Between 2,000 and 3,000 Foreigners Working on Construction Projects in Serbia

Construction Site(BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV/)

There are currently between 2,000 and 3,000 foreign workers from Turkey, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Ukraine, and Romania working on construction projects in Serbia, Construction Chamber Vice-President Goran Rodic said on Feb. 1.

"There are some among them working illegally, and now the pressure of foreign workers will increase because many countries are closing their borders due to the coronavirus pandemic," Rodic told BETA.

He added that there was not enough Serbian qualified and unqualified workforce on the market and that it was mainly foreign companies that hired foreign workers. "Although the Law on Employment of Foreigners is clear and simple and envisages that an employer must report a foreigner's stay to the police, ensure a work permit and pay taxes and contributions on salaries, that obligation is often sidestepped," said Rodic.

In his words, workers are transported by buses as tourists, the employer keeps their passports so that they cannot leave their illegal job in Serbia, and before the pandemic there were between 10,000 and 12,000 of them, according to liberal estimates.