The Law on Amendments to the Law on Foreigners was published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of North Macedonia, No. 193, dated 18.09.2025, and shall enter into force within eight days from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette.
With the Law on Amendments to the Law on Foreigners, most of the amendments and supplements relate to the procedures for obtaining a temporary residence permit for a foreigner on the basis of employment and referral.
The following are the most significant changes regulated by the Law on Amendments to the Law on Foreigners:
– When first applying for a temporary residence permit for a foreigner on the basis of employment or referral, proof is submitted that the foreigner has no criminal record and that no criminal proceedings are being conducted against the foreigner in the country in which he/she resided in the year prior to submitting the application for temporary residence, which is proven by the documents issued depending on the country
– When extending the temporary residence permit on the basis of employment, the application for extension of the temporary residence permit is submitted no earlier than 90 days before the expiration of the temporary residence or no later than five days before the expiration of the temporary residence, if the conditions from Article 72 are met, the temporary residence is extended, whereby each extension cannot be longer than one year.
– Temporary residence for work purposes will be approved based on a request from a foreigner, a request from the legal entity with which the foreigner has concluded an employment contract or an authorized representative thereof, which may also be submitted to the Ministry of Interior. The request shall be accompanied by a guarantee for the foreigner with whom the employment contract has been concluded. With the guarantee, the legal entity shall submit a written statement, by which it undertakes to bear the costs of the foreigner’s stay and accommodation, as well as the costs of the foreigner’s forced removal from the territory of the Republic of North Macedonia, if they cannot be collected from the foreigner. The guarantee should also contain information about the foreigner (name and surname of the foreigner, date of birth, citizenship of the foreigner, information about the travel document), information about the legal entity providing the guarantee (name of the legal entity, registered office of the legal entity, unique identification number of the entity and unique tax number, signature and seal of the responsible person in the legal entity inviting the foreigner, the reason why the foreigner is being invited to the Republic of North Macedonia, as well as other data that are important in the procedure. The guarantee must be certified by a notary.
– If the documentation submitted to the Ministry of Interior is incomplete, the Ministry of Interior will notify the applicant for approval of temporary residence that the documentation is incomplete, with the aim of completing it within seven days from the date of notification. If the notification is not acted upon and the requested documentation is not completed within seven days, the Ministry of Interior will issue a decision to reject the application for approval of temporary residence.
– As an exception, temporary residence for work purposes will also be approved to a foreigner working on strategic projects determined by a special law, regardless of the quota utilization and the current needs of the labor market in the Republic of North Macedonia, i.e. without issuing an opinion by the Agency. For a foreigner working on strategic projects determined by a special law, a certificate is issued that the legal entity has the status of a strategic partner where the foreigner works. The certificate that the legal entity has the status of a strategic partner where the foreigner works is issued by the Ministry of Economy and Labor.
– In relation to an opinion issued by the Agency, the responsible persons in the legal entity where the foreigner is employed are required to report at the beginning of the work, no later than 30 days from the date of preparation of the temporary residence permit for the foreigner. The Ministry of Internal Affairs shall submit a notification to the Agency on a monthly basis on the prepared temporary residence permits.
– In the procedure for extending temporary residence for work in order to obtain a positive opinion from the Agency, the request should be submitted during the validity period of the previously issued opinion, but not earlier than 90 days before its expiration.
– A foreign legal entity may temporarily send its workers to the Republic of North Macedonia, for the purpose of providing a service based on a concluded contract with a client from the Republic of North Macedonia, for a period not longer than 180 days, with the exception of a foreigner employed in a legal entity with the status of a strategic partner who may be sent to work in the Republic of North Macedonia during the period of project implementation, but not longer than one year, with the possibility of extending the temporary residence.
For procedures initiated until the date of entry into force of the relevant law and relating to the issuance of a temporary residence permit, the provisions of the Law on Foreigners (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia, No. 97/18 and Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia, No. 108/19, 294/21 and 284/23) will apply.