Amendment to the Act on the Residence of Foreigners: Slovakia risks an outflow of investments
On 21 May 2025, Parliament approved an amendment to the Law on the Residence of Foreigners, which will enter into force on 1 July 2025.
However, under the guise of efficiency and security, there are fundamental limitations to entrepreneurial freedom, legal certainty and equal access. Instead of simplifying the system and increasing the capacity of the Foreign Police offices, this amendment to the law introduces new barriers that may discourage thousands of skilled professionals and entrepreneurs from doing business in Slovakia.
National visa extended - but only as a temporary solution
One of the few positive changes is extension of the validity of the national visa from 90 to 120 days. This step should give the foreigner more time to apply for residence after entering Slovakia. In practice, however, this is more a reaction to the Ministry of the Interior's long-standing inability to ensure an increase in the number of foreign police staff or posts and thus to ensure the availability of appointmentsthan a real systemic change. This just pushes the problem back a month instead of fixing it.
Introduction of quotas for entrepreneurs
A fundamental and at the same time very controversial change is introduction of quotas for the granting of national visas for business purposeswhich will be determined separately for each embassy. The government will thus gain the power to decide from which countries and in what numbers entrepreneurs can come to Slovakia.
The quotas are set at 700 applications for business residence per year. However, the breakdown by embassy is suspiciously directed towards the representation of states close to the interests of the Government of the Slovak Republicwhich in our view, it does not represent a fair distribution for applicants from different countries around the world.
Such an approach is extremely problematic for the following reasons:
- circumvents the principle of equality and non-discrimination,
- undermines trust in transparent public administration,
- opens the door to subjective political decisions and term trading.
Moreover, the quotas do not take into account the quality of the business plan or the contribution to the Slovak economy. Thus, the possibility of applying will not be decided by the business value of the project, but by the statistical limits set by the government - which is in direct contradiction to the goals of modern immigration policy.
Mandatory business plan for everyone - regardless of experience
There will also be new those foreigners who already have a registered company or trade in Slovakia are obliged to submit a business plan. In addition, they will be all applicants for temporary residence for business purposes must demonstrate economic benefit its business activities in the form of a written document - business plan. This document will be assess the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic.
The introduction of this obligation appears to be a response to findings in recent periods where after the end of the pandemic and in the context of the massive influx of foreigners from Ukraine there has been a mass establishment of fictitious trades and companies. These entities in many cases did not carry out real economic activity and created artificial debt towards institutions such as tax authorities, health insurance companies or the Social Insurance Institution.
It is about a serious systemic problem, which is also gaining relevance in the context of by the transitional provision of § 131k of the Act on the Residence of Aliensadopted in response to the emergency situation caused by the influx of people from Ukraine. According to this provision foreigners who have obtained a temporary residence for the purpose of business are not obliged to renew this residence namely until the emergency is lifted and the transitional provision referred to above is repealed.
In practice, this meansthat foreigners who have been granted temporary residence for the purpose of business do not have on the basis of § 131k(1) obligation to renew your residence permit, even though they would normally have already expired. This situation poses a risk and needs to be addressed through systemic measures, including obligation to submit a business plan.
The intention is supposedly to increase the quality of business stays, but in reality it is an opaque and subjective assessment mechanismthat:
- increases the bureaucratic burden,
- does not offer clear and objective evaluation criteria,
- prolongs the approval process and increases the risk of rejection without clear justification.
Simplifying proof of financial security or going back in time
As a benefit, the amendment also states simplifying the documentation of financial security of residence - it will no longer be necessary to submit three-month bank statementbut again, only a confirmation of the current balance is sufficient in the account. Although this is presented as a step forward, it is in fact only a return to the legal status prior to 15 July 2024when confirmation of the balance was standard practice. The law thus comes back after the previous amendment unreasonably tightened the conditions regardless of their actual enforceability, thus constituting an administrative burden for the Aliens Police.
In application practice it was one of the the most frequent complaints of foreigners and Slovakswho have been forced to submit bank statements for the last three months, exclusively stamped and signed by the bank. However, many banks refused to issue such documents, or were issued only with delays. The result was that the police refused to accept requests without the correct document, which led to unnecessary delays, stress and postponement of proceedings. In addition, officials have often misinterpreted the obligation to "extract the last three months"which caused chaos and inconsistent practice between departments.
This "new" change therefore does not constitute a genuine reformbut only tacit and belated admission of errorwhich instead of improving the system, it has caused further strain on it. So instead of innovation, the state only corrects its own failure.
New administrative obligations and translations
While the law removes some unnecessary requirements - such as the submission of a colour photograph - it also introduces new obligations in the area of document translation. All annexes to applications (including business plans, affidavits or powers of attorney) will need to be in an officially certified translation into Slovak.
In practice, however, this situation only adds to the rationality of the law, since most foreigners have their business residence prepared by a Slovak company, especially because the entrepreneur who comes to the territory of the Slovak Republic does not have knowledge and knowledge of the business environment of the country to which he/she is coming.
This will significantly increase costs and increase the application preparation time. Instead of facilitating access for qualified foreigners, this is another step towards bureaucratisation and formalism, which disqualifies Slovakia as an attractive destination for foreign talent.
Selective migration without rules
The amendment also expands the government's powers in the area of migration policy. The government will be able to determine which nationals may have their visa applications or stays refused on the grounds of security risk, even without individual assessment.
Such a setting is legally questionable and creates room for politicisation and discrimination without judicial protection. Slovakia's migration policy can thus become an instrument of populism, not a pragmatic interest of the state.
A risky step in the wrong direction
The 2025 amendment to the Alien Residence Act does not represent a modernisation of immigration policy - these are centralised, opaque and restrictive measuresthat damage Slovakia's reputation as an open and pro-business country.
If the Slovak Republic really wants to promote innovation, entrepreneurship and labour market development, it should removing bureaucratic obstacles, not creating them. The introduction of quotas, the subjective assessment of business intentions and the restriction of applications based solely on the origin of the applicant are steps that go in exactly the opposite direction.
Do you need advice on the amendment or are you planning to apply for residency? At visa.sk we follow the development of legislation and provide expert assistance - do not hesitate to contact us.
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