You will find out more about your rights and obligations if you become unemployed in Slovakia or when you are looking for a job in another EU Member State. You will also learn how to proceed if you come from Slovakia and have lost a job abroad.

When can I apply for benefits?

In principle, you are entitled to employment benefits in the country of your most recent employment.

In the event you become unemployed as a cross-border worker, the payment of unemployment benefits primarily falls within the competence of the country of your residence. The Social Insurance Agency pays benefits to cross-border workers who were employed or self-employed in another EU Member State while being permanently resident in Slovakia. In addition, Slovak cross-border workers may also enquire about their rights at labour offices in the EU Member State, in which they most recently engaged in gainful activity.

If your last place of work was Slovakia, you are entitled to an unemployment benefit on condition that, while being registered at the local Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, your regular or occasional income from work or creative activity does not exceed the amount of subsistence minimum (i.e. €234.42 as of 1 July 2022) per month and this employment relationship does not exceed a total of 40 days per calendar year. It is your right to register, not your obligation.

What conditions do I have to meet?

You need to apply for your inclusion into the Jobseekers Register in person by submitting the written application for entry in the register or the application for entry in the register in case of repeated entry.

When visiting the local Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, competent according to your permanent residence or usual residence, you should bring a valid identity document (identity card or passport), documents on employment termination (agreement on employment termination, notice of employment termination, employment certificate), and school graduates should bring a certificate confirming the highest level of completed education.

You are obliged to actively seek new employment, which you will demonstrate yourself in different ways on the dates and at places designated by the Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family.

Within three to eight calendar days, you are obliged to notify any change in your personal information to the Office of Labour Social Affairs and Family and you should make yourself available within three business days from the date on which you were requested to do so by the Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family.

When you want to seek employment in another EU Member State and, at the same time, you want to retain your entitlement to the unemployment benefit, you have to notify the Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the date of your departure to another EU Member State.

What benefits can I apply for and how should I exercise my rights?

You may apply for unemployment benefit (dávka v nezamestnanosti):

• at the branch office of the Social Insurance Agency competent according to the place of permanent residence in the form of the Application for Unemployment Benefit (Žiadosť o dávku v nezamestnanosti) or
• at the Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family as part of the application for registration into the Jobseekers Register. If the Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family does not register the insured person in the Jobseekers Register, the application for unemployment benefit will not be considered.

You become eligible for unemployment benefit provided that you were insured over a period of 4 years preceding your inclusion in the Jobseekers Register or you were voluntarily insured for a minimum period of 2 years. For example, self-employed fulfil the benefit eligibility criteria if they have wound up their business and, while still in business, have paid contributions to voluntary unemployment insurance.

The unemployment benefit is provided for a maximum of 6 months. The amount approximately corresponds to 50% of your last wage.

As a benefit beneficiary, you are obligated to notify the Social Insurance Agency in writing of any changes to your name, surname or address of your residence and of your removal from the Jobseekers Register within a period of 8 days.

Jargon busters

• Gross wage - Total gross income, including taxes and other fees;
• Cross-border worker - Carries out activities as an employee or a self-employed person on the territory of one EU Member State while being resident on the territory of another EU Member State where s/he returns on a daily basis or at least once a week.

Required documents

• The transferrable portable document U1 (PD U1) document issued abroad, institutions competent for issuing of PDU1 in the Member States see here
• Applications for employment services field
• Application for entry into the Jobseekers Register
• Application for Unemployment Benefit

Know your rights

Link to additional information provided by the European Commission:

• Your rights and social entitlement as an EU citizen when becoming unemployed

Who do you need to contact for advice about social security?

Central Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family (Ústredie práce, sociálnych vecí a rodiny)
Department of Employment Services
Špitálska 8, 812 67, Bratislava

Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family (Úrad práce, sociálnych vecí a rodiny)
Unit of citizen´s services
Unit of employment services

List of Offices of Labour, Social Affairs and Family

Social Insurance Agency (Sociálna poisťovňa)

www.socpoist.sk

List of Social Insurance Agency branches in Slovakia