Slovenia: ordinary naturalisation

Actual residence and lawful status

Applicants must actually live in Slovenia for ten years, including the continuous five years immediately before applying, and have regulated foreigner status. Actual residence involves physical presence and the centre of interests. Qualifying status can include permanent or temporary residence permission or EU residence registration; ten years of permanent-residence status is not required.

Basic Slovene examination

The ordinary requirement is Slovene for everyday communication, proved by the basic-level examination. The authorised examination centre maps that basic level to CEFR A2–B1, with listening, reading, writing and speaking; it is not described here as a single B1-only requirement.

Education, age and health exceptions

The requirement is deemed met after Slovenian primary school, an accredited Slovenian secondary programme, specified Slovenian higher education completed after 25 June 1991, or Slovene-medium primary/secondary school in neighbouring indigenous Slovene communities. Applicants older than 60 with 15 actual years in Slovenia also qualify. Illiterate applicants can take a basic oral-communication test. Health impairments preventing everyday communication and examination in the required form can exempt the applicant, established by expert evidence.

Support, conduct and oath

Applicants must be adults, have sufficient means for themselves and dependants, settle tax obligations, satisfy criminal-record and residence-exclusion conditions, and present no public-order, security or defence danger. Relevant convictions include unconditional imprisonment exceeding three months or a suspended prison sentence with probation exceeding one year, subject to expungement rules. An oath respecting the democratic constitutional order is required. Grant remains discretionary in the national interest.

Release and retention exceptions

Ordinarily applicants must obtain release from existing nationality or show it will follow a Slovenian grant. Exceptions include statelessness, automatic loss, proven unreasonable delay, and EU nationality with reciprocity. Where the other country refuses release or penalises naturalisation as disloyalty, a renunciation declaration suffices. Delay has statutory steps and deadlines. These exceptions differ from the wider retention rules for specified special routes.