The EU Blue Card in Slovenia for highly qualified employment

The EU Blue Card is a temporary residence permit for highly qualified employment. The administrative unit issues it, the Employment Service of the Republic of Slovenia gives consent and must decide within 15 days. It is issued for two years and can be extended with a validity of up to three years.

Slovenia transposed Directive (EU) 2021/1883 through the amendment published in Official Gazette RS, no. 32/25, in force from 21 May 2025. The European framework it follows is set out in the review of the EU Blue Card Directive.

The conditions the Employment Service checks

Consent to a single permit for an EU Blue Card is given if all of the following are met.

• The foreign national holds at least higher professional qualifications.
• An employment contract for at least six months, signed by the employer, is attached, guaranteeing a salary of at least the average annual gross wage in the Republic of Slovenia as last published in the Official Gazette.
• There is no suitable person in the register of unemployed.
• The employer is duly registered for the activity in which the worker will work and is not in bankruptcy or liquidation.
• The employer has filed withholding tax calculations on employment income for the six months before the month of application, or for its period of operation if shorter, and has settled all tax obligations.
• The employer is actively operating, and the foreign national meets the requirements the employer sets.

The application carries a photograph, passport or certified copy, proof of health insurance, proof of sufficient means of subsistence, a criminal record certificate from the country of origin, the employment contract, proof of qualifications in the form of a decision or opinion from the body competent for recognition or evaluation of education, and a signed employer declaration on whether accommodation is provided.

Proof of qualifications is the slowest item in that set. The decision or opinion of the body competent for evaluating education is obtained in a separate procedure that runs before the application is filed, not alongside it.

The salary threshold and what changed in 2025

Until the amendment the act required a salary of 1.5 times the average annual gross wage. The amendment cut that to one times the average annual gross wage, with a further adjustment for health and social care, where the pay of highly qualified staff at the start of work often did not exceed the national average. In its 2025 report the Labour Inspectorate of the Republic of Slovenia notes that the change was intended to encourage Slovenian employers to use the European scheme more often.

The average annual gross wage is derived from the average monthly gross wage last published in the Official Gazette. According to the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, the average monthly gross wage at legal entities for 2025 was 2,536.03 EUR, which puts the annual threshold in the region of 30,400 EUR. A cut of roughly a third is therefore the one 2025 change that directly alters which roles the Blue Card is reachable for at all.

Validity and changing employer

The Blue Card is issued for two years. If the employment contract runs for a shorter period, it is issued for a period three months longer than the contract, but never more than two years.

Changing the post with the same employer or changing employer in the first year of employment requires consent for the change. The Employment Service issues it on an application by the worker or the employer, filed with the administrative unit on form 9/1, and must decide within 15 days. It sends the consent together with an information sheet to the employer, who may register the worker for compulsory social insurance on that basis alone, no later than 30 days from service.

Adjusted conditions apply to a worker who already holds a Blue Card in another EU member state. If they were employed in the first member state for less than two years and will work in an unregulated profession, they must hold at least higher professional qualifications. For a regulated profession they need a decision from the body competent for the recognition of professional qualifications.

The rest of the procedure matches the ordinary single permit, which rests on the same European basis described in the review of single permits across member states. Werklist runs both procedures for employers in Slovenia, and the scope of that work is set out on the employers page.

The Blue Card in Slovenia is therefore not a faster route but a different one. The Employment Service deadline is the same and the fee is the same. What differs is the qualification, the salary threshold and what the holder can do later. An employer chasing speed will not find it here. An employer who wants to keep an engineer or a doctor for several years is counting in the right document.