As the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic Juraj Blanár informed, the total number of processed applications for national visas submitted to the embassies of the Slovak Republic in 2024 increased by 58%. The four Slovak representation offices with the highest amount of such requests include India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, which together processed almost 11 000 such applications. The Slovak Embassy in New Delhi, India, handled 3,500 – the largest number of these.

"The Slovak government has adopted a number of strategic measures to address the shortage of employees in specific professions, especially in the automotive industry. Our Foreign Affairs Ministry is helping to speed up the process of admitting new workers by deploying these flying consuls, who have spent a total of eight months abroad this year. They have done an excellent job, for which I thank them and our other colleagues who provide visa services as part of their standard assignments," the Slovak chief of diplomacy said, stressing that the ministry's primary focus was on third countries such as India and Central and Southeast Asian countries, in line with the Slovak Government's Programme Statement. Therefore, the consuls were sent to these territories to carry out their special assignments.

The importance of the project of flying consuls, according to the words of the Director General of the DG for Consular Affairs and International Legal Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic, Igor Pokojný, is particularly evident in the surge in the number of visa applications.

"Our embassies are able to provide a standard visa process, and when there is an increased number of applications for national visas from third-country nationals, who have been selected by employers in Slovakia, they are handled individually by flying consuls. The whole process is thus faster and more efficient," Pokojný explained.

The Foreign Ministry cooperates in this area with the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and the Family of the Slovak Republic, as well as with relevant unions and employers' associations. Thus, foreign job seekers go through the approval process of the Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, and also undergo all necessary security processes.

The decree limits the entry of foreign workers from countries without formal readmission agreements with Hungary. These agreements facilitate the return of individuals who overstay their residence permits or are found without appropriate legal documentation in the EU. Currently, there are two such countries: Georgia and Armenia. Notably, the decree does not apply to employment and residence applications submitted before 01 January 2025, or to the extension of existing employment-related residence permits.

The Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry expressed concerns regarding the potential impact of these changes on sectors heavily reliant on foreign labour. They are advocating to postpone implementation of the regulations for a year, in order to allow time for negotiating additional readmission agreements with key labour-supplying countries. Analysts warn that without such agreements the new regulations could exacerbate labour shortages, affecting Hungary's economic performance.

The Lithuanian authorities have announced that the country has officially approved the quota for foreign workers who will be permitted to enter Lithuania in 2025 for employment purposes.

According to the Ministry of Interior of Lithuania, the country has allocated a total of 24,830 spots for foreign workers in 2025, Schengen.News reports.

Despite this being a relatively high quota, it remains below those of previous years. This is because the authorities decided to support a proposal from the Ministry of Social Security and Labour to set a lower quota for foreigners than in previous years.

The decision to lower the number of people who will be permitted to enter the territory of Lithuania for work purposes was made after assessing the labour market needs. This means that the shortages in the country are not as deep as they used to be and that Lithuania does not have to attract as many workers as in the last few years.

This year, Lithuania decided to tighten the requirements for third-country nationals wanting to come to the country and employers offering jobs to them.

Following the tightening of the measures, the Ministry of Interior of Lithuania stresses that from 2025, the foreign worker quota must not exceed 1.4 per cent of the permanent population of the country.

The Ministry further explained that the quota will not be divided by the economic activity sector starting next year.

It also emphasised that once the entire quota is used up, Lithuanian employers will be able to bring foreign workers to the country only if they agree to pay them more than 1.2 times the average national wage and professionals needed in sectors dealing with shortages the average national wage.

Switzerland has also set its 2025 foreign worker quota, but only for skilled foreigners. The Swiss authorities announced earlier in November that next year, the country will permit the recruitment of 8,500 qualified workers from third countries.