A common question facing even the most experienced immigration lawyers in Slovenia can be literally “Where to start?”.

The general rule, set by paragraph 2 of Art. 34 of the Slovenian Foreigners act (ZTuj-2, Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia [Uradni list RS], No. 50/11 of 27 June 2011 and subsequent changes) clearly states that a foreigner must acquire their first permit before entering the country unless otherwise provided by ZTuj-2. Failure to do so (e.g. attempting to first enter the country with a tourist visa or a valid passport if a visa is not required) would result in a rejection of the application for residence permit on procedural grounds. Furthermore, in those cases, an address registration in Slovenia will not be possible and a lengthy administrative procedure may lead to an applicant overextending their visit, which in turn may lead to a temporary prohibition of re-entry into Slovenia, the EU and the Schengen area.

Where, if not in Slovenia should a foreigner then apply for a permit? The answer to that question can be found in the next paragraph of the aforementioned legal provision which states that an application should in principle be filed with a diplomatic mission or consular post of the Republic of Slovenia abroad. If a specific country of residence of the foreigner has only one diplomatic or consular post of the Republic of Slovenia, the application can be filed exclusively there (even if there is a closer Slovene embassy in a neighbouring country and even if the foreigner in question would find it more practical or less expensive to file their application in another Slovene embassy or consulate in another foreign country). If a specific country of residence of a foreigner does not have a Slovene consulate or embassy, the situation gets more complicated. In most cases a Slovene embassy of a nearby country will be competent not only for accepting applications from that country, but will have jurisdiction for such applications even from other nearby countries which do not have a Slovenian embassy or consulate. In some cases (especially in Africa or Asia) the “nearby embassy” would actually be very much far away from the place of residence of the foreigner. It is worth noting though, that honorary consulates normally do not provide administrative services of accepting residence permit applications or serving residence permits.

In specific cases, however, ZTuj-2 departs from the general principle of having to apply for the first residence permit from an embassy abroad. Most notably, the so-called “student residence permit” (Art. 44 of ZTuj-2) and the “EU Blue card” (Art. 39. of ZTuj-2) are two such cases. Applicants for those can (and must) apply for their permits only after they enter the country. If they choose to apply instead from an embassy abroad, they may be faced with similar procedural issues as applicants applying from Slovenia (where the law does not provide a basis for that).

In conclusion, the first step to any immigration plan is to evaluate the feasibility and the logistics of the procedure given the place of application itself (and the place of service of the permit). The severe consequences of applying to the wrong authority are in this sense completely avoidable and a more structured approach with the help of an immigration attorney, immigration law firm or other immigration legal expert can go a long way.