We remove administrative obstacles and speed up the procedures for issuing and serving residence permits and registration certificates. We reintroduce access to Slovenian language courses for all categories of foreigners.

The Justice and Home Affairs Council spent the morning part of the session discussing the situation in the Schengen area.

This year's High Security Printing EMEA™ Conference is taking place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, from 7 to 9 March 2023 and its award for the best ID card of the year was claimed by the Slovenian biometric identity card.

State Secretary Tina Heferle attended the 2nd European Conference on Border Management in Athens. The discussions focused on the effectiveness of European Union's border management and return policies as well as on the issue of EU funding to upgrade member states' operational capacities at the external borders.

The newly appointed Minister of the Interior Boštjan Poklukar has taken the office from the Minister of Public Administration and Acting Minister of the Interior Sanja Ajanović Hovnik.

Safer Internet Day is celebrated on 7 February. This year, the focus in Slovenia is on the issue of inappropriate online content. Children are among the most at-risk users of the internet, mainly because of their youth, inexperience, curiosity and naivety.

State Secretary Dr Branko Lobnikar attended a ministerial conference in Sofia to discuss measures for more effective management of the external borders of the European Union.

The Minister of Public Administration in the capacity of Minister of the Interior, Sanja Ajanović Hovnik, is attending the informal meeting of the EU Justice and Home Affairs Ministers in Stockholm.

Today, the Government Working Group to prepare the Migration Strategy, which was established by a Government Decision in October 2022, met for the first time at the Ministry of the Interior.

Neighbouring country Croatia joins Schengen on 1 January 2023. Minister of Public Administration and Acting Minister of the Interior Sanja Ajanović Hovnik and Acting Director General of the Police Boštjan Lindav have attended the Schengen joining celebration at the Obrežje–Bregana border crossing point.

On 21 December 2022 have passed 15 years since Slovenia became a Schengen state. For the Slovenian people, the most visible sign of the country’s entry into the Schengen Area was the abolishment of border controls at the borders with Austria, Italy and Hungary. This was a very important development for Slovenia, as its path to other EU states and the Schengen Area finally opened up.

The European Union has confirmed all three programmes for the European Union (EU) Home Affairs Funds for the 2021–2027 period. This will enable Slovenia to draw European funds in the fields of asylum, migration and integration, internal security and border management and visa instrument.

Public Administration Minister Sanja Ajanović Hovnik is temporarily taking over the role of the Minister of the Interior after the stepping down of the former Minister of the Interior, Tatjana Bobnar.

Minister of the Interior Tatjana Bobnar has attended the EU Home Affairs Council in Brussels, where the key item on the agenda was the extension of the Schengen area.

Minister of the Interior Tatjana Bobnar attended an extraordinary meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council in Brussels. Ministers discussed the situation on the main migration routes.

Police Chiefs met at the international conference in Portorož on 17 and 18 November 2022, and discussed the stepping-up of information exchange and police cooperation in the region for the purpose of prevention of organised crime and dismantling of the highly profitable illicit business model of the criminal networks.

State Secretary, Dr Branko Lobnikar, attended the two-day ministerial meeting of the member states of the Salzburg Forum in Bucharest.

Transgender persons are no longer to be exposed to involuntary disclosure of transgender identity in the local environment.

In recent months Slovenia has called upon the European Commission and partner countries in the Western Balkans several times to align the visa regimes of countries in the region – especially Serbia – with the EU visa policy. Large numbers of illegal border crossings are now being made by nationals of third countries who have not been part of previous migration flows. These are above all being made by citizens of India, Burundi and Cuba, who entered Serbia legally and then illegally entered EU countries, including Slovenia.

State Secretary Dr Branko Lobnikar attended a Berlin Process meeting of interior ministers, hosted by German Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser in Berlin.