Amendments to the Aliens Act: working time of employees registered for short-term employment and hiring of top specialists from abroad and employers of temporary workers

On 24 May 2022, amendments to the Aliens Act simplifying the application for residence permits for highly qualified and better paid top specialists entered into force.

To qualify as a top specialist, the employee previously had to earn a salary twice as high as the average salary in Estonia, while now 1.5 times the average salary is sufficient. Top specialists are not affected by the immigration quota, which means that in practice, reducing the wage requirement for top specialists allows more flexibility for employers in hiring foreign workers, without having to deal with the obstacles arising from depleted immigration quotas.

Aliens registered for short-term employment can now only be employed for full-time work (exceptions include teachers, academics and researchers, and youth workers, who may also work part-time). The amendment does not apply to aliens working part-time based on existing short-term employment registrations.

From now on, companies employing alien temporary workers must be registered in Estonia or in another European Economic Area country and must establish a security (guarantee or deposit) in the amount of the alien worker’s salary for one month.