Work Permits & Immigration Support in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 2026

Hiring expatriates in Bosnia and Herzegovina involves more than securing a visa; we help you ensure the individual is legally employed, tax-compliant, and integrated into your organisation without delays or regulatory risk.

Acumen International provides comprehensive immigration support for your international talent, enabling businesses to relocate and onboard international talent without establishing a legal entity in the country.

Last reviewed: August 2026. Reflects the state Law on Movement and Stay of Aliens, the entity employment laws, the 2026 Federation reform for shortage occupations, and current minimum-wage and contribution figures.

Feature	Details
Work authorisation	Work permit + residence permit
Work permit issued by	Entity employment service
Residence issued by	Service for Foreigners’ Affairs
Quota	Annual, set by sector
Typical timeline	~1–2 months (both permits)
Permit validity	Up to 1 year, renewable
Currency	Convertible Mark (KM), €-pegged
Entity required?	No, if employed via an Employer of Record

Hiring foreign staff in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina offers a growing, cost-competitive talent pool, particularly in IT, engineering and skilled trades around Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Mostar and Tuzla, as an EU candidate country aligning its standards with Europe. What makes hiring there demanding is not the talent but the administration: authorisation to work is split across the state and the two entities, and it is governed by an annual quota.

This is where an Employer of Record fits. Acumen International employs your people in Bosnia and Herzegovina as the legal employer of record, and work-permit sponsorship, residence support, payroll and compliance are all part of that employment relationship.

Why Bosnia and Herzegovina is different. Because of the country’s Dayton-era structure, work authorisation is a two-permit process handled at two levels of government.

The work permit comes from the entity employment service (the Federation, Republika Srpska, or Brčko District); the residence permit comes from the state-level Service for Foreigners’ Affairs. Both must be valid throughout the employment, and procedures differ by entity.

The two-permit system

A work permit lets you work; a residence permit lets you stay. You need both.

The work permit (radna dozvola) is issued at entity level by the competent employment service — the Federal Employment Bureau in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Employment Bureau of Republika Srpska, or the Brčko District Employment Institute — for a specific employer and role, for a maximum of one year. The temporary residence permit for work is issued at state level by the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs (SFA), under the Ministry of Security, and grants legal residence for the employment period. The work permit is obtained first; the residence permit is granted on the basis of it. A valid work permit alone does not entitle anyone to stay, and residence alone does not entitle anyone to work.

After five years of continuous lawful residence, a foreign national may qualify for permanent residence, and experienced workers who meet the residence conditions can obtain a personal work permit that gives unrestricted access to the labour market without a fresh employer-specific application.

Quota, labour-market test and the 2026 reform

Foreign hiring is capped and, in most cases, gated by a test of the local labour market.

The Council of Ministers sets an annual quota for foreign work permits, allocated by sector according to migration policy and labour-market conditions. For most roles, the employer must also pass a labour-market test, advertising the position and showing that no suitable domestic candidate was available. Some categories fall outside the quota or the permit requirement entirely, including company founders, university professors and certain highly skilled or short-term specialists.

New for 2026. On 12 March 2026, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina approved amendments to its Law on Employment of Foreigners that waive the labour-market test for designated shortage occupations (construction, tourism, hospitality and manufacturing among them) to speed up hiring where local workers are scarce.

The quota figures themselves were not increased. The Federation also moved residence intake online during 2026, with appointment scheduling and status tracking.

The process, step by step

1. Work permit application (entity). The employer applies to the competent entity employment service, within quota and, unless exempt, after the labour-market test, with the employment contract, job description and the candidate’s qualifications.
2. Work permit granted. Issued for the specific employer and role, for up to one year.
3. Long-stay Visa D (if needed). A worker from a visa-required country applies for a Type D long-stay work visa at a Bosnian embassy or consulate. Visa-exempt nationals can enter and proceed directly.
4. Entry & address registration. The worker enters Bosnia and Herzegovina and registers their address within 48 hours (private accommodation; hotels register guests automatically).
5. Residence permit (state). The worker files for the temporary residence permit for work with the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs, on the basis of the work permit.
6. Residence card & onboarding. The residence card is issued, the worker is enrolled in payroll, tax and social insurance, and employment begins.

Documents required

Document	Notes
Employer registration & good standing	Proof of a registered entity, tax ID, and no material tax or social-security arrears (handled by the EOR under its entity).
Employment contract / offer	Job description, salary, duties, location and duration.
Justification for the hire	Why the role is being filled by a foreign national (the labour-market test, where it applies).
Passport	Certified copy; valid well beyond the intended stay.
Proof of qualifications	Degrees and certificates, translated into an official language and apostilled/legalised.
Medical certificate	For first-time permits.
Health insurance	Valid cover for the stay.
Proof of accommodation	For residence; plus address registration within 48 hours of entry.
Criminal record certificate	For the residence application; apostilled/legalised and translated.
Dependants	Apply for residence on the basis of family reunification once the main residence is granted.

Documents in a language other than Bosnian, Croatian or Serbian generally need a certified translation, and foreign public documents typically require an apostille or legalisation.

How long it takes

The entity work permit is often decided within roughly 15 to 30 days of a complete application, with the residence permit following. Realistically, employers should budget about one to two months to secure both authorisations, and longer where documents need legalisation or the file draws additional review.

Submitting a complete, correctly translated file the first time is the single biggest factor in avoiding rework, which is precisely where an experienced local partner earns its place.

Payroll and social contributions in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Payroll is where the entity split bites hardest, the numbers genuinely differ depending on where the job sits.

Income tax is a flat 10% across the country, and the currency is the Convertible Mark (KM/BAM), pegged to the euro at about 1.96 KM. Social contributions are high, but structured very differently by entity: in the Federation they are split, with the larger share (around 31% of gross) borne by the employee and a smaller employer share; in Republika Srpska the contributions (around 33%) fall almost entirely on the employee, with no employer social contributions at all.

Minimum wages are set separately too: a net minimum of about KM 1,027 in the Federation, and a tiered system in Republika Srpska running from roughly KM 1,000 to KM 1,450 by qualification level. Payroll must be registered separately in each jurisdiction, which is a common trip-hazard for employers operating across the country.

Employer responsibilities and ongoing compliance

As the sponsor and legal employer, the obligations run for the whole assignment:

• Hold a registered entity in good standing, with tax and social contributions current.
• Maintain a valid employment contract, correct entity payroll, tax withholding and social-insurance enrolment.
• Ensure the work and residence permits stay valid, and file renewals before they lapse.
• Report changes of role, location or status; a change of employer normally requires a fresh work-permit approval.
• Meet address-registration and employer-notification duties within the statutory deadlines.

Our Global Employment Services in Bosnia and Herzegovina

As your Employer of Record, Acumen International becomes the legal employer in Bosnia and Herzegovina and carries the full sponsorship and compliance burden. The service breaks down into four parts:

1. Work permit and residence sponsorship. We sponsor both permits under our registered local entity, run the labour-market test where it applies, prepare and submit the paperwork to the entity employment service and the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs, and manage the document legalisation and translation that most often cause delay.

2. Local employment and payroll administration. Your staff are onboarded as legal employees under our entity. We handle the contract, monthly payroll in the correct entity system, the flat 10% income tax, social contributions and statutory reporting, so the employment relationship is compliant from day one.

3. Onboarding and relocation support, including dependants. We coordinate document collection, medicals, translations, address registration and biometrics, plus the practical side of settling in, and we support eligible dependants applying for residence through family reunification, confirming requirements case by case.

4. One in-country team, one point of contact. You get a defined onboarding workflow, regular status updates and a single contact who owns the process. Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of 190+ countries we cover, so multi-market hiring runs the same way everywhere.

Scope: we provide work permit and immigration support only as part of a full employment arrangement. We don’t offer standalone immigration services to individuals seeking jobs, or to employers who don’t need an Employer of Record in Bosnia and Herzegovina.