Slovenia's seasonal work permit for up to 90 days

For seasonal work of up to 90 days in a calendar year a third-country national needs a seasonal work permit issued by the Employment Service of the Republic of Slovenia. Above 90 days a single permit with seasonal consent is required. The service decides on a complete application within 60 days at the latest.

What counts as seasonal work

Seasonal work may be performed in agriculture and forestry or in hospitality and tourism. The law ties it to a season in which a given activity shows a markedly increased need for workers. That is not a descriptive phrase but a condition. Work that runs all year cannot be covered by a seasonal permit, however short the engagement.

The 90 day limit applies to the worker and to the calendar year, not to the employer. The combined duration of one or more valid seasonal permits held by a worker, with the same or a different employer or work contractor, may not exceed 90 days in a calendar year. An employer hiring in August therefore needs to know how many days that worker has already used elsewhere in the same year.

The 2025 amendment to the act regulated seasonal work in hospitality and tourism in more detail, which follows from those being the activities where the volume of seasonal engagements grew fastest.

Conditions for issue and extension

The Employment Service issues the permit if all of the following are met.

• The worker holds a valid passport, valid for at least three months beyond the intended stay in Slovenia, and adequate health insurance.
• There are no suitable persons in the register of unemployed. You can run that check in advance on form PDM-KTD and receive the notice within five working days, as described in the guide to Slovenia's labour market test.
• As employer or work contractor you are entered in the business register for the activity in which the worker will work, or as a holder or member of an agricultural holding in the register of agricultural holdings.
• A concluded employment contract or civil law contract is attached.
• You are not in liquidation or bankruptcy and your tax obligations arising from work or employment are settled.
• The annual quota of seasonal permits, which the government may set, has not been used up.

If the work is performed under a civil law contract, the Employment Service issues the permit without checking the register of unemployed. That exception matters in practice for agricultural holdings, which do not employ their workers.

An extension is possible if you file before the previous permit expires, the same conditions on passport, insurance, contract and tax obligations are met, and the combined duration does not exceed 90 days in the calendar year.

Returning the permit is the deadline most often missed

A seasonal work permit is a document that must be given back. The employer or work contractor must return it whenever no contract is concluded with the worker for any reason, or the contract ends before the permit expires.

The three working day deadline is the shortest in the whole system for hiring foreign nationals and is missed more often than any other. The seasonal crew disperses at the end of September, the permits stay in a folder, and the offence is complete. A final fine under article 55 brings not only the amount but a one year ban on employing and engaging foreign nationals under article 42, which puts the following season in doubt.

The permit also lapses if the period it was issued for expires, if you must return it before that period ends, if the worker gains free access to the Slovenian labour market, if it is annulled, or if the worker dies.

For work beyond 90 days the route runs through the single permit with seasonal consent. How seasonal quotas and bilateral frameworks work elsewhere in the EU is set out in the review of Greek seasonal quotas and bilateral agreements. Werklist runs seasonal and year round procedures for employers in Slovenia, and the scope of that work is set out on the employers page.

The seasonal permit is short lived in both directions. It is obtained quickly and expires quickly, and the duty to return it outlives the end of the season. Anyone who writes the return date into the calendar when the permit is issued rather than when the workers leave avoids the one penalty in this procedure that has nothing to do with choosing the wrong worker.