INFORMATION
FOR FOREIGNERS

If you reside in Slovenia for long enough and you have a temporary residence permit issued for one year or you have a valid permanent residence permit, you may reunite your family.

WHAT DOES ‘long enough’ mean?

Long enough means that you have already resided in Slovenia for one year on the basis of a temporary residence permit and that you have a temporary residence permit issued for at least one year. The time of residence on the basis of the issued certificate of the submitted application for the first issue or for the issue of a further permit or its extension is also taken into consideration.

Who may reunite family members sooner, without a time limit?

In some exceptional cases specified below, individuals may exercise the right to family reunification with no statutory limit on the length of stay and the validity of the residence permit issued:

Both parents or a guardian are allowed to reunite with a child or a minor in the following cases: if they have been issued a temporary residence permit in the Republic of Slovenia, or if a temporary residence permit was granted to one of the parents who has been entrusted with parental responsibility – in case the parents do not live together, or if the child or minor has only one parent.

EU Blue Card holders, workers in research and higher education, workers transferred from a third-country to Slovenia, and company employees on long-term transfer from another EU country to Slovenia can exercise the right to family reunification. You shall also be able to exercise the right to family reunification if your stay in Slovenia is in the interest of the country – the opinion on the interest regarding family reunification is given by the ministry or the state authority which has an interest in your stay in Slovenia. The administrative unit shall bring its decision on the basis of the opinion received.

The application for a family member’s residence permit shall be processed at the same time as your own application only if both applications are submitted to the competent authority in the Republic of Slovenia (administrative unit) at the same time.

EU Blue Card holders, workers in research and higher education, workers transferred from a third-country to Slovenia and workers on long-term transfer from another EU country to Slovenia may reunite their family without a time limit. You may submit an application for family members at the same time as your application for a residence permit. You may also reunite your family earlier if your stay in Slovenia is in the interest of the country – the opinion on the interest of family reunification is given by the ministry or the state authority which has an interest in your stay in Slovenia. The administrative unit decides on the basis of the opinion received.

WHO are family members?

Family members are:

• spouse, partner in a partnership or a civil union forming part of a couple for an extended period of time,
• your children who are minors and unmarried,
• minor unmarried children of your spouse or a partner in a partnership or a civil union forming part of a couple for an extended period of time,
• if you are a minor, family members may also be your parents with whom you lived as a family before you came to Slovenia,
• adult unmarried children and parents of your spouse or a partner in a partnership or a civil union forming part of a couple for an extended period of time, whom you or your spouse, partner in a partnership or a civil union forming part of a couple for an extended period of time must support according to the laws of the country of which you are a citizen.

You need to demonstrate the conditions for all family members, whereby you must show regular and sufficient financial means for all the family members whom you intend to reunite. Regular and sufficient funds are shown for the past six months and for the month in which the application is submitted or a month before the competent authority decides on the application..

How much do sufficient financial means for family members amount to?

Means for family members are demonstrated by the same weighting as for determining financial social assistance as shown below:

Example: a foreigner, reuniting an unemployed wife and a minor child must provide the means for his unemployed wife (weight 0.57) and for one child (weight 0.59). The amount of basic minimum income (weight 1) is subject to change and currently amounts to: HERE.

You may extend your family members’ permit for the same length of time as the validity of your permit (for example: if you have been living in Slovenia for three years and your family members for two years on the basis of family reunification and your permit has been extended for another six months, the permit of your family members will also be extended by six months if the conditions are met).

If a foreigner dies or the relationship of two persons ceases and lasted for at least three years in Slovenia, the permit for a family member may be extended once.