Immigrant handbook

Prolongation of a temporary residence permit

According to Slovenian legislation, the first temporary residence permit is provided for one year, after which it can be prolonged to the period you’ve already lived in Slovenia, but not longer than two years. Business immigrants and their families can apply for a permanent residence permit after they’ve spent five years in Slovenia, while students and their reunited family members can apply after they’ve lived ten years (those with Slovenian university diplomas can apply after seven years).

Thus, the prolongation of a temporary residence permit is a procedure faced by almost every foreigner who moves to Slovenia. For a successful prolongation, students need to continue studying and have enough available funds to live. Business immigrants need actual employment with associated tax and insurance payments, as well as sufficient proof of funds.

All in all, the preparation of all necessary documents and their submission to the administrative authority is not a complicated process, and can be completed successfully on the condition of a proper approach and preliminary research. But if you want to save time and prolong your temporary residence permit in a fast and easy way, you can always get in contact with us. 

If you have questions about the prolongation process of a temporary residence permit in Slovenia, please email us at [email protected]

Health insurance certificates

Various types of insurance are an inseparable part of life in Slovenia.

There are three types of health insurance in Slovenia:

  • Compulsory
  • Voluntary
  • Health insurance with treatment abroad

Every officially employed person receives compulsory health insurance issued by the Institute of Health Insurance in Slovenia (ZZZS). We can issue your compulsory health insurance as part of our one-stop-shop service after you obtain your residence permit. Your new insurance certificate will be sent by mail.

Those with compulsory health insurance must pay contributions to the health insurance fund from their salaries.

Compulsory health insurance provides the right to use medical services in Slovenia, obtain medications and medical products, as well as wage compensations for sick leave and reimbursements for transportation expenses on medical services.

Individuals with a compulsory medical insurance certificate can receive certain medical services fully compensated by the ZZZS. These services include prenatal care and delivery, systematic preventative healthcare for children and students under 26 years old, vaccinations, immunoprophylaxis and emergency care, including transportation, provision of medications and meals, and parents’ stays in a hospital with a child under five years old, and certain other circumstances.

Depending on the type of medical service, compulsory health insurance can cover between 70% to 90% of medical service and medications costs.

If you have voluntary health insurance, your insurance company will compensate the remainder of the service cost.

Voluntary (or additional) health insurance is issued by one of three insurance companies:

  • AdriaticSlovenica d.d.
  • Triglav, zdravstvena zavarovalnica d.d.
  • Vzajemna zdravstvena zavarovalnica d.v.z.

Monthly contributions as part of voluntary health insurance amount to EUR 29. The majority of adults in Slovenia purchase additional health insurance.

To register a vehicle, you must have general civil liability insurance at the very minimum. If desired, you can also purchase hull insurance.

How to issue insurance for family members? 

As soon as you receive confirmation of your compulsory health insurance, you must submit this confirmation, along with your residence permit and copies of birth and marriage certificates (translated into Slovenian), to the Ministry of Health. The Ministry will then issue a confirmation that your family members are included in the health insurance system. Within several days, you will then receive confirmation documents that temporarily replace health certificates, which will be completed and sent out in about two weeks (via the postal service). You can use medical services as soon as you are included in the health insurance system.

There are several types of professional liability insurance offered to private individuals and companies.

For additional information and assistance in obtaining health insurance in Slovenia, please email us at: [email protected]

Electronic signature certificate

A SIGEN-CA electronic signature certificate greatly simplifies and speeds up contacts with state (and many other) structures in Slovenia, thus allowing to deal with a variety of issues without ever leaving your house or wasting time making trips to the respective departments.

With this certificate, you gain remote access to services, allowing you to deal with issues in areas such as:

  • FAMILY and CHILDREN (for example, applying for a child allowance);
  • ID DOCUMENTS AND REGISTRATION (residence registration);
  • EDUCATION (admission to college/university);
  • PERSONAL FINANCES AND TAXES (tracking your tax payments);
  • SOCIAL SERVICES (application for employment or social status change);
  • PENSION PROVISION (pension assignment);
  • DRIVING (driver’s license renewal, registration of a car);
  • etc.

If you value your time and prefer dealing with these issues remotely, then what you need is the electronic signature certificate.

If you ever need any help (completing and submitting your SIGEN-CA application, understanding what it offers or how to use it), we are always happy to offer our consulting services.

A consultation on how to apply for an electronic signature certificate with instructions in Russian costs EUR 100.

A package of documents for a child born in Slovenia

If your child was born in Slovenia, the first document you need to obtain is a Slovenian birth certificate.

The next step is getting a passport and citizenship for the child in your country’s embassy. You will then need to bring the Slovenian birth certificate with an apostille and legal translation in the official language of your country. If your child was born in Ljubljana, the apostille will be provided by the court of Ljubljana http://www.sodisce.si/okrolj/.

For children born in Postojna, the apostille is made by the court of Koper http://www.sodisce.si/okrokp/. Offices that issue apostilles are open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9AM to 12PM, and additionally on Wednesdays from 2PM to 4:30 PM.

As regards other cities, we recommend asking for this information in a maternity hospital.

Insofar as it takes nearly two months to obtain citizenship and a passport through the embassy, you can get a temporary residence permit card without citizenship in the city administration.

To do that, you need to visit the Upravna enota in your city with the following documents:

  • Child’s photo
  • Child’s birth certificate
  • Declaration of family members
  • Proof of funds (payment checks, employment contract, account statement)
  • Written request to provide a residence permit without citizenship

The residence permit application will be completed by our consultant.

Residence permit cards without citizenship are issued for only a few months.

After you get your child’s passport, you need to exchange the residence permit card for a new one issued for the same validity as the parent’s card; the child’s card will also have an indication of their citizenship.

Remember that directly after birth, the child is automatically insured for 6 weeks, after which the child needs to be registered in the medical insurance system on the basis of a family member’s residence permit card. To do this, you must submit a MDČ application to the public health insurance office ZZZS http://www.zzzs.si/ and enclose the birth certificate.

Property lease

When renting real estate in Slovenia, private individuals should pay special attention to the following:

– the security deposit amount and its terms;

– the cost of public utilities (stroški) depending on the season;

– developed infrastructure (kindergartens, schools, supermarkets, access to public transport, etc.);

– parking capacity.

As can be expected, the process of finding/choosing a place to live and communicating with its owner are the most difficult part.

Read more about real estate in Slovenia

If you’re planning on renting real estate in Slovenia and need help, you can contact us anytime via [email protected]

Shopping in Slovenia

There are a variety of shops, boutiques, shopping centers and markets in big cities, especially in Ljubljana.

BTC is considered to be the most popular and easily accessible shopping center in Ljubljana.

It contains 450 shops, a food market and eco-shop, over 40 cafes and restaurants, playrooms and playgrounds for children, movie theaters and much more (read more at http://www.btc-city.com/lang/Eng).

Rudnik is known as the second largest shopping center (read more at http://www.supernova.si/). Make sure to also check out the open-air Ljubljana markets in the streets of the Old City and along the Ljubljanica river. In addition to great souvenirs, you can also buy fruits, veggies, and meat products. Every Sunday Ljubljana also hosts a flea market – a true paradise for anyone who loves antiques.

The most popular food stores in Slovenia are Mercator, Tus, Hofer, Lidl and EuroSpin. Their assortment is almost identical, the only difference being their prices and producers. You can find basic information and prices on the stores’ websites:

Hofer and Lidl are open Mon-Fri from 8 AM till 8 PM, Sat – from 8 AM till 8 PM, and Sun – from 8 AM till 3 PM. The stores are closed on public holidays. Convenience stores in Ljubljana are open 7 days a week from 7 AM till 9 PM.

If you don’t have the chance to go to the store in person, Mercator offers an online purchase and delivery service (KLIK na DOM)

(https://trgovina.mercator.si/market).

You can also purchase household goods and appliances online; the most popular online store in Slovenia is (https://www.mimovrste.com/).

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