Residence card in Slovakia

The law does not provide for the option of “canceling an uncollected card / residence before collecting the card”; however, under certain conditions, a temporary residence may expire or be revoked. According to Section 35(a) of Act No. 404/2011 Coll. on the Residence of Foreigners, a reason for the expiration of temporary residence is the fact that a third-country national did not enter the territory of the Slovak Republic within 180 days of the granting of the temporary residence.

Therefore, if your acquaintance did not arrive within 180 days of being granted temporary residence (or if her temporary residence expired or was revoked for other reasons before the 180-day period elapsed), her foreigner’s residence permit would be shredded.

If you were the one who granted her the consent for accommodation, you can revoke this consent and notify the relevant Foreign Police department of this fact. The Foreign Police department will subsequently request your acquaintance to provide a new document proving the provision of accommodation.

If you wish to change your temporary residence address, it will be necessary to:

• notify the relevant Foreign Police department of the new address within five days of the address change

• provide a document proving the provision of accommodation in relation to the new address (consent of the property owner, lease agreement, title deed if you are the property owner, or confirmation from an accommodation facility)

• personally submit an application for the issuance of a foreigner’s residence permit at the locally competent Foreign Police department according to the new address

• return the foreigner’s residence permit with the outdated address

If your acquaintance wishes to change her address, the same procedure applies. Notification of an address change can be carried out through an authorized representative. However, in the case of submitting an application for the issuance of a new card, personal presence at the Foreign Police department is required. If you have not been granted power of attorney, you do not have the right to perform any actions on behalf of your acquaintance.

We assume you are referring to permanent residence for an unlimited period under Section 46 of the Act on the Residence of Foreigners. In such a case, the Foreign Police issues a residence document to the foreigner with a maximum validity of ten years. The validity of the residence document must always expire at least 90 days before the expiration of the third-country national’s travel document. Based on this, we assume the residence card’s validity is ending because the foreigner’s passport will expire within 90 days.

In this case, it is necessary to go in person to the Foreign Police department and apply for a replacement of the residence card. At the same time, the expired residence card must be returned. The foreigner must appear at the Foreign Police department in person; representation is not possible as biometric data will be taken. Naturally, a new passport must also be presented. Pursuant to Section 73(14) of the Act on Residence, it is necessary to apply for a new residence document at least 30 days before the current residence document expires.

We often encounter this question with other types of residence as well. For temporary residence for the purpose of seasonal employment, it applies that “if the validity of the third-country national’s travel document is shorter than 180 days, the police department shall grant temporary residence for at most the period of validity of the travel document.” (Section 23(4) of the Act on the Residence of Foreigners)

For other types of residence, a reason for the residence card’s validity ending before the granted residence period expires is also the end of the accommodation period declared in the proof of accommodation submitted with the application for granting or renewing the residence. This follows from Section 73(4) of the Act on the Residence of Foreigners, according to which: “To a third-country national who has been granted temporary residence, the police department shall issue a residence document with validity according to the time for which the temporary residence was granted; if they have secured accommodation for a shorter time than the temporary residence was granted for, the police department shall issue a residence document with validity for the time they have secured accommodation. The validity of the residence document must always expire at least 90 days before the expiration of the third-country national’s travel document.”

The same applies to permanent residence for 5 years: “To a third-country national who has been granted permanent residence under Section 43, the police department shall issue a residence document with a maximum validity of five years; if they have secured accommodation for a period shorter than five years, the police department shall issue a residence document with validity for the time they have secured accommodation.” (Section 73(11))