Dear clients, 
in connection with the upcoming changes in the Act on the residence of foreigners effective from 15.07.2024 we bring an article on the most important changes in Act No. 404/2011 Coll. on the residence of foreigners. We have already informed you about some of the changes in this law in previous articles. The most important ones are presented below.

The article was updated on 08.07.2024.

The most significant change in the case of an application for temporary residence is in particular the proof of financial security of residence or business activity, which the law regulates from proving a certificate of the current balance on the account, by changing to a statement from a banking institution for the last three months. This change applies to any type of residence where a current account balance statement was required before the law was amended. Thus, the Aliens Police will monitor the purposefulness of the application or prevent abuse of specific types of residence, where often third country nationals have made a deposit into their bank account in the Slovak Republic, applied for a proof of account balance and subsequently have no cash in their bank account, which is of course contrary to the law.

In the case of a temporary job vacancy, the employer will request confirmation of the opportunity to fill the vacancy on the 21st working day following the filing of the report with the Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family. The Job Centre will make a decision within 15 working days and the jobseeker will have 90 days to apply for residency. At the same time, he/she will be able to start working immediately after submitting a complete application for residence.

The most important amendments to the Aliens Residence Act

• A third-country national who wishes to apply in the Slovak Republic for a temporary stay for the purpose of business will not be able to apply for a national visa before being granted that stay. In this sense, they must first apply for a temporary residence permit through the embassy before they can apply for a national visa.
• Affidavits will be able to be signed directly at the Aliens Police without the need for official verification.
• For all types of stay, a bank balance certificate will no longer be required to prove the financial security of the stay, but a bank statement for the last three months.
• A third-country national will be able to apply for a national visa as early as len at the designated representative office with territorial jurisdiction in the applicant's place of residence or with an external visa partner designated by the Department of State.

• The validity of the temporary stay, which would otherwise be extended until the expiry of two months after the revocation of the emergency, does not apply in the case of, if the third-country national's application for renewal of residence has been refused.

§ 15 National visa

In the case of an application for a national visa from 15.07.2024 it will no longer be possible to apply for a visa in connection with the grant of a temporary stay for business purposes. Thus, in this case, it will first be necessary to apply for a temporary business residence and then, after its approval, the third-country national will be able to apply for this national visa in connection with the granted residence in the Slovak Republic.

(1) A third-country national may be granted a national visa if
a) it is necessary in connection with the granted residence in the Slovak Republic,
(b) it is necessary in connection with an application for residence under this Act; this shall not apply, when applying for temporary residence under Section 22 (business purpose),
(c) is over 15 years of age and is enrolled in language education in a language school32a) of at least 25 teaching hours per week,
(d) it is in the interest of the Slovak Republic, or
e) it is necessary for the fulfilment of the obligations of the Slovak Republic arising from international treaties.

§ 17 Proceedings for the grant of a national visa

From 15.07.2024, applicants for a national visa will be able to apply for only at the embassy accredited for the country in which he or she resides or through an external service provider designated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the state, in which he/she resides; if there is no such embassy or external service provider, or in cases of special consideration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall, in agreement with the Ministry of the Interior, designate another embassy or external service provider at which the third-country national shall lodge an application for a national visa.

At the same time, if the third-country national does not submit all the requirements 13 pursuant to the first sentence with the application for a national visa, the embassy or the Ministry of the Interior does not accept the application for a national visa and shall provide him with written information on the documents he must submit with his application for a national visa in order for his application to be accepted.

The following sentences have been added to the grounds on which the embassy may refuse an application for a national visa:
(b) there are grounds for suspecting that the purpose of the stay declared by the third-country national does not correspond to the actual purpose of the stay,
c) it is in the foreign policy interest of the Slovak Republic,

Pursuant to Paragraph 11 the embassy shall also enter the name and registration number of the employer in the national visa issuedfor which the applicant for temporary residence has submitted the documents referred to in § 23.

§ 19 Invitation

A fundamental change in the verification of the invitation concerns in particular the demonstration of the ability to cover all costs related to the stay and travel of the invited third-country national. The law modifies the demonstration of financial and material security from the initial confirmation of the balance of the inviting person's account to the last three months' bank statement. Thus, the change no longer tracks only the current balance in the account at the time of issuance, but movements that demonstrate whether the inviting person actually has the means to invite the alien.

§ 23 Temporary residence for employment

Amendment of the Act cancels the following sentence when employing trained workers:

1. is employed for a specified period of time for the purpose of his/her training, if the employment is in a labour shortage, and has submitted an application for temporary residence for employment purposes together with all the requirements pursuant to Section 32 for the same job;50) this shall not apply if, during the procedure for granting temporary residence for employment purposes, the third-country national has changed the employer or the employment in his/her application for temporary residence for employment purposes,

§ 31 Application for temporary residence

The most significant change in the case of an application for temporary residence is in particular the proof of financial security of residence or business activity, which the law regulates from proving a certificate of the current balance on the account, by changing to a statement from a banking institution for the last three months. This change applies to any type of residence where a current account balance statement was required before the law was amended. Thus, the Aliens Police will monitor the purposefulness of the application or prevent abuse of specific types of residence, where often third country nationals made a deposit into their bank account in the Slovak Republic and subsequently did notand no cash in their bank account, which is obviously against the law.

From 15.07.2024, a third-country national will only be able to apply for a residence permit if his/her national visa was granted in connection with a specific purpose of stay.

An applicant cannot apply for a change of purpose of residence if:

• has less than two years' temporary residence for employment and wants to apply for temporary residence for the purpose of doing business
• has been granted temporary residence for the purpose of seasonal employment
• has been granted a residence permit for the purpose of study, but this does not apply if he/she has passed the final or matriculation examination in the context of studies at a secondary school in the Slovak Republic
• has been granted residence for the purpose of study, this does not apply if the third-country national has duly completed his/her studies at a secondary school in the Slovak Republic or has obtained a first- or second-degree university degree,

However, the embassy or police department shall not accept an application for temporary residence pursuant to Section 23(1) unless the third-country national presents a valid travel document, or if the labour, social affairs and family office has not delivered to the representative office or police department a certificate of the possibility of filling the vacancy, which contains an agreement to fill the vacancy, or if more than 90 days have elapsed since the issue of such a certificate.

From 15.07.2024 the application shall be accompanied by only one actual colour photo.

The submission of the business plan must be based on the template published on the website of the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic.

§ 33 Decision on an application for temporary residence

When applying for temporary residence for business purposes, the law complements the assessment of the business plan with the statutory deadline for issuing the opinion of the Ministry of the Economy, to the benefit of the economic interests of the Slovak Republic, according to the preceding sentence within 60 days of receipt of the application.

At the same time, however, when applying for a temporary residence permit for the purpose of employment will no longer require an opinion from the Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family on the possibility of filling the vacancy within seven days.

Further, Paragraph 6, of this Act is amended to add the following grounds for denial of an application.
The police department shall refuse an application for temporary residence if:

• there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that the third-country national will be unable to fulfil the purpose of the stay,
• a third-country national applying for temporary residence under section 22 after his previous residence under section 22 has ceased for a reason under section 35(b) or (c) and the company or cooperative, on whose behalf he acts or has acted, it has not made a profit after tax in the amount referred to in section 34(7); this does not apply if more than twelve months have elapsed between the end of the temporary stay and the submission of a new application for temporary residence

The law further regulates the time limits for deciding on an application for temporary residence:

• temporary stay for employment, up to 60 days
• Temporary stay for employment, if it is a job with a labour shortage in the county, up to 30 days
• temporary residence for business purposes, if the project is an innovative project, for up to 30 days
• in the case of family reunification with a Blue Card holder, within 30 days
• in the case of family reunification, within 30 days if the applications are made simultaneously

Further, the law defines exhaustively the notification of the grant of residence from a written notification to a documentary or electronic notification.

§ 34 Renewal of temporary residence

In the case of renewal of a residence permit, the party may submit an incomplete application, however, it must provide all the requisites within 30 days of the application, otherwise the police department will stop the proceedings, whose decision cannot be appealed.

If a party applies for renewal of temporary residence for business purposes, he/she must submit a certificate that he/she is not in arrears with the tax and customs authorities, or in arrears with health and social insurance. However, this does not apply, they will pay their claims within 20 days of the application.

§ 36 Cancellation of temporary residence

Paragraph 1 is added, The police department shall cancel the temporary residence if:

• third-country national in connection with the provision of accommodation during a valid stay or the financial security of a stay on the territory of the Slovak Republic has given false or misleading information or submitted false or altered documents,
• third-country national does not or cannot fulfil the purpose for which the temporary residence was granted or
• the third-country national has violated the condition under § 21(3).

§ 37 Blue Card

From 15.07.2024 will be able to apply for a blue card to perform highly skilled employment an applicant with a first-class university degree.

The duration of the Blue Card is adjusted from the previous 4 years for 5 years.

Furthermore, the law provides for the obligation to provide from 1.5 times the average monthly wage according to the statistical office to 1.2 times the average monthly wage for the quarter in the previous calendar year.

We will be publishing a separate article on the changes to the Blue Card.

§ 59

Amendment of Paragraph 5. allows a third-country national to do business if he or she has been granted temporary refuge on the territory of the Slovak Republic.

§ 115 Obligations of certain legal persons and natural persons

(5) The employer must, within three working days notify the police department in writing:

• the third-country national does not take up employmentwhere the third-country national is a third-country national who has been granted a national visa pursuant to Section 15(1)(d) or a third-country national pursuant to Section 23, if he or she has given a written promise of employment; and
• termination of the employment of a third-country national, in the case of a third-country national who has been granted a national visa pursuant to Section 15(1)(d) or a third-country national pursuant to Section 23.

§ 121 Integrity

In justified cases, the police department may accept a document of good repute that is older than 90 days in addition to the application for residence, if the period between the issuance of the document of good repute and the arrival of the third-country national on the territory of the Slovak Republic is not longer than 90 days. ; the Ministry of the Interior may, in justified cases, accept proof of good character older than 90 days.

§ 125

(7) The Slovak Information Service and the Military Intelligence shall send a disagreeing opinion pursuant to paragraph 6, in particular if they have knowledge that the third-country national poses a security risk.

(8) The fact that a third-country national is on the list of sanctioned persons subject to international sanctions declared by the international sanctions regulations or is reasonably suspected of carrying out activities in the field of

• irregular migration or processing of purposeful stays,
• activities against the economic interests of the Slovak Republic,
• activities against the economic interests of the Slovak Republic,
• illicit production, possession and trafficking of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, poisons or precursors,
• organised crime,
• trafficking in human beings,
• forgery and alteration of a public document, official seal, official seal, official emblem and official mark,
• illicit arms and arms trafficking,
• violations of regulations on the handling of controlled goods and technologies,
• cooperation with a foreign power,
• breaches of sanctioning measures,
• activities threatening the constitutional establishment, territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Slovak Republic,
• activities directed against the security of the Slovak Republic,
• terrorism, including information on participation in, financing or supporting terrorism and cyber-terrorism,
• political extremism and religious extremism, extremism manifested in violent ways and in harmful sectarian groupings,
• malicious activity and threats in cyberspace if they threaten the defence and defence capability of the Slovak Republic,
• radicalisation of a group of persons or individuals,
• other threats to the strategic security interests of the Slovak Republic.

§ 131k Transitional provisions related to the emergency situation in connection with the mass influx of foreigners to the territory of the Slovak Republic caused by the armed conflict on the territory of Ukraine

The validity of the temporary stay, which would otherwise be extended until the expiry of two months after the revocation of the emergency, does not apply in the case of, if the third-country national's application for renewal of residence has been refused.

The validity of temporary residence, permanent residence or tolerated stay, which would otherwise expire during an emergency situation declared in connection with a mass influx of foreigners to the territory of the Slovak Republic caused by the armed conflict on the territory of Ukraine (hereinafter referred to as the "emergency situation"), shall be extended until the expiration of two months from the withdrawal of the emergency situation; this shall not apply, a third-country national whose application for renewal of temporary residence has been refused.

§ 131l Transitional provision to the modifications effective from 1 July 2024

Proceedings under this Act commenced before 1 July 2024 shall be completed under the provisions in force before 30 June 2024; they shall be completed under the provisions of this Act in force from 1 July 2024 only if it is more favourable to the person.