Amendment to the Act on the Residence of Foreigners from 15.7.2026

This point is key for everyone who has already submitted an application and is waiting for a response from the authorities:

• Completion according to current regulations: Procedures for granting, renewing or revoking residence that began before the entry into force of this amendment will be completed according to the regulations in force at the time of application. This means that if you submitted your application before the change in the law, you will not be subject to the new, stricter criteria or other procedural procedures introduced by this amendment.
• Protection of legitimate expectations: The aim is to prevent foreigners from being surprised by new obligations in the middle of an ongoing process, thus preserving the continuity of their legal status.

The provision of Section 131o follows the end of the emergency situation and regulates the capacities of the alien police:

• Limitation of extraordinary deadlines: Similar to the previous points, the law also stipulates that during an emergency situation and in the period immediately after it (but no later than July 31, 2026) standard legal deadlines will not apply to selected decision-making processes.
• Gradual return to normal: With this provision, the government acknowledges that the pressure on the authorities after the end of the state of emergency will be enormous. Therefore, it is leaving time until the summer of 2026 for police departments to cope with the accumulated agenda without causing illegal delays in the proceedings.
• What does this mean for the client?: It is necessary to prepare for the fact that, although the situation is stabilizing, the period for issuing a decision on your residence may be longer, up to July 2026, than you were used to before the crisis broke out.

Although the obligation to certify signatures on key documents (lease agreements, affidavits, powers of attorney) remains in the law, the amendment clearly defines exceptions when this administrative step is required. is eliminatedThis saves time and money, especially in the following cases:

• Signing directly in front of a police officer: A certificate is not required if the foreigner signs a sworn declaration or notification of the end of stay directly before an administrative authority (alien police officer).
• Power of attorney for minutes: If the power of attorney is declared directly in the official minutes before the administrative authority, it does not need to be notarized in advance.
• Crisis and sanction procedures: The exception from the mandatory verification of signatures (for affidavits and powers of attorney) also applies in proceedings concerning administrative expulsion or in proceedings for insurance a foreigner.
• Notification of end of stay: If a foreigner announces the end of their stay in person at the department and signs this notification in front of a police officer, the signature no longer needs to be certified.

The new legislation gives the police stronger tools to punish entrepreneurs who have registered arrears.

• Obligation to be debt-free: Doing business by a foreigner in Slovakia is subject to proper fulfillment of tax, contribution and other legal obligations.
• New reason for cancellation of stay: If the police department, as part of its inspection activities or when checking the status of an entrepreneur, discovers that a foreigner (entrepreneur) has registered debts, this may be a direct incentive to initiation of proceedings to cancel temporary residence for business purposes.
• Verified institutions: The police check debts mainly against:
  • to the tax office (tax arrears),
  • to the customs office,
  • Social Insurance Agency (arrears in insurance premiums),
  • health insurance companies (health insurance arrears).
• Preventive nature of the measure: The government's goal is to ensure that only those persons who genuinely contribute to the economic system and do not create a burden on the social and healthcare system through non-payment of mandatory contributions and taxes do business in the Slovak Republic.

The amendment introduces measures to speed up and make national visa procedures more transparent. These changes respond to problems in application practice and increase legal certainty for both applicants and public administration bodies.

• Visa extension for 120 days: A significant change is the extension of the validity of a national visa granted in connection with a future stay from 90 to 120 daysThis step provides applicants with the necessary time to complete administrative formalities related to their stay in the Slovak Republic.
• Possibility to waive the need to submit an application in person: The amendment introduces an important institute for exceptional cases. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs may, in agreement with the Ministry of the Interior, for reasons worthy of special consideration waive the obligation to apply for a national visa in person at the embassy. This measure allows for a more flexible response to the specific situations of applicants.
• Electronic filing in justified cases: The above-mentioned change is also related to the development of electronic services. For selected types of applications, where personal presence will be waived, the possibility of full electronic submission, including all attachments, is envisaged. This will create the conditions for the use of modern technological tools in checking the submitted documents.

Original deadline 30 days The decision on the application is being transformed into a multi-stage process with clearly defined deadlines:

• Application submitted at the embassy (MFA):
  • Within 2 business days: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs must send a request for an opinion to the Ministry of the Interior.
  • Within 25 days: The Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic must issue its opinion on the application.
  • Within 10 business days: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will decide on the granting of the visa itself after receiving the opinion from the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic.
• Application submitted directly to the Ministry of the Interior (MoI SR):
  • If it concerns specific cases (e.g. the interest of the Slovak Republic), the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic continues to decide within the deadline. 30 days from receipt of the application.

The amendment simplifies, but at the same time tightens, the control of the economic creditworthiness of entrepreneurs. The biggest difference will be felt by managers of companies (sro), where the profit after tax will no longer be assessed, but the amount of tax paid itself.

1. Self-employed persons (business as a natural person)

• Originally: It was necessary to prove taxable income (partial tax base) in the amount of 20 times the subsistence minimum.
• New: Now, a sole proprietor must demonstrate achievement taxable income at least in an amount exceeding the amount set by a special regulation. This means that the police will be interested in your gross turnover, which must reach the legally determined threshold to make it clear that your business is actually active and generating turnover.

2. Executives and commercial companies (Ltd.)

• Originally: The company had to report a net profit (after tax) of at least 60 times the subsistence minimum (20 times for innovative projects). If the company did not achieve this profit, the residence permit was not renewed.
• New: There is a fundamental shift – the amount of profit is no longer shown, but payment of tax from this business at least in the amount specified in a special regulation.
• Consequence: The state is saying: "We don't care about your profit, but how much you paid to the state in taxes." This measure eliminates cases where companies reported high profits, but due to various tax optimizations, their tax liability was minimal.

Removal of the 20-day grace period for additional debt settlement

In the new wording of paragraph 5, we do not find the original protective clause, which allowed a foreigner to additionally pay arrears to the tax office, customs office or insurance companies within 20 days of submitting the application.

Risk: While until now the police have warned you in writing and you had 20 days to correct the situation, now you must be at the time of application "clean"Any recorded arrears may lead to immediate complications in the proceedings without the possibility of their subsequent healing within the framework of the renewal process.

The amendment expands the list of exceptions where a foreigner does not have to take the language and social studies exam if he or she proves his or her integration through the school system:

• Primary and secondary school education: Now it is recognized if a foreigner has been educated at least two school years in primary school or in secondary school with Slovak as the language of instruction.
• University studies: The same exception applies if the foreigner has studied at least two academic years at a university in a study program in the Slovak language.

By significant simplification at applications for long-term residence is a change in the documentation of secured accommodation, which eliminates unnecessary bureaucracy for long-term settled foreigners. Now, the applicant is no longer obliged to submit a document of accommodation with the application for long-term residence if there has been no change in the address of his residence compared to the data already in the records of the Aliens Police. This exception significantly facilitates the process for those who remain at the same address, and they are obliged to submit a confirmation of accommodation (for example, a rental agreement with a certified signature) only if they move to a new address or if their current address at the time of submitting the application for long-term residence does not correspond to the address of the reported previous residence.

The amendment to the law brings important clarifications regarding the validity period of submitted documents. The law now stipulates that a document confirming proficiency in the state language or completion of education (for example, a certificate of a state language exam, a certificate of completion of primary or secondary school, or a diploma from a university) may be older than 90 days at the time of submitting an application for long-term residence. This eliminates previous ambiguities in application practice, when these specific documents were sometimes incorrectly subject to the general 90-day validity period of documents, which did not make logical sense in the case of a diploma or certificate from the past.

The amendment also brings a positive change for Union citizens, reducing the administrative burden associated with renewing documents. Upon first registration of the right of residence, a document valid for up to 10 years is now issued., instead of the previous 5 years. This step significantly extends the period during which a Union citizen does not have to request a replacement of the document if their personal data have not changed.

At the same time, in accordance with European legislation, there is a terminological change in the title of the document itself. Original designation "Residence card of an EU citizen" is replaced by a more accurate name "EU citizen residence document"This amendment reflects the effort to unify terminology throughout the Schengen area and clearly declares the nature of the document as a confirmation of registration of the right of residence in a member state.

The amendment introduces a new, strictly time-limited obligation for holders of temporary residence permits for the purpose of employment. A third-country national who has been granted temporary residence under Section 23(1) or (2) (employment based on a confirmation of the possibility of filling a vacant position or without such confirmation) is now obliged to: within seven working days notify the police department of the beginning and end of their unemployment period.

The aim of this amendment is to ensure that information on the status of a foreigner on the labour market is up-to-date and to enable more effective control of compliance with the purpose of stay. Failure to comply with this short seven-day period may be perceived as a breach of the foreigner's obligations, which may have a negative impact on the further duration of his residence status. Therefore, if you lose your job or start a new one, it is not enough to simply report it to the labour office, but you must also inform the alien police directly within the statutory period.

The amendment to the law opens the door to modernization and elimination of paper administration by introducing the institute electronic consent of the accommodation providerAccording to the new provision, it will be possible to prove the provision of accommodation also through an electronic act of a natural person or accommodation provider, which will be delivered via electronic service established specifically for this purpose.

Although the exact technical procedure and the launch of this service in practice have not yet been defined in detail, it is assumed that property owners will be able to grant consent to accommodate a foreigner simply after logging into the electronic portal using your ID card with a chip (eID)Such a digital act should in the future fully replace the current necessity of physically visiting a notary for the purpose of signature certificates on a paper affidavit, which will significantly simplify the process for both landlords and applicants for residence.