Citizenship of the Republic of Slovenia

Citizenship is based on a person’s nationality but can also be granted for other reasons. Citizenship may be acquired by origin. New-borns acquire citizenship of the Republic of Slovenia if at least one parent is a Slovenian citizen. Furthermore, citizenship can be acquired by naturalisation if the person has lived in the Republic of Slovenia for a certain period of time and meets certain conditions laid down in the relevant regulations. The applicant may file an application for the acquisition of Slovenian citizenship with any administrative unit in Slovenia.

Citizenship can also be acquired by way of exceptional naturalisation, allowing foreign citizens to acquire Slovenian citizenship under more lenient conditions if that is in the national interest – scientific, economic, cultural, social, national or similar reasons may be taken into consideration.

Citizenship of the Republic of Slovenia may be terminated by release or renouncement.

On 1 May 2004, Slovenian citizens also became EU citizens, but this does not replace but rather complements Slovenian citizenship and brings new rights.

Personal identity documents

Personal identity documents are used as proof of identity or citizenship and for travel or border-crossing purposes. The following public documents and valid personal identity documents are used in the Republic of Slovenia: identity card, passport, local border traffic permit, driving licence, firearms licence and boatmasters’ certificate.

Citizens are obliged to notify the administrative unit of any changes that may require the issue of a new personal identity document or an additional entry (e.g. a change in their permanent residence) within the time limits provided by law.

Residence

Foreign nationals must hold a permanent or temporary residence permit in order to be registered as resident in Slovenia.

Registers and records

The Ministry keeps records or registers of the civil statuses of Slovenian and foreign citizens and registers of data entered. These are databases (registers) and lists containing various personal and other data about the citizens.

Personal data

The Personal Data Protection Act defines "personal data" as any data relating to an individual, irrespective of the form in which it is expressed, such as their personal identification number (EMŠO), tax identification number, health insurance number, telephone number, vehicle registration number, email address, identity card number or medical data that could be used to identify a particular person. Personal data also include data that must be de-identified, encrypted or pseudonymised, e.g. mobile phone location data, IP addresses and cookie tags.

Protection of personal data

The right to the protection of personal data is a human right which is also guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia. The protection of personal data is ensured to everyone, irrespective of national origin, race, skin colour, religion, ethnicity, gender, language, political or other conviction, sexual orientation, material standing, birth, education, social status, citizenship, place or type of residence, or any other personal circumstance.

In 2018,  the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), specifying the data subject’s rights, entered into force at the EU level. Among other things, these rights include the subject’s right to access their personal data and the right to rectification and erasure, the right to the restriction of processing, the right to object and the right to data portability. The Regulation also imposes the obligation for data controllers (i.e. persons responsible for data processing) to provide the subjects with transparent and easily accessible information about the processing of their data.