Before you start

A booked appointment through the Ministry of the Interior's online system — walk-ins are not the route
Proof of accommodation the Foreign Police will accept: a notarised owner's affidavit, a notarised tenancy agreement, an electronic consent through the official service, or a hotel/dormitory confirmation
For EU/EEA/Swiss citizens: an ID card or passport plus evidence of employment, self-employment, study, or sufficient means and health insurance
For third-country nationals: a valid passport, an apostilled criminal record certificate under 90 days old, and a Labour Office confirmation or other document proving the purpose

Step-by-step

1
Work out which track you are on before anything else
EU, EEA and Swiss citizens are exercising a right; third-country nationals are asking permission. The forms, the fees, the deadlines and the consequences of missing them are different in every particular.
OnlineWho: You
2
EU/EEA/Swiss: report the start of your stay within 10 working days
Report the beginning and place of your stay to the Foreign Police on the Notice of Stay form, unless your hotel or hostel does it for you.
In personWho: YouWithin 10 working days of entering Slovakia
3
EU/EEA/Swiss: register the right of residence for a stay over three months
Apply in person on the official form at any Foreign Police department, by appointment. Registration is free. Bring an employment contract, trade licence or school confirmation — or, failing those, a bank balance at the subsistence minimum (€295.22 from July 2026) and Slovak health insurance.
In personWho: YouWithin 30 days of the three-month pointFree; the residence card is €10
4
Third-country nationals: get the Labour Office confirmation first
Your employer reports the vacancy and then applies for a confirmation of the possibility to fill it. The Labour Office has 15 business days. Your residence application must be lodged within 180 days of the confirmation being issued, and the Foreign Police will not accept it if the office has not sent them the confirmation.
Via employerWho: Your employer
5
Third-country nationals: file, then report within three working days of arrival
File at a Slovak embassy or, if you are already here legally, at any Foreign Police department. After you land, report the start of your stay within three working days — a genuinely short window that catches Friday arrivals.
In personWho: You3 working days from entry€250 plus €10 for the residence card
6
Third-country nationals: clear the three post-arrival deadlines
Health insurance within three working days of collecting the residence card, a medical report within 30 days of collecting it, and — from 15 July 2026 — notification of the start and end of any period of unemployment within seven working days.
In personWho: You3 and 30 days from card collection

Documents you’ll need

Passport or, for EU citizens, a national ID card
Notarised accommodation document — an owner's affidavit or a notarised tenancy agreement
Employment contract, trade licence, school confirmation, or proof of funds and health insurance
Labour Office confirmation of the possibility to fill a vacancy (third-country employment)
Criminal record certificate, apostilled, under 90 days old (third-country nationals)
Translations by a translator on the Ministry of Justice register — a translation made abroad also needs a Slovak mission's confirmation unless it was done in Czechia

Things most newcomers don’t know

The office moved in May 2026 and most published addresses are wrong.

Bratislava's Foreign Police department left Vajnory for Račianska 62 in Bratislava-Nové Mesto because a hospital is being built on the old site. Guides, forum posts and even some employer HR packs still send people to the wrong end of the city for an appointment they cannot reschedule quickly.

Source: Ministry of the Interior press release, 15 June 2026

Filing a complete single-permit application already lets you start working.

You do not have to wait 60 days holding your breath. Submitting a complete application at the Foreign Police makes your stay lawful until it is decided, and on the single permit it also authorises you to begin work. This is more generous than the Czech or Austrian equivalent and is routinely missed.

Source: IOM Migration Information Centre — temporary residence for employment

The business route left the country on 1 July 2025.

Applications to be GRANTED temporary residence for business can now only be lodged at a Slovak embassy abroad, with no territorial exception, and you cannot switch into the business purpose at the Foreign Police until 24 months after your current residence was granted. The trade-licence route is something you plan from abroad now, not a fallback you reach for when a job ends.

Source: Ministry of the Interior — residence of foreigners

A Slovak great-grandparent is worth more than a job offer.

A Certificate of a Slovak Living Abroad, based on ancestry in the direct line up to great-grandparent, gets you temporary residence for up to five years with no administrative fee, a 30-day decision, and the right to work, do business and study without any further permit. Nobody checks whether you have one, so nobody finds out.

Source: Office for Slovaks Living Abroad; IOM MIC

Notarisation is a document standard here, not a formality.

Signatures on affidavits, powers of attorney and tenancy agreements must be notarised, photocopies must be notarised, and foreign public documents need an apostille. An unnotarised lease will not be accepted, which turns a viewing into a negotiation about whether the landlord will visit a notary.

Source: IOM MIC — required documents

Common mistakes to avoid

Going to the old Vajnory address instead of Račianska 62.
Reading the third-country rules as an EU citizen, or the reverse — the deadlines are 10 working days versus three.
Signing a tenancy agreement without notarised signatures and discovering the Foreign Police will not accept it.
Assuming a business-purpose application can still be lodged inside Slovakia.
Missing the seven-working-day unemployment notification and losing the protection period that keeps your residence alive.
Letting the 180-day window after the Labour Office confirmation lapse while waiting for an embassy appointment.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.