STA, 28 March 2022 - Finance criticises in Monday's commentary the administrative units for being slow in processing applications for work permits filed by foreigners, saying that these applicants will not sit idle while waiting for a response. This is also important in light of Ukrainian refugees coming to Slovenia.
This is a long-standing problem - there are no workers in Slovenia, foreigners from third countries would like to work, but they have to wait an average of six months for a permit.
On the other hand, the state apparatus says that the matter cannot be speeded up because there is not enough employees, the newspaper says under the headline An F for Administrative Units.
The most surprising data is that 15,000 applications are pending in the Ljubljana administrative unit alone, Finance says, noting that production or construction workers, as well as highly qualified staff, are waiting for a permit.
A new task force has been appointed to deal with the issue, which has assessed that the backlog could be reduced or eliminated in six months, under the assumption that there will be unannounced sick leaves or termination of job contracts.
"Today, when user experience is important, it seems that public administration has gotten stuck in the previous century," Finance says, adding that it is processing mountains of documents and complaining that it does not have enough employees.
A foreign worker cannot sit idle while waiting, and if they are not hired in Slovenia, they will try to get a job in Austria, as he is only tens of kilometres away and where wages are higher.
Noting that Ukrainian refugees are coming, Finance says that the state is all about promises and wonders whether it will now wake up and make sure that refugees sort out the paperwork faster so that they can start to work.
