Changing employer on a Slovenian single permit, when the ZRSZ gives consent

A foreign worker holding a Slovenian single permit may move to a new employer, but only with consent from the Employment Service of Slovenia (ZRSZ). The new employer files form 2/1, preceded by a labour market test on form PDM-KTD. The ZRSZ decides on the test in five working days and on consent within 15 days of the application (ZRSZ, 2026).

What is filed, and in what order

A change of employer is a consent procedure, not a notification, and the order is fixed. Form PDM-KTD goes to the ZRSZ first, testing the labour market for the advertised post. Once the test is done, the new employer files form 2/1 for consent to the change of employer. That consent is what allows the administrative unit to record the new employer on the single permit.

Until consent is issued, the worker may not start with the new employer. This is where most cases go wrong in practice. The worker resigns from the old job and the new employer assumes a start date a week later. Between the end of the previous employment relationship and the issued consent there is no legal basis for work, which also means a break in social insurance cover.

File while the previous employment relationship is still running. The 15 day deadline for consent runs from a complete application, not from the day the worker resigned. If the ZRSZ asks for the file to be completed, processing extends by whatever time the answer takes.

The conditions the new employer has to meet

Consent is assessed under Article 17 of the Act on the Employment, Self employment and Work of Foreigners (ZZSDT) and against the conditions published by the ZRSZ. The new employer has to be properly registered for the activity the worker will perform, must not be in liquidation or bankruptcy, must have been operating for at least six months, and must carry no tax debt on the day of filing. The ZRSZ also checks that at least one person has been employed there and covered by compulsory social insurance for a minimum of six months.

Redundancies carry a condition of their own. An employer that has dismissed workers for business reasons in the previous six months will normally not receive consent. The exception applies where the foreign worker is guaranteed at least the average gross wage, which the ZRSZ verifies at the point of application. The labour market test uses the same standard as a first hire: no suitable unemployed person may be registered for that post. The detail sits in the guide to the PDM-KTD labour market test, and the occupational exemptions in the note on shortage occupations exempt from the labour market test.

Work for several employers at once has a separate rule. The worker must first have been continuously registered in compulsory social insurance for at least one month. Without that month behind them, a second employer cannot be added even where both companies meet every other condition.

Where the procedure breaks

Three failures repeat. The first is resignation before filing, which leaves the worker uninsured and the employer without labour for an open ended period. The second is the registered activity: the new employer is registered for an activity that does not match the work consent is sought for, which the ZRSZ catches on first review. The third is a business reasons redundancy inside the previous six months, often missed by the HR team because it happened at another site of the same company.

On cost, the employer pays an administrative fee at the administrative unit when the new employer is recorded on the permit, plus internal time to assemble the evidence. The ZRSZ procedure itself carries no separate employer tariff. The real cost is the stretch of time during which the post stands empty.

The base procedure this sits on is set out in the guide to the Slovenian single permit for employers.

Plan a change of employer as a three week procedure rather than an administrative entry. Employers who file while the previous contract is still running move the worker across without a break in insurance cover. Employers who wait for the resignation are betting that all three of the failures above stay clear at the same time.