Renewing temporary residence for employment is an annual obligation that many transport companies in Slovakia underestimate. A truck driver whose residence permit expires cannot legally work. This means operational disruptions, truck downtime, and potential fines from the labor inspection. Every month, we deal with cases where a company started the process too late, and the driver had to wait at home.
Most employers do not realize how many parallel processes need to be coordinated — an application to the labor office, a confirmation from the Ministry of Transport, and submission to the foreign police. Each of these steps has its own deadline and depends on the previous one. If one step is delayed, the entire chain shifts — and the driver may be left without a valid residence permit precisely when you need them most.
In this article, you will find the exact procedure for when to initiate the renewal, what documents to prepare, what to watch out for, and how to avoid all the stress. This applies to truck drivers from abroad who work for your transport companies in Slovakia based on a temporary residence permit.
What is Temporary Residence for Employment and Who Needs It
Temporary residence for employment is a permit that allows third-country nationals (i.e., countries outside the EU/EEA) to legally work in Slovakia. A truck driver who drives for Slovak transport companies from a country outside the European Union absolutely needs this permit.
The residence permit is issued for a fixed period — usually for 1 year, and for some types, for 2 years. After this period, it is necessary to apply for its renewal. The validity of the permit and the validity of the employment contract must be mutually aligned — if one expires, the other loses its practical meaning.
It is important to know that temporary residence is not automatically renewed by the foreign police. Neither the employee nor the employer will receive any notification from the authorities. The responsibility for timing the entire process lies solely with you — that is, with the company, or with someone to whom you have entrusted this agenda.
When to Start — and Why We Recommend 4 to 5 Months in Advance
Act No. 404/2011 Coll. on the Residence of Foreigners stipulates that an application for the renewal of temporary residence must be submitted no later than 30 days before the expiration date of the current permit. This is the legal minimum — not the recommended deadline.
In practice, we recommend starting preparations 4 to 5 months before the residence permit expires. The reasons are specific and related to the deadlines of individual institutions:
- The labor office has 15 working days to issue a confirmation of the possibility of filling a vacant job position — which actually represents up to 3 calendar weeks
- Before the application to the labor office itself, the company must have reported the vacant job position — in the standard procedure, at least 20 working days in advance
- The foreign police have a statutory 90 days to decide on the renewal of residence
- If the documents are incomplete, the police will ask you to supplement them — which will further extend the entire period
When you put it all together — reporting the VPM (vacant job position), waiting for confirmation from the labor office, and the police proceedings themselves — the total time can easily climb to 4 to 5 months. And that's if everything goes smoothly.
| Preparation Phase | Approximate Time Before Residence Expiration | What Needs to Be Done |
|---|---|---|
| Start of preparation | 4–5 months | Check dates, verify the status of reported VPMs |
| Reporting VPM to the labor office | 4–4.5 months | Report a vacant job position (if not already reported) |
| Application for confirmation from the labor office | approx. 3.5 months | Submit an application for a confirmation of the possibility of filling a VPM |
| Labor office issues confirmation | approx. 3 months | Statutory period of 15 working days = up to 3 calendar weeks |
| Submission of application to the foreign police | no later than 30 days | Personal submission with all documents |
| Police decision | after submission (up to 90 days) | Waiting, possibly supplementing documents |
| Driver's certificate | after the renewed residence is granted | Immediately apply to the Ministry of Transport of the SR — deadline ~1 month |
Labor Office and Confirmation of the Possibility of Filling a VPM — What You Need to Know
From July 2024, a new obligation applies to all applicants for the granting or renewal of temporary residence for employment: at the time of submitting the application to the police, a positive confirmation of the possibility of filling a vacant job position must already have been issued by the relevant labor office. This confirmation must be actively requested by the employer — the police do not handle it for you.
Reporting a Vacant Job Position
Before the application for confirmation itself, the company must have reported a vacant job position to the relevant labor office. In the standard procedure (where the office examines the situation on the labor market), the statutory period of at least 20 working days before submitting the application for confirmation applies. A vacant job position can be reported in person, in writing, by email, or through the online system on the website sluzbyzamestnanosti.gov.sk.
Pay attention to an important detail: Labor offices deduct reported vacant job positions — even for residence renewals. If a company has one vacant driver position reported and applies for confirmation for two drivers simultaneously, it must have two positions reported. Therefore, we recommend continuously monitoring how many VPMs you have reported at a given time on the upsvr.gov.sk portal.
Application for Issuance of Confirmation
The application is submitted by the employer electronically via the slovensko.sk portal, signed with a qualified electronic signature (eID). The application is not subject to a fee. The labor office has 15 working days to issue the confirmation from the delivery of the complete application — which can realistically be up to 3 calendar weeks. If the application is incomplete, the period starts counting again from the supplementation.
Truck Drivers and Accelerated Procedure
Truck drivers (MKD, C+E) are classified as shortage professions in many regions. In this case, the labor office issues confirmation without examining the situation on the labor market, and the 20-day period condition before submitting the application is also waived — it is sufficient to report the VPM on the day of submitting the application for confirmation. The list of shortage professions by region is updated quarterly by the Central Office of Labor, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic — we recommend verifying it on the UPSVaR website before each application.
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Contact Ergasia →Complete List of Documents for Residence Renewal
When renewing temporary residence for employment, criminal record extracts and proof of accommodation are not submitted — these documents are only relevant for the initial granting of residence, not for renewal. The list is thus significantly shorter compared