After recent meetings with Chinese officials, the Slovak government is considering issuing a higher number of national visas to Chinese nationals, which could further improve the trade relations and the developments between the two countries.
According to unofficial information on the draft regulation, the number of national visas that Slovakia could issue to Chinese will increase to 1,000 per year. This is a legislative proposal created by Erik Tomáš, the Slovak Labour Minister, Schengen.News reports.
The legal regulation proposes to establish the conditions and purpose for the expression of interest of the Slovak Republic in granting a national visa for the purpose of employment to nationals of the People’s Republic of China who are employees of selected investors for a period of employment of no more than one year.
Chinese employees can relocate to Slovakia for employment purposes after being issued a valid residence permit and if their skills can be used in the Slovak labour market after domestic resources have been exhausted.
Slovakia Increased the Number of Residence Permits for Foreign Workers in Recent Years
In 2024, the national visa quota for skilled workers in Slovakia was 2,000 while for highly qualified workers was set at 3,000, with transport drivers being some of the main beneficiaries.
The Slovak Republic will grant national visas to selected groups of third-country nationals in the professions of bus drivers with 200 national visas, heavy-duty truck drivers (international transport), and heavy-duty truck drivers (domestic transport) with 2,000 national visas in the year 2024.
According to data published by Eurostat, the EU statistical office, Slovakia has granted 642,710 residence permits in 2023, with the majority of them being issued for employment purposes.
In other words, 225,237 or 35 per cent of residence permits granted by Slovak authorities in 2024 were for employment purposes, compared to 218,241 residence permits granted for other reasons, which represented 33.9 per cent of all permits issued.
In addition, Slovak authorities granted 170,242 residence permits for family reunification, and another 25,461 for education and refugee protection were issued 3,529 residence permits.
The data also reveals that there has been an increase in the number of residence permits Slovakia granted to non-EU citizens in 2023. The number of residence permits has been up by 9.7 per cent, being one of the highest increases among other European countries.
Lithuania, Malta, Croatia, Romania, Ireland, Bulgaria, and Finland were among the countries with the highest increases in residence permits granted during these years.
