North Macedonia work permit quota for foreign nationals in 2026
The government set a quota of 10,000 permits for 2026: 9,750 for employment, 200 for posted workers and 50 for seasonal work, in force since 16 January.
The Government of the Republic of North Macedonia set a quota of 10,000 permits for foreign nationals for 2026, and the decision entered into force on 16 January. Of those, 9,750 are for employment, 200 for posted workers and 50 for seasonal work. Within the employment share, 4,500 are for new hires and 5,250 for extensions of existing permits.
The figure is a legal ceiling rather than a political announcement. Article 4 paragraph 1 of the Law on Employment and Work of Foreigners, Official Gazette 217/2015 and 163/2021, obliges the government to set the quota each year by decision, adopted at the latest by the end of the current year for the following one. Once the quota for a given purpose is used up, the Employment Agency has no basis to issue a positive opinion for that purpose, and the file waits for the next year or for an amendment of the decision.
How the quota is split and what the split means
Article 5 paragraph 3 of the same law divides the quota into four groups: employment of foreign nationals, workers posted into the country, seasonal work, and individual services. The 2026 allocation shows where the government expects demand.
| Purpose | Permits for 2026 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Employment, new hires | 4,500 | 45 percent |
| Employment, extensions | 5,250 | 52.5 percent |
| Posted workers | 200 | 2 percent |
| Seasonal work | 50 | 0.5 percent |
| Total | 10,000 | 100 percent |
The split is instructive. More than half of the annual quota is reserved for people already working in the country, which means an employer planning new arrivals is competing for 4,500 places, not for 10,000. Article 6 of the law confirms that order of priority: valid work permits first, then permits under ratified international agreements, and only in third place new permits and residence permits for work.
Seasonal is the narrowest channel. Fifty permits for a whole year, against 9,750 for ordinary employment, means the seasonal regime is not in practice an alternative for construction or large scale tourism staffing. The conditions and durations of that regime are set out in seasonal employment, and the posting regime in posted workers.
Who sits outside the quota
Article 5 paragraph 2 lists five categories that are not counted against the quota: foreign nationals granted equal treatment with citizens under a reciprocity agreement with the European Union, foreign nationals working under an international agreement concluded on the principle of reciprocity, professional athletes and sports staff, workers temporarily posted by a foreign legal entity into a registered branch for managerial or special tasks, and participants in government supported development projects.
Article 5 paragraph 11 adds to that by allowing the government, in cases of international tenders, to have residence permits for work issued outside the quota and without prior consent from the Employment Agency. That provision is what covers the workforce on the large infrastructure sections, so the headcount on the corridor sites does not draw on the same account as a factory in Kumanovo.
The upper bound of the quota is not discretionary. Article 5 paragraph 4 provides that the employment share may not annually exceed 5 percent of the legally employed population, according to State Statistical Office data. At current employment levels that leaves room well above 10,000, so the 2026 figure is a policy choice inside the statutory ceiling rather than the ceiling itself.
What the trend shows
The quota is rising quickly. It stood at 1,704 permits in 2021, at 7,000 in 2023, and at 10,000 for 2026. Interior Ministry data on issued residence permits for work follows the same direction: 823 people in 2023, 2,397 in 2024 and 3,320 in 2025. By nationality, Bangladesh went from 12 in 2023 to 626 in 2025, Nepal from 32 to 427, while India sits around 300 and 258 across the last two years.
The gap between the quota and its take up is the part an employer should read closely. On published figures for last year, more than 8,500 positive opinions were issued and more than 6,000 permits granted, which means a share of opinions never becomes a permit. The reason is usually procedural rather than market driven: the start of work is not registered inside the 90 day window in Article 84 of the Law on Foreigners, or the file before the Agency is incomplete. The sequence that closes that gap is set out in the permit procedure.
Article 5 paragraphs 6 and 7 also give the government the right to reduce or vary the quota during the year by region, sector, legal entity and job, among other grounds because of rising unemployment or at the request of a chamber supported by evidence of lost jobs. An employer planning mobilisation nine months ahead is working with a number that may lawfully change in the meantime, and that is the risk worth pricing into delivery dates agreed with a client. Werklist tracks these allocations for employers recruiting from Nepal, India and the Philippines, and the scope of that work is on the employers page.
The quota is a resource with an order of priority, not a promised number. An employer who opens the file in the first quarter is working with a different reality from one who waits for autumn.
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