{"id":740,"date":"2024-04-23T18:16:15","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T18:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.odb.si\/en\/?p=740"},"modified":"2024-04-23T18:17:14","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T18:17:14","slug":"immigration-to-slovenia-language-requirements-changes-from-may-1st","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.odb.si\/en\/2024\/04\/23\/immigration-to-slovenia-language-requirements-changes-from-may-1st\/","title":{"rendered":"Immigration to Slovenia : Language requirements &#8211; Changes from May 1st!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">An Immigration lawyer in Slovenia is asked about the requirements for successfully obtaining various visas, residence permits and even Slovenian citizenship. There are very few of those requirements that are asked about more than the language requirements. In other words,\u00a0<em>Do I need to speak Slovenian? Do I need to learn Slovenian?\u00a0<\/em>and<em>\u00a0How much Slovenian do I need to know?\u00a0<\/em>&#8211; when applying for a visa, a residence permit or for citizenship is usually the first serious consideration a foreigner seeking to move to Slovenia has.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><u>Why is this important?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is perfectly natural, as other requirements (for example: an absence of criminal convictions, valid health insurance or a valid passport) are much more easily obtained and proven. Learning Slovenian, especially for people who live abroad is a completely different matter. Slovenian is not a widely spoken language and in many places of origin of people wishing to move to Slovenia there may be little to no chance of obtaining a proper tutor to learn it well enough to meet the government&#8217;s requirements.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, what&nbsp;<strong>are<\/strong>&nbsp;the language requirements for moving to Slovenia?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><u>Answer:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As of\u00a0<strong>April 2024<\/strong>, there are no language requirements for residence permits and visas. Those requirements exist only for most citizenship applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Language requirements are set to be requested from November 1<sup>st<\/sup>&nbsp;2024 on, but only for two specific residence permits:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>the\u00a0<strong>permanent residence permit<\/strong>\u00a0(requiring A2 level knowledge of Slovenian) which is generally available to temporary residence permit holders who have resided in Slovenia for 5 or more years and\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>the\u00a0<strong>family member permit extension<\/strong>\u00a0(requiring a so called\u00a0<em>&#8220;survival level&#8221;\u00a0<\/em>knowledge of Slovenian). This unfortunately worded requirement comes from the latest change to the Slovenian\u00a0<em>Foreigners Act.<\/em>\u00a0The name does however imply that the language requirement should be very basic. The law indeed defines the\u00a0<em>survival level<\/em>\u00a0of Slovenian as the language skill required for <em>basic communication in the Slovene language, limited to simple, predictable, everyday situations in which expression is routine and repetitive.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In any case, the fulfilment of a language requirement is proven by submitting a certificate on successfully passing the appropriate language test (even the survival level requirement). Certain specific exemptions apply.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From May 1<sup>st\u00a0<\/sup>2024, however, the issuance of a family member permit extension will be conditioned with an enrolment in a suitable language course or study program.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><u>Best course of action;<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is advisable for all family member residence permit holders who are about to apply for an extension and who qualify for a family member permit extension to apply for their extension <strong>before the end of April 2024<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For those who don&#8217;t and for potential permanent residence permit holders, the relevant time is the <strong>end of October 2024<\/strong>. Before that time, the permanent residence permit applicants don&#8217;t need to fulfil language requirements, while family member permit extension applicants need to prove only enrolment in a language or educational course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For all those who do not fulfil requirements to apply within those time limits, the best course of action is to inquire about and enrol in suitable Slovenian language courses in order to obtain the necessary certificate before this is absolutely needed and perhaps too late to be obtained.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is worth noting that the language requirements were introduced but not enacted in the past, being delayed at the last moment by the legislator. It is not impossible that this will happen again, but no potential residence permit applicant should count on this development reoccurring when making their very important immigration-related decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>* Finding yourself in need of legal services in Slovenia and looking for a Ljubljana law firm or (more specifically) a Slovenian<\/em> <em>immigration lawyer, consider contacting us using our contact details as published on our\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.odb.si\/en\/\">web page<\/a>. A qualified law firm in Ljubljana, Slovenia can provide you with legal advice and representation \u2013 helping you navigate the complexities of Slovenian law and ensuring that your rights are protected. You can find more information on legal acts in Slovenia on the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.pisrs.si\/Pis.web\/cm?idStrani=prevodi\">official pages of the Slovenian <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.si\/novice\/2023-11-15-z-nujno-novelo-zakona-o-tujcih-prilagajamo-pogoj-znanja-slovenscine\/\" title=\"\">government<\/a>. More legal topics can be found on our Ljubljana law firm\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.odb.si\/en\/?page_id=10\">publications page<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Immigration lawyer in Slovenia is asked about the requirements for successfully obtaining various visas, residence permits and even Slovenian citizenship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[14,11,15,12,13,176,125,114,117,139,45,142,116,119,113,115],"class_list":["post-740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-publications","tag-immigration-attorney-in-slovenia","tag-immigration-law","tag-immigration-law-firm-in-slovenia","tag-immigration-lawyer","tag-immigration-lawyer-in-slovenia","tag-immigration-lawyer-ljubljana","tag-immigration-lawyer-slovenia","tag-law-firm-in-slovenia","tag-law-firm-ljubljana","tag-law-firm-slovenia","tag-lawyer-in-slovenia","tag-lawyer-slovenia","tag-legal-services-slovenia","tag-slovenian-civil-law-firm","tag-slovenian-law-firm","tag-slovenian-lawyer"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_src":{"landsacpe":false,"list":false,"medium":false,"full":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.odb.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.odb.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.odb.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.odb.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.odb.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=740"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.odb.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":742,"href":"https:\/\/www.odb.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740\/revisions\/742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.odb.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.odb.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.odb.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}