are entitled to the unemployment benefit, so you can’t extend your visa on this ground if you are fired. So even if you work every day for 8 or more hours, just as regularly employed, you don’t have the same rights. Technically, it’s not legal for employers to hire student workers full-time and in court they would rule that it’s bogus student work and you are actually employed and that the employer must pay you all the benefits for the time you worked.

If you work full time (40 hours per week), you are not a student worker but a full-time employee, and you need a work contract with full rights! If you are living in Slovenia on a student visa, you will need to switch to a single work and residency permit. Contact the Employment Service’s info point for foreign workers: +386 (0)1 330 81 20, info-tocka@ess.gov.si, Dalmatinova 4, Ljubljana, and they will help you with switching visas for free.

Officially, student jobs are meant for full-time students to work a few hours per week to earn some extra money and not to work full-time and make a living out of student jobs. However, because student jobs are poorly regulated in Slovenia and there is no limit of how many hours per week a student can work, the reality is that many employers will take advantage of this poor regulation and only provide student jobs when they should employ full-time workers(s).  Employers use this type of employment when they need workers they can easily fire when they no longer need them. For example, if a company is a supplier for another company that needs the products according to demand, the supplier needs more workers in times of high demand, but can’t use them when the demand is low. So one way to lower its costs is to fire workers when demand drops. Student workers and agency workers are the easiest to dismiss, but as Slovenian legislation prevents companies from employing migrant workers as agency workers, student visas are a way around that.

Recruitment agencies don’t have an employment relationship with you: your contract and working permit are connected only to your employer, so the company that you actually work for. For example, you don’t need a recruitment agency to renew your working permit, change your employer etc.

In a way, recruitment “agencies” also sell the commodity of labour-power, but they don’t charge (only) the employer, they charge you.

They capitalize on the fact that you don’t know the language, don’t have connections, don’t know the legislation etc., to charge you for their “services” of intermediation. But do they actually work for you? Is the job they found you paid well, in line with your education level, does it provide stability? Do you come home well rested and healthy, without back pain? Does your accommodation provide you with everything you need to rest, eat, wash your clothes? Do they explain to you everything about your labour rights, the difference between gross and net pay? In whose interest is it that you work and live in such conditions?

If employers don’t want to hire workers recruitment “agencies” provide, the “agencies” go out of business. It’s easier to paint a slightly better picture of life in Slovenia to workers in India, Philippines, Bangladesh, Nepal, than to convince companies to pay more for the commodity they sell – the workers. If your price is too high, if you want, for example, to work in a position that’s in line with your education, recruitment “agencies” don’t bother to help you. And if you don’t pay the commission, if you are already in Slovenia and searching for a job, they will tell you that nothing is available.If a recruitment agency (a company or a person) offers you services like finding a new employer for you, representing you at an Administrative unit or Employment office, etc. in exchange for payment, you should be cautious! Offering payable services like this isn´t legal in Slovenia and recruitment agencies will demand that you pay in cash, meaning there will be no proof you paid for their service in case they don´t provide or something goes wrong. We suggest you avoid recruitment agencies and find a trusted organisation that offers help free of charge in the section useful contacts instead.

The list of illegal practices that employers in Slovenia often commit consist of but is not limited to: 

• Charging workers for finding a new employer and representing them in the official procedures at Administrative unit and Employment service (for more read a section recruitment agencies). In Slovenia it is only legal to charge employers (and not workers) for these services. 
• Manipulating workers into thinking they aren’t allowed to change their employer without an approval of their (old) employer, a certain agency or before a certain period of time passes. Anyone, regardless if they are migrants or not, where they are from, how they came to Slovenia and for how long they have been working in Slovenia, can quit their job or change their employer anytime they wish. You just have to respect the notice period stated in your work contract. But it is true that the procedure for changing your employer is much longer and more demanding if you are a migrant worker (for more see section how can i change employer). 
• Charging workers penalties for not showing up for work, being late, quitting, damaged material, etc. and deducting penalties from the salary. In Slovenia it is not legal to deduct any fee directly from the salary unless the worker signs a permission allowing these deductions. If your employer wants you to sign a permission like this, don´t sign it. 
• Forcing workers fired for business reasons (e.g. because of smaller consumer demand, lack of orders, etc.) to sign agreements about mutual termination of employment. If you sign an agreement like this, the employer doesn’t have to pay you severance pay and respect a notice period. You are also not entitled to an unemployment benefit. If your employer wants you to sign the agreement about mutual termination of employment, don´t sign it. 
• Making workers sign blank documents or empty forms and filling them in later with e.g. agreements about mutual termination of employment, statements that you don’t want to work in Slovenia anymore, etc. Never sign documents that you don’t understand or are blank/ empty forms. Be especially careful if you also signed an authorization with which your employer or agency connected to the employer can represent you in official procedures at the Administrative unit or Employment office. If you change your employer or don´t trust him, you may want to revoke those authorisations. 
• Employing workers informally and paying them in cash. Working informally is especially dangerous if you are a migrant worker because if you get paid in cash it means you are not registered for compulsory insurance (you can check if you are registered here with your EMŠO – you can find it on your permit card) and your TRC card will get cancelled. If you are caught working informally by the police or labor inspector, your employer will get a fine but you can lose the permit for working in the Schengen area. If you report your employer for employing you illegally, only the employer gets fined! It is also illegal to pay a portion of your salary in your bank account and a portion in cash or to demand that you return a portion of your salary to your employer in cash. 
• Manipulating, lying or giving you forged documents with an aim to employ you informally without you knowing. Always check if documents you received from your employer or agency are real (you can do this at the Info Point for Foreign workers) and you are registered for compulsory insurance (you can check this here with your EMŠO – you can find it on your permit card). 
• Confiscating documents. Refusing to return you any of your documents is a serious criminal offence and there is no excuse for doing this. If your employer or anyone else refuses to return your documents back to you with excuses like “it’s so you don’t lose them”, “it’s so you don’t run away”, “it’s because i need them”, etc., contact help (find the right organisation in the section useful contacts). 
• Limiting your movement. No one is allowed to prohibit or limit your movement. If your employer or someone else limits when you can leave work, your accommodation, town or the country or limits who you can talk to, this is also a serious criminal offence. Contact help (find the right organisation in the section useful contacts)!
• Prohibiting or limiting when you can take a sick leave. You have the right to take a sick leave whenever you are too sick to work. Doctor and not an employer needs to approve your sick leave (for more check the section about sick leaves). 
• Demanding from workers to work in dangerous conditions (e.g. at height, operating machines, in extreme heat or extreme cold, with no access to drinking water, etc.) without proper training and proper equipment. You are allowed to refuse work until your employer provides proper conditions, training or equipment that allows you to work safely. If your employer keeps pushing you to work in dangerous conditions or refuses to pay you because you refused to work in dangerous conditions, contact the Labour Inspectorate +386 1 280 36 60

What can you do?

All of the practices listed above are illegal but some are more serious criminal offenses and some are labor law violations. The Labour inspectorate deals with single-time violations of labor law (e.g. prohibiting workers to take a sick leave, etc.) and the police deals with criminal offenses (e.g. confiscating document) and cases of multiple violations of labor-law. 

You can report your employer anonymously to The Labour Inspectorate. If you decide to report your employer or agency to the police, you might want someone who is familiar with police procedures and speaks Slovenian by your side and to help you collect evidence. Find help in the section useful contacts. If you are in Slovenia illegally (you don’t have a valid living permit), you should also ask for help from one of the organisations above before contacting the police. If you were manipulated into working informally (with deception, forged documents etc.) or you are a victim of human-trafficking (confiscated documents, limiting your movement, forced work, etc.), the Slovenian law (ZTuj-2, article 50) allows you to stay and work in Slovenia for the duration of the procedure with the condition that you fully collaborate with authorities. If you think this is a situation you are in, contact one of the trusted organisations listed in the useful contacts section.   

*This also applies if your employer employs you informally (you receive your salary in cash, you are not insured) because your legal status is the same as if your employer never hired you.

In that case, you must find help and act immediately! When days pass and you do nothing, your options are shrinking. If you do nothing, your TRC card will eventually get cancelled (this can happen in one month or a few months) and you will become illegal. To prevent this from happening, you need to take urgent care of two things:

First, you are eligible to file a report against the employer. After you were officially informed that the employer who you signed a contract with won’t enable you to work for him, you have 30 days to dispute your contract in labor court. Besides that, some other legal options are possible in the longer term, which you can discuss with organisation(s) that deal with similar cases and can offer some legal help. Contact Neodvisni sindikat delavcev Slovenije (An independent trade union of workers in Slovenia) via email info@nsds-sindikat.si or us at info@razrednibroj.si 

Second, you must find a new employer before your resident permit (TRC) gets cancelled!

When you find one, he must start the procedure with the Employment service (PDM-KTD form), while you can start the procedure with the administrative unit regarding your employment.

• If your information sheet has been cancelled, you need to start the procedure for a new employment, 
• if not, you need to start the procedure for changing employers.

Be careful, since these two procedures require different forms. You should also check with the employer if they are following the correct procedure.

The procedure is:

• The employer needs to inform the Employment Service that he is looking for new employees and wants to employ a foreigner (more info on that here) and file the PDM-KTD form. After the Employment Service notifies the employer that there isn’t a Slovenian they can hire, the company can hire a foreign worker.

Next, you go to the Administrative unit with:

• A contract signed by the new employer 
• A statement that the employer isn’t providing accommodation

When you correctly start the procedure at the Administrative unit, even when your application is not complete, they must notify you of missing files and give you some time to provide them. During that time, they can not cancel your living permit (TRC).

The procedure described is complicated even for Slovenian speakers who are familiar with Slovenian legislation, and there is a high probability that you lack the language skills and knowledge to submit everything correctly yourself. This is why it is important to ask for help as soon as possible. Check out the organisations in our useful contacts list and see which organisations offer help for free. 

When something like this happens and the procedures are so complicated and long, it may seem like the easiest thing to do is to cross the border into Italy or any other EU country and search for work there. Please don´t do that, but find help with us or any other trusted organisation that offers help for free in Slovenia instead. If you cross the border and look for work in neighbouring countries, you become illegal and can no longer legally work, get insurance, unemployment benefits or bring your family to Slovenia.

WHAT ARE YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING SICK LEAVE?

If you get sick, you are entitled to sick leave and compensation for a salary that’s 80% of your basic salary. In case of work-related disease or injuries, compensation is 100%. Sick leave needs to be approved by your personal doctor in up to three days after you get sick.

If you don’t have your personal doctor:

You go to the clinic that is the closest to your official primary residence – you cannot get assigned sick leave at the emergency room. If the clinic cannot provide you with a doctor, they must find a “replacement doctor” who conducts the medical examination and assigns you sick leave. If the clinic refuses to assign you a doctor or a “temporary doctor”, you should contact the human rights ombudsman. 

You can contact the human rights ombudsman via the phone number: 080 15 30 

If you need help with contacting or writing the complaint for the human rights ombudsman, write us to info@razrednibroj.si 

If you need to take a sick leave that’s longer than 30 days, you need to be examined by a committee and the committee has to confirm the extension of your sick leave. You, the worker, must notify them that you want to prolong your sick leave. If your employer fires you during your sick leave due to “business reasons”, they still need to finance your health insurance for another 6 months. Usually, the health insurance company needs to be made aware of this, so they don’t cancel your health insurance unlawfully.

HOW TO FIND A DOCTOR IN SLOVENIA?https://www.cakalnedobe.si/zdravniki-ki-sprejemajo-nove-paciente/#naroci-se

Conditions for eligibility

The right to family unification is granted by article 47 of the Foreginers Act.

There are two main conditions to be eligible to bring your family: appropriate residency status and sufficient means to support the family.

Your residency status

• you either have to have a permanent residency permit or
• a temporary residency permit valid for at least 1 year and you have already resided in Slovenia for at least 1 year
  

Sufficient means

Your income in the past six months has to cover at least the minimum costs for each family member. The minimum costs are:

Person	Weight	Amount (€)
First adult person (you)	1	494.09
Each additional adult (spouse)	0.57	281.63
Each child	0.59	291.51

So for example to bring a partner and a child you need at least 1.067,23‬ € per month. To bring a partner and two children you need at least 1.358,74 € per month.

The amounts change every year, you can check the current stat on the government website: https://www.gov.si/teme/denarna-socialna-pomoc/

Who counts as family member

These are the people you can bring based on the right to family unification:

• spouse, registered partner or long term partner
• minor unmarried children
• minor unmarried children of your spouse, registered partner or long term partner
• parents (only if you are a minor yourself)
• adult unmarried children, your parents or parents of your spouse or partner if you or your spouse or partner are legally bound to support them under the laws of your country

Procedure

You file the application at Upravna enota.

This is the form you have to fill and this document contains some instructions. Below is a list of documents you’ll need. It is a combination of information from the linked instructions, from infotujci.si and from our inquiry with upravna enota.

All public documents from your country (marriage certificate, certificate of no criminal record, birth certificate, school certificate) have to be apostilled.

• If your country is a signatory of the Apostille convention, the document is apostilled by your country’s authorities. You can check whether your country is a signatory and which are the competent authorities here.
• If your country is not a signatory, you need to certify the documents at the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs or a Slovenian embassy/consulate in your country.

Upravna enota can demand that the documents be officially translated (by a court appointed translator) into Slovenian, but they can also decide to accept them in English. An officer at Upravna enota decides autonomously if he/ she will accept your documents in English or demand the official translation into Slovene. 

Documents for your spouse

• apostilled copy of passport, which has to be valid at least until the end of the period of temporary residency plus 3 months
• a picture of passport quality and size (size 3,5 x 4,5 cm, on photo paper, color)
• marriage certificate, not older than 3 months, apostilled, translated
• certificate of no criminal record, not older than 3 months, apostilled, translated
• you need to prove sufficient funds to support your family, which you do by providing:
  • your employment contract
  • pay slips for the last 6 months + current month
  • statements from your bank account for the last 6 months + current month
  • a signed declaration of support (Izjava o preživljanju). Here is an example you could follow.
  • If your spouse has his/her income, provide his/her pay slips and bank account statements as well (this can help prove sufficient means)
    

Documents for children

• Apostilled copy of passport
• picture
• birth certificate, apostilled, translated
• school certificate if the child is school aged
  

Upravna enota can demand you provide health insurance covering emergency cases for family members. It is not needed when filing an application, if they will demand it, you can provide it later.

Costs

Below are the costs for applications and issuance of documents from infotujci.si.

Item	Cost in EUR
Application filed in Slovenia	4,50
Issuance of temporary residence permit	50,00
Cost of residency card	15,47

Unions are workers’ organisations. Workers form unions aim to confront the employer together and collectively demand better working conditions. Unions are very different from “agencies”, which are essentially businesses – even if they help workers with their documents, searching for an employer etc., the main goal and reason for existence of the agencies is to make profit. 

What do unions do?

• Employers have the obligation to enter into collective bargaining with the representative union. In the collective agreement workers can enforce better working conditions. For the union to be representative, its membership must consist of at least 15% of employed workers.  
• Protect workers who are dismissed or work in unfair conditions 
• Enforce labour legislation.
• Organise collective action.

Employers see unions as a threat especially because unions can organise strikes, slow-downs and other forms of withholding labour and reducing the intensity of work. Many employers organise work in shifts, so the warehouse or factory is active 24 hours a day: an hour when workers don’t move the products or use the tools, means an hour, in which the products and tools, for which the capitalist paid!, are not creating profit. Companies use many different tactics to prevent workers from unionising and striking.

One of such tactics is the establishment of “company unions”, which are created by the company to “bargain” with them only for concessions the company is already ready to give and discourage workers from taking actions such as strikes. You will recognise company unions easily, as they are friendly with the employer and don’t really do anything but accept the companies’ conditions.Another company tactic is creating conditions in which workers fear that if they organise in a union, they will be fired. If a union consists of only a few workers, they easily become the target and are in danger of not getting their contract renewed. But there are ways around this: until the union becomes strong enough, that a bigger mass of workers demands the change of working conditions together, you can organise informally or join the union anonymously.