Slovenia
In order to reside and work in Slovenia, non-EU nationals need work and/or residence permits. Third-country nationals need residence permit. There are two types of residence:
1) temporary residence permit: one can apply for this permit when one has a provable purpose of residence in Slovenia. When one meets the conditions, a permit is issued for a fixed period (not more than one year). A person can extend the temporary residence permit under the same conditions as it was issued.
2) permanent residence permit: a person can apply for this permit after a fixed, continuous and lawful period of residence in Slovenia. It is issued without limitation of duration, and in the application one also does not need to show the purpose of permanent residence in Slovenia.
International protection in the Republic of Slovenia means refugee status and subsidiary protection status. The Government Office of the Republic of Slovenia for Support and Integration of Migrants is the competent authority for ensuring the rights and implementing integration measures for persons granted international protection. It provides accommodation to persons granted international protection in its own integration houses and other accommodation facilities, or pays for accommodation in a private residence. The decision granting refugee status applies as a permanent residence permit, while the decision granting subsidiary protection status applies as a temporary residence permit.
The acquisition of citizenship is still considered to be the most potent measure of integration into a society. An individual may acquire Slovenian citizenship by birth*, or by naturalization** if they actually reside in Slovenia on a continuous basis for the prescribed period of time. There is also a process of extraordinary naturalisation, which allows Slovenian citizenship to be acquired under less stringent conditions, where citizenship is in the national interest – in particular, where there are justified academic/scientific, economic, cultural, national or similar grounds (it is often used for athletes).
* The principle of blood ties applies in Slovenia. This means that a child acquires citizenship at birth through their parents, i.e. not on the basis of place of birth. Newborn children acquire Slovenian citizenship if at least one of the parents is a Slovenian citizen.
** An individual may also acquire Slovenian citizenship by naturalisation. Acquiring citizenship by application – conditions: having lived in Slovenia for at least ten years, including a continuous period of five years’ residence prior to the application; or having been married to a Slovenian national for at least three years and having actually lived in Slovenia for a continuous period of at least one year prior to submission of the application; etc. Dual citizenship is not allowed.
In terms of political participation, long-term permanent residents have the right to vote in local elections since 2002, which makes Slovenia a leader in Central Europe on this issue. However, non-EU citizens are not allowed to be members of political parties (aside from being honorary members), and they cannot stand as candidates in elections. Additionally, immigrants’ associations and leaders are only formally consulted since 2015.
To end this chapter, we make available to students the following success story starring a migrant woman in Slovenia and entitled “Integration as a project” accessible at: https://viw.pixel-online.org/case_view.php?id=OA==. This success story shows that migrant women may use marriage to a Slovenian national as a strategy to overcome administrative barriers because being married to a national helps effectively arrange their residence and easier access to citizenship.
References
Citizenship: https://www.gov.si/en/topics/citizenship/
Information for foreigners (including integration and residence): https://infotujci.si/en/
Pajnik, Mojca and Bajt, Veronika (2013). Civic participation of migrant women. In: Paradoxes of integration, 97-116.