Vacancy Registration and the Labour Market Test at Serbia's National Employment Service: What Employers Must Do Before Filing

Hiring a foreign national in Serbia is usually described as a Single Permit process, one application covering both work and residence authorization. What that description tends to leave out is a step that has to happen alongside, or even ahead of, that application: a labour market test run by the National Employment Service, the NSZ, confirming that no candidate already registered with the service meets the role's requirements and the right to work in Serbia. Employers who treat this as a formality that resolves itself once the Single Permit is filed are the ones most likely to see a case stall at exactly this point.

What the labour market test actually checks

The NSZ maintains a register of job seekers, and the labour market test is the mechanism by which it checks that register against the specific vacancy an employer wants to fill with a foreign hire. The process starts with the employer submitting a Vacancy Registration Form, generally referred to by its Serbian abbreviation, the PPZ form, describing the role, its requirements, and the occupation it falls under.

Where the employer is filing the Single Permit application on the foreign candidate's behalf, the labour market testing request and the PPZ form are submitted together, online, through Serbia's Portal for Foreigners. The PPZ form can also be filed separately, through the eGovernment portal, up to 60 days before the Single Permit request itself, or, at the latest, on the same day the permit application goes in. Filing it well ahead of the permit application, rather than on the same day, gives the employer a buffer if the NSZ raises a question about the vacancy description before the rest of the case is submitted.

Once the vacancy is registered and the test completed, the system generates an ID Number. The employer passes this number to the foreign candidate, who then enters it into their own Single Permit application, linking the two filings together. An employer that already holds a valid ID Number for a given vacancy does not need to repeat the labour market test for that same role, which matters for employers running multiple hires against one approved vacancy: a single group Single Permit request can cover the same number of people the labour market test approved, or fewer, as long as the job title, description, and occupation all match what was originally tested.

Changes during the permit's validity also route through the NSZ

The labour market test is not the only point in the process where the NSZ's approval matters. A foreign national already holding a Single Permit who wants to change employer, take on a second employer alongside the first, or change the legal basis their permit rests on, needs NSZ approval for that change as well, not just a notification. The request can come from the foreign worker, from the employer acting for them, or from an authorised representative, and it goes to the NSZ branch covering the employer's registered seat.

The NSZ aims to decide these requests within ten days of a properly completed submission, and the underlying requirements mirror whatever category the new arrangement falls into: a move to a new employer is assessed against the standard employment-based criteria, while a shift toward self-employment is assessed against the self-employment requirements instead. Until the relevant online service becomes available for a given request type, submissions can still be made by email, in person at the NSZ registry office, or by post. A modest request fee, currently RSD 430, is payable to the state budget as part of this process.

One deadline employers should build into their internal tracking directly: once an employment contract with a Single Permit holder ends, that person has 30 days to conclude a new employment contract before the provisions of Serbia's law on the entry and stay of foreigners begin to apply to their situation. For an employer managing a termination, or a foreign employee between roles, that 30-day window is a hard boundary worth flagging well before it arrives, not discovering as the clock is already running out.

Where employers lose time on this step

The most common failure point is sequencing: an employer settles on a candidate, confirms a start date, and only then discovers that the PPZ form and labour market test have to clear before the Single Permit application can meaningfully proceed, rather than running in parallel with it from the start. Filing the vacancy registration as early as the 60-day window allows, rather than waiting until the permit paperwork is otherwise ready, removes this as a source of delay in most cases.

A second recurring issue involves vacancy descriptions that drift from the actual role once the candidate's specific contract is drafted. Because a group Single Permit filing has to match the job title, description, and occupation the labour market test already covered, a mismatch between what was registered and what the final contract says can force a fresh test rather than letting the employer rely on an existing ID Number. Keeping the vacancy description and the eventual contract aligned from the outset avoids this.

How Nestlers Group supports employers through this process

Nestlers Group's Immigration Services team manages the Single Permit process end to end, including the vacancy registration and labour market test that has to clear before a foreign hire's case can move forward, and coordinates the timing of that NSZ filing against the overall case schedule so it runs ahead of, rather than behind, the rest of the application. Where a Single Permit holder's employment changes mid-assignment, whether that means a new employer, an additional role, or a shift in the permit's legal basis, our immigration team handles the NSZ approval request directly, keeping the 30-day post-termination window and other statutory deadlines tracked against each worker's file rather than left to an HR calendar to catch.

Sources: National Employment Service of Serbia (NSZ), "Employment of Foreigners in the Republic of Serbia" guidance page, including Vacancy Registration Form (PPZ) procedure, NSZ approval requirements for employer or basis changes, and the applicable RSD 430 request fee.