Self-employment and hiring subsidies 2026: RS Employment Service call (closed)

The Employment Service of Republika Srpska (Zavod za zapošljavanje Republike Srpske) offered 10,000 KM in 2026 to unemployed people starting their own business and 5,744.76 KM to employers for each person hired from its register. The call closed on 21 July 2026. Below are the conditions of Programme II only, in case the call is repeated.

In short

• Programme II, "Program zapošljavanja i samozapošljavanja ciljnih kategorija u privredi" (employment and self-employment of target groups in the economy), had 5,000,000 KM from the Republika Srpska budget.
• Self-employment: 10,000 KM per person, 250 people planned. Employer: 5,744.76 KM per hire, 435 people planned.
• The call was open for 15 days, until 21 July 2026. On 7 October 2026 the Service's website shows no open public call.
• Agricultural activity was expressly excluded from the self-employment subsidy.

The same public call had three more programmes with the same deadline: Programme I, support to the economy for new hiring (hiring young people aged 16 to 30 and high-risk unemployed people, also 5,744.76 KM per person), a trainee programme for university graduates, and a programme for hiring Roma. For their conditions, see the text of the call on the Service's website.

Who it applies to

Self-employment (second component): a person who, on the day the call was published, had been on the unemployment register for more than 6 months. The business must be registered after publication, or registration must have started after publication, either as a sole trader or as a company whose founders are employed in it. Several people may found a company together.

A person cannot receive the subsidy if they:

• claim the one-off cash payment for self-employment,
• already received a self-employment subsidy from the Service,
• were employed in the last three years with funds from the hiring component,
• ran the same or a similar activity in the 24 months before the call and deregistered it,
• registered the activity before the call was published,
• plan an activity in agriculture.

Employer (first component): a private-sector company or sole trader with its seat in Republika Srpska. The money is for hiring long-term unemployed people (more than 12 months on the register), or women, people over 40 and people with secondary education or less (more than 6 months on the register). People with disabilities, single parents, parents of seriously ill children, victims of violence and people who grew up in children's homes qualify however long they have been unemployed. The employer must be up to date with taxes and contributions and must not be in bankruptcy or liquidation. It must not have used other budget funds for employment in 2026. Banking and financial activities, insurance and betting shops are excluded.

An employer cannot receive funds for:

• a person whose employment with the same or a related employer ended in the last 12 months,
• a person whose hiring at that employer was funded in the last five years, or who received self-employment funds from the Service in the last five years.

The employer must also not have reduced its average number of employees in the six months before the month of the request.

What to do

Self-employment:

1. Register as unemployed at the bureau for your place of residence. On the day the call is published you must have been on the register for more than 6 months.
2. Complete the entrepreneurship training organised by the Service. A certificate from another verified organisation is also accepted.
3. Prepare a business plan.
4. Submit the request on the official form in two copies. Attach the business plan, proof of training, and the registration decision, proof that registration has started, or a statement that you will register the business after the call was published.
5. Once you receive the approval decision, register the business and take up employment within 15 days, and sign the contract with the Service within 30 days.

An employer attaches the registration decision, an employment programme, the balance sheet and income statement, a tax clearance certificate from the current or previous month, the bank account agreement and form 1002 for the last six months. The employer signs the contract with the Service within 30 days of receiving the approval decision and hires the worker within 30 days of signing, on an open-ended, full-time contract.

Deadlines and amounts

• Self-employment: 70% is paid when the contract is signed and 30% after 12 months if the obligations are met. The money is meant to cover taxes, contributions and the entrepreneur's flat-rate income tax.
• Employer: 60% when the contract is signed and the worker is hired, 40% after 12 months.
• Security: a self-employment beneficiary gives a blank promissory note (bianco mjenica). An employer gives a blank promissory note if the first payment is 10,000 KM or less, or a bank guarantee valid for at least 14 months from the hiring of the last worker if it is higher.
• The money is a grant only if the contract is fulfilled. If it is not, the whole amount paid must be returned.
• Self-employment scoring looks at the type of activity, how developed the municipality is, the person's category and the business plan. People receiving unemployment benefit and people with disabilities have priority.
• Employer scoring looks at the type of activity, how developed the municipality is, earlier subsidies and whether those workers were kept after the contract, growth in staff numbers over the last six months, and financial indicators.
• The employer amount of 5,744.76 KM per hire equals one year of taxes and contributions on the 2026 minimum wage in Republika Srpska, which is 1,000 KM. The contracted amount does not change if the minimum wage changes later.
• The date of the next call has not been published. Check the Service's public calls page.

Where to go

Trebinje branch, Nemanjina 7a, 89101 Trebinje, phone 059/272-310, ftr@ftr.zzzrs.net. Bureaus:

• Trebinje, Nemanjina 7a, 059/260-181
• Bileća, Kralja Petra I oslobodioca 6, 059/380-230
• Gacko, Stojana Kovačevića 25, 059/472-661
• Ljubinje, Trg Nemanjića 3, 059/621-063
• Nevesinje, Obrena Ivkovića 3B, 059/601-030
• Berkovići, Palih boraca otadžbinskog rata 61, 059/860-155

The Service runs entrepreneurship training through its job search club. Ask your bureau for the next date. If your activity is linked to agriculture, for example guest accommodation on a farm, ask the bureau before applying whether it falls under the exclusion. To register the farm itself, see the article on the farm register. To register a business, see the article on registering a sole trader or company.

Laws and sources

• Public call to employers and unemployed persons for 2026 employment programmes (Government decision adopting the Action Plan for the RS Employment Strategy 2026-2028, Službeni glasnik RS br. 61/26; Pravilnik o uslovima, kriterijumima i načinu sprovođenja mjera aktivne politike zapošljavanja (Rulebook on active employment policy measures), Službeni glasnik RS br. 20/17, 31/19 and 5/22)
• Service public calls page
• Trebinje branch