The crisis for local workers: From India to Kosovo to work in press industry

Visar Idrizi, owner of this company offering printing services for private, state and international firms, tells Radio Free Europe that some workers have provided them from Bulgaria, Turkey and India.

“is not the large number of these [strangers] workers we've hired, as we have difficulty obtaining work visas for them”, says Idrizi, failing to give them the exact number.

The “is very good in Kosovo. I feel good at my workplace”, says one of the workers from India, who has been joining the company “Viprint”.

“work in the printing sector. We've been offered access and well paid”, says 32-year-old, without specifying more.

According to company leaders who have nearly 60 workers, the salary ranges from 400 to 1,500 euros, depending on the qualifications of a worker and his work.

Idrizi says he is continuing his search for more workers from outside Kosovo.

The [workers] we find [in Kosovo], as we train them, they also flee to European Union countries. We need a more stable staff”, he says.

Market research abroad, he says it is not difficult because of contacts he has created with business partners from other countries. The biggest problems arise when procedures reach permission of residence in Kosovo and work permits, Idrizi says.

Employment of foreign nationals in Kosovo is regulated by the Law to grant permission for work and employment to foreign citizens, which has been in force since 2009.

Under this law, physical persons, who are not citizens of Kosovo, when wanting to work on Kosovo territory for a deadline of at least three months, should be equipped with work permits.

On the other hand, the Government of Kosovo, in line with migration policy and the situation on the labour market, sets the number of work permits for foreign citizens for next year at the end of each year.

Law in Kosovo also envisions punishment measures.

If an employer hires a foreign citizen with no work permits, he is fined between 1,500 and 3,000 euros.

Also, if a foreign citizen works without work permits, he is fined 500 to 1,000 euros.

Free Europe Radio has asked the Ministry of Finance, Labour and Transfers in Kosovo for the number of applications that have been made for work permits for foreign citizens this year, as well as for the specified quota, but, until the publication of this article, there is no response.

For permission to stay in Kosovo with the aim of work, the foreign citizen must collect a series of documents among them: the employment contract, testimony that is not condemned, testimony for education and qualifications he has, health insurance and so on. Their meeting and proceeding often take months at a time.

Visar Idrizi says that many business representatives in Kosovo, through economic associations, have sought to facilitate the procedures for obtaining work permits for foreign citizens.

This is for the benefit of our country and our future. We can't develop without labor force”, he says.

Why is there a crisis for domestic workers?

Kosovo, for months or even years, faces a lack of workers of various profiles, from tailors to doctors and nurses.

This, despite the unemployment rate of over 17 percent, according to the Kosovo Statistics Agency (ASK).

Free jobs on Kosovo Employment Agency platform

The citizens' interest in working, especially in the private sector, has declined for several reasons. According to the Labour Inspectorate, they are related to the lack of contract, work at the weekend, lack of extra hours, low wages, and so forth.

The minimum wage in Kosovo, by 2011, is 130 euros for persons under the age of 35 and 170 euros for those over 35.

The average gross salary for 2021, according to the AKS, has been 484 euros.

According to the Independent Private Sector Union, another reason that has led to crisis for workers is the migration of citizens.

KSF data speaks of over 42,000 citizens expelled from Kosovo in 2021, for various reasons.

A survey by the US-based International Republican Institute, published in November last year, has shown that 78 percent of Kosovars between the ages of 18 and 35 would eventually leave “” or “probably” from their country if they could.

Krasniqi: Programs related to the job market need to be facilitated

Skender Krasniqi, director of the nongovernmental organisation Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Pristina, says the state should review the Law on Foreign Employment and facilitate the permit procedures. But actions, according to him, should be done in relation to job market demands.

The state must provide work permits for sectors, for professions missing in the labour market”, he says.

“We face a high unemployment rate and if there is to be an increase in the arrival of workers from other states, then for workers in Kosovo it will be more difficult”, Krasniqi adds.

According to information from businesses, he says, many of them aim to provide labor power from Asian countries.

“The workers from Asian countries work on lower wages than the average one in Kosovo, and this fits businesses”, Krasniqi tells Radio Free Europe.

Economy experts in Kosovo have repeatedly called for improving working conditions, with the aim of seducing domestic workers.

According to research by the American Economic Oda in Kosovo, businesses in the gastronomy sector, construction and agriculture have the most difficulty of finding workers.

Region countries, employment of foreign citizens

But Kosovo does not seem to be the only country in the Western Balkans, which is in this situation.

In Albania, where unemployment is over 11 percent, the number of foreign citizens employed in this country is on the rise.

According to the Employment and Efficiency Agency data in Albania last year, 5,034 foreign citizens were equipped with work permits and employment claims, compared to 3,341 in 2020, or 3.122 in 2017.

The largest of them are from Turkey, the Philippines, India, China, and other countries.

The main sectors that import the workforce in Albania are the processing industry, construction, agriculture, fishing and so forth.

In northern Macedonia, meanwhile, the number of employment requirements for foreign citizens in 2022 period January-October has been 3.923, while work permits have been issued 3.342.

According to the Employment Agency in Northern Macedonia, out of the approved requirements, 119 permits have been issued indefinitely, while all others in the six-month to one year term. After the deadline expired, they have continued with the same term of validity.

In the last five years, in northern Macedonia, where unemployment reaches over 14 percent, 18.204 work permits for foreign citizens have been issued, out of 20,690 requests, in total.

Most of the requirements have been made by citizens of Turkey and Albania, while a smaller number from Serbia, Thailand and Arab states.

Most of the work permits have been granted in the construction sector.