Programmes and schemes for cross-border mobility

One of the measures of the Youth Guarantee is ‘International Mobility of Young People’. It aims to help young people who want to try to find a job in the European labour market. It involves the following measures:

• EURES - Your first EURES Job (Tvoja prva zaposlitev EURES) – The purpose of the project is to offer help to young people (between 18 and 35 years old) with finding a job, traineeship or apprenticeship in one of the EU countries, Iceland or Norway. The measure, funded by the European union, began in 2019 and is ongoing.
• Transnational mobility for young people with fewer opportunities (learning network for transnational mobility measures for disadvantaged youths and young adults TLN mobility) –The implementation began in 2016 and is funded by European Social Fund.
• Open, responsive and high-quality higher education system – This measure aims to increase the mobility of students from less privileged backgrounds. The measure began in 2016 and is ongoing.

The organisations responsible for these measures are Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities and the Employment Service of Slovenia.

Slovenia has not developed any cross-border mobility programmes in the field of employment. The EU Erasmus+ programme is the most important programme promoting mobility because it represents the beginning of a legal way to support such projects and their goals. As a result, an increasing number of players in the youth field have prepared international youth activities.

According to the ‘Slovenian National report’, ‘Slovenia promotes opportunities for education and work abroad through the Slovene Human Resources and Scholarship Fund, and the EURES job centres that operate within the Employment Service of Slovenia. The abovementioned fund was established in 2006 with a view to implementing the scholarship policy, allocating funds for human resources and staff development and increasing employability, promoting life-long learning and linking the education system with labour market needs..

YfEJ (Tvoja prva zaposlitev EURES) is a targeted mobility scheme to help young nationals aged 18–35 find work in EU EFTA/EEA countries that they were not born in. It targets both job seekers and employers and provides a comprehensive mobility package that includes financial support. Presently, the scheme is expected to ensure around 1,500 work placements. The project supports mainly jobs, but also some traineeships or apprenticeships. Specialized counsellors in EURES centres provide information, counselling and job-brokerage services for the European labour market. According to the Portal EURES, most social science graduates want to work abroad. Due to their language abilities, they usually seek job in Austria, Italy, Germany and the UK.

In addition to initiatives and programmes mentioned above, the Trade Union Sindikat Mladi Plus offers counselling for traineeships and employment abroad.

Legal framework

There is no specific legal framework for the cross-border mobility of young workers, trainees/apprentices and entrepreneurs (most of the legal framework targets population in general).

Citizens of the European Union, the EEA and the Swiss Confederation have the right to work in Slovenia under the same conditions as Slovenian citizens. No work permit to access the labour market or to work in Slovenia is needed, but they must, on the basis of their employment in Slovenia, arrange for legal residence, in accordance with the provisions of the law governing the entry and residence of foreigners. They are entitled to the same treatment as citizens of Slovenia with regard to the provision of working conditions and social benefits.  The main legal basis is Employment Relationships Act (Zakon o delovnih razmerjih).

Foreign nationals from third countries may be employed, self-employed or work in Slovenia only on the basis of a valid single permit obtained with the consent of the Employment Service. The single permit combines and replaces the former residence and work permits. The Republic of Slovenia concludes international employment treaties with third countries, setting conditions for the employment, self-employment and work of foreigners, and adopts measures to protect the domestic labour market, including limiting the applicable conditions. It also concludes international social security treaties, which lay down the conditions and procedures for exercising social security rights in the event of migration between the contracting countries. These countries are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Canada, the United States of America, Argentina, Australia, South Korea and Quebec.

The procedures and conditions applying to the issuing of a single permit are laid down in the Foreigners Act (Zakon o tujcih) and the Employment, Self-employment and Work of Foreigners Act (Zakon o zaposlovanju, samozaposlovanju in delu tujcev).