From self-employment to employment in Serbia

If a foreign national already holds a valid jedinstvena dozvola on the basis of samozapošljavanje and a Serbian company wants to employ that person, the usual issue is a change of work basis, not first terminating and re-applying for the person’s residence basis. Serbian law provides a separate National Employment Service procedure — saglasnost NSZ — while the current single permit is still valid.¹²

This guide is available in three languages

Русская версия · Српска верзија

Do not confuse the residence basis with the work basis

If only the way the person works changes within a valid jedinstvena dozvola, do not start from the assumption that the old residence right must first be terminated. Article 11 of the Foreigners Employment Act expressly allows the holder of a valid single permit to change employer or work basis after obtaining NSZ consent.¹²

For the general employer procedure, see Employing a foreign worker in Serbia. If the residence basis itself is changing, see the Russian guide Changing the residence basis and terminating temporary residence.

In brief

• A valid single permit based on samozapošljavanje may be moved to another work basis during its validity through NSZ consent.¹²
• The request may be filed by the foreign national, the employer on the foreign national’s behalf, or an authorised person.¹²
• NSZ’s statutory period for deciding a complete request is 10 days.¹²
• For a move to ordinary employment, the requirements of the employment assessment must be met; the employer starts PPZ and the labour-market test when required for the chosen basis.¹²
• The person must not start working for the new employer until NSZ consent has been obtained and the other mandatory onboarding conditions have been met.¹²
• A fixed-term employment contract, ugovor o delu or another contract does not by itself bypass the foreign worker’s right-to-work requirements. The Act covers both employment contracts and other contracts under which a foreign national acquires rights for work without entering an employment relationship.²
• Moving from preduzetnik to employee for the same client is not prohibited merely because the counterparty is the same. The preceding B2B period is assessed separately under the factual criteria of the Test samostalnosti.³
• If the employer has already allowed the foreign national to work without the required consent or permit, the work does not become unpaid: the employer remains liable for monetary claims and the related taxes and contributions. This does not make the improper start lawful.²

Procedure: samozapošljavanje to employment

1. Check the existing single permit. Confirm that it is valid, that its work basis is samozapošljavanje, and that the intended change is employment with a specific Serbian employer.
2. Do not automatically terminate the existing basis. The plan to become an employee does not itself mean the current jedinstvena dozvola must first be surrendered. Determine the work-basis-change procedure through NSZ.¹²
3. The employer defines the role and prepares the contractual document. For the employment assessment, the legal framework provides for an offer of an employment contract or another appropriate contractual document.²
4. The employer starts PPZ where required. For ordinary employment, NSZ conducts the relevant assessment and labour-market test; PPZ is initiated by the employer.¹²
5. File the request for saglasnost NSZ. The foreign national, employer on their behalf, or an authorised person may file. Evidence required for the new employment basis must accompany the request.¹
6. Wait for consent. The official NSZ decision period for a complete request is 10 days. Do not start work for the new employer before a positive decision.¹²
7. Complete mandatory social-insurance registration. The employer registers the worker in CROSO before the actual start of work.⁴
8. Start work under the agreed employment contract. Keep the NSZ consent, contract, CROSO confirmation and other evidence of lawful onboarding.

The employer can take part in the procedure directly

The foreign national does not have to “reissue their own status” independently and then bring a finished result to the employer. NSZ expressly allows the employer to file the consent request on the foreign national’s behalf. Employer-side documents, PPZ and the facts of the specific job are also the employer’s responsibility.¹

Must the preduzetnik be closed first?

Do not treat closing or suspending the business as an automatic first step merely because an employment contract is planned. For the immigration-and-work procedure, the key issue is changing the work basis of the valid single permit through NSZ.¹²

After the transition, decide separately whether the preduzetnik will continue, be suspended or be closed. Keeping a business, suspending it and closing it have their own tax, social-insurance and immigration consequences. If the person wants to remain a preduzetnik while also becoming an employee, do not assume the old self-employment single permit automatically covers that combination: process the concrete work-status combination through NSZ and review mandatory insurance separately.

See the Russian guide Closing or suspending a Serbian entrepreneur.

Can the person first work as a preduzetnik and later become the client’s employee?

The transition from B2B through a Serbian preduzetnik to employment by the same client is not prohibited merely because the client is the same. The tax Test samostalnosti has no separate criterion saying “later became this client’s employee” or “was previously this client’s employee”. It applies nine factual criteria to the B2B relationship with the specific client; meeting at least five of the nine generally causes the payment to receive the special ostali prihod tax treatment.³

Later employment therefore does not, by itself, make the earlier B2B period unlawful. However, if the person was already operating like an ordinary employee before formal employment — for example, the client determined working hours and workplace, provided the main work equipment, directed the work process and the relationship was economically dependent — those facts may satisfy criteria of the independence test.³

Do not use a business registration as a paper substitute for employment

A scheme such as “while we wait for NSZ, perform the same role on the same schedule under the same management, but invoice us as a preduzetnik” does not become safe merely because there is a B2B contract and an invoice. Check both the immigration work basis and the factual independence of the relationship.²³

The detailed tax criteria are covered in the Russian article Business forms in Serbia.

Can a fixed-term or civil contract be used temporarily?

A fixed term does not replace the foreign national’s right to work. Ugovor o radu na određeno vreme remains an employment contract and requires a valid work basis.

The same applies to simply renaming the arrangement as ugovor o delu, privremeni i povremeni poslovi or another contract. The Act defines zapošljavanje stranca broadly: it includes an employment contract or another contract under which the foreign national acquires work-related rights without entering an employment relationship.²

Such a contract may be a valid model where all its own requirements are satisfied, but it is not a general workaround for working before the required NSZ consent exists.

What if the person has already started work?

Article 15 of the Foreigners Employment Act separately protects the foreign national’s monetary claims. If an employer engaged the person without the required D visa, single permit, NSZ consent or temporary residence that itself carries a right to work, the employer must pay all monetary claims under labour rules and the related taxes and contributions.²

For this situation the Act also establishes a presumption that the employment relationship lasted at least three months, unless the contrary is proven.²

Payment for work already performed does not legalise an improper start

Article 15 protects the payment claim; it does not turn work without the required right to work into lawful employment. The Act separately provides for liability of employers and foreign nationals for breaches of foreign-worker employment rules. If work has already started, record the actual dates and scope of work and regularise any future work as quickly as possible.²

Common employer mistake: “first change the residence basis”

If the person holds a valid jedinstvena dozvola based on samozapošljavanje, separate two questions:

1. Is the residence basis changing? If the person continues under the current single-permit framework and only changes how they work, the Act provides the NSZ work-basis-change procedure.¹²
2. Is the work basis changing? For the move from samozapošljavanje to zaposlenje, obtain saglasnost NSZ and meet the conditions of the employment assessment.¹²

It is useful to point the employer directly to Article 11 of the Foreigners Employment Act and the official NSZ guidance. Both state that during the validity of a single permit a foreign national may change employer or work basis after NSZ consent, and that the employer may file the request.¹²

Checklist before the first day of employment

Check that:

• the current jedinstvena dozvola is still valid;
• the new work basis has been identified;
• the employer has prepared the contractual document;
• PPZ and the labour-market test have been completed where required;
• NSZ consent for the change of work basis has been obtained;
• CROSO registration has been completed before work starts;
• the actual employment start date does not precede the right to work;
• any previous B2B period or work already performed has been dealt with separately;
• filing confirmations, decisions, contracts and registrations have been retained.

Footnotes

1. National Employment Service of Serbia (NSZ): Employment of foreigners in the Republic of Serbia from 1 February 2024 — change of employer and work basis during a valid single permit, eligible filers, the 10-day period, employment assessment and PPZ. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶

2. Zakon o zapošljavanju stranaca, Articles 2, 9, 11, 15, 16 and 16a: official text in the Legal Information System of the Republic of Serbia. Article 2 defines zapošljavanje stranca; Article 11 governs NSZ consent for changing employer/work basis; Article 15 covers monetary claims for work already performed; Articles 16–16a cover employment assessment and the labour-market test. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²²

3. Tax Administration of Serbia: current Poreski informator za fizička lica koja obavljaju samostalnu delatnost, December 2025, section Test samostalnosti, and the official application guidance — nine criteria, the five-of-nine threshold and assessment of the factual relationship with a specific client. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

4. CROSO: How to file the unified registration — mandatory social-insurance registration before the actual start of work. ↩