This year, Slovakia will also issue national visas to drivers from third countries

The Slovak government has expanded the possibility of issuing national visas to citizens of certain third countries who will work in Slovakia as bus or truck drivers. Citizens of Belarus, Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Georgia, Armenia, Moldova, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan will be able to obtain Slovak visas.

The administration has also set the following national visa quotas for these jobs: no more than 200 national visas (initially 150) for bus drivers and a maximum of 2000 national visas (initially 5000) for truck drivers in domestic and international transportation in 2024. This is reported by the spectator.sme.sk publication.

"The road transport sector has been struggling with a labor shortage for a long time," the government explains, referring to the 12,000 drivers Slovakia needed at the beginning of last year.

The average age of a professional driver in Slovakia has exceeded 50 years, and drivers over 55 make up an alarming 45% of the total number of drivers. In contrast, drivers under the age of 25 account for only 4% of the total number of drivers.

A survey by the International Road Transport Union (IRU) found that up to 9% of vacancies in Europe in 2023 were for professional drivers, with a forecast to rise to 12% this year. In absolute terms, this means a current shortage of about 600,000 drivers.