Permanent residence for five years
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Trvalý pobyt na päť rokov as of 2026-08-24[3][7] The Act's name for the instrument. It is one of the three forms of trvalý pobyt (permanent residence) the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs enumerates, alongside permanent residence for an unlimited period and EU long-term residence. Recorded here as a family-family route rather than only as a country-level permanent-residence default because § 43 ods. 1 is a list of family grounds and it is the route a person marrying a Slovak citizen actually takes. |
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| Official name (English) | Permanent residence for five years as of 2026-08-24[4] The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs' own English wording in the consular tariff, item 242 c) ('Permanent stay permit application for the period of 5 years'). |
| Legal basis | Zákon č. 404/2011 Z. z. o pobyte cudzincov, § 43 ods. 1 písm. a) až e) a § 43 ods. 2, read with § 45 ods. 3 (náležitosti žiadosti), § 45 ods. 5 (doklady preukazujúce účel) a § 48 ods. 2 (dôvody zamietnutia) as of 2026-08-24[7] |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-08-24[7] Permanent residence granted for a fixed five-year term, from which the holder moves to permanent residence for an unlimited period after four years. |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | EU as of 2026-08-24[3] |
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| Minimum age | Not established from a qualifying source No minimum; several of the § 43 grounds are for children. A legal representative or appointed guardian acts for a minor and persons under 18 are exempt from the application fee. |
| Criminal-record condition | Yes as of 2026-08-24[7] § 45 ods. 3 písm. b): a criminal-record extract no older than 90 days from the state of nationality and from every state where the applicant spent more than 90 days in any six consecutive months in the last three years. A third-country national younger than 14 does not file one, nor does an applicant changing the type of residence who filed such a document with the earlier application. |
Permit terms
| Initial duration | 5 years as of 2026-08-24[3][7] Five years, and the Act names the instrument after the term rather than setting a ceiling under it — which is why the bound is exact rather than maximum, the only route on this record so marked. |
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| Renewable | Yes as of 2026-08-24[8] Succeeded rather than renewed in the ordinary sense: after four years of five-year permanent residence the holder may apply for permanent residence for an unlimited period under § 46 ods. 1 písm. a), and the five-year residence stays valid until that application is decided. |
| Renewal duration | Not applicable[8] The successor status, permanent residence for an unlimited period, has no term. |
| Work rights | full as of 2026-08-24[2][9] |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Yes as of 2026-08-24[8] It is permanent residence, and it is the statutory way into the unlimited form: § 46 ods. 1 písm. a) grants permanent residence for an unlimited period to a third-country national who has held five-year permanent residence under § 43 for at least four years, provided there are no grounds for refusal under § 48 ods. 2. |
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| Years to permanent residence on this route | 4 as of 2026-08-24[8] |
| How this time counts toward citizenship | 1 as of 2026-08-24[5] Recorded because the counting rule is explicit rather than inferred: § 7 ods. 1 písm. a) of Act No. 40/1993 Z. z. requires eight years of uninterrupted PERMANENT residence in Slovakia immediately preceding the application for naturalisation, and this route is permanent residence. Time on it counts in full towards that eight years. |
Requirements
| Who can sponsor | citizen, permanent resident as of 2026-08-24[7] § 43 ods. 1 gives five grounds and they run across two sponsor classes. A Slovak CITIZEN with permanent residence in Slovakia sponsors their spouse and their dependent direct relative (písm. a)), and their third-country spouse's unmarried child under 18 entrusted to that spouse's personal care (písm. b)). A third-country PERMANENT RESIDENT sponsors their unmarried child under 18 or a child under 18 entrusted to their personal care (písm. c)) and their dependent child over 18 with a long-term adverse state of health (písm. d)). The fifth ground, písm. e), is the interest of the Slovak Republic, certified by a central state administration body — not a family ground at all, and recorded in this route's note rather than given a sponsor class it does not have. |
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| Eligible relations | spouse, minor child, adult dependent child, other dependent as of 2026-08-24[7] |
| Sponsor income requirement | Not applicable[6][7] A sourced absence on a closed enumeration. § 45 ods. 3 lists what the applicant attaches to a five-year permanent residence application — proof of the § 43 ground, good character, the non-custodial parent's consent where § 43 ods. 2 applies, and accommodation — and carries no financial-security item; the Border and Aliens Police's own statement of the financial-security condition is addressed to prechodný pobyt purposes and does not reach § 43. Slovakia therefore appears to impose no means test on family-based permanent residence, which is a materially different position from the § 27 temporary route, where the sponsor must undertake to support the applicant. |
| Sponsor accommodation requirement | Recorded at the source, but not reducible to a single value[7] |
| Sponsor waiting period | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Pre-entry language test | No as of 2026-08-24[7] |
| Sponsor and relation matrix |
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Process
| Where to apply from | either as of 2026-08-24[7] In person at a Slovak mission or in person at a police unit. The in-country channel is open where the applicant holds a valid residence permit under a special regulation, tolerated stay under § 58 ods. 1 písm. a) to c) or ods. 2, a national visa under § 15, a Schengen visa issued by another member state under a representation agreement with Slovakia, where no visa is required of them, or where they hold a certificate of a Slovak living abroad. An applicant on the Slovak-interest ground (§ 43 ods. 1 písm. e)) need not apply in person at all, and a family member may apply for an applicant under písm. a) or d) who is bedridden. |
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| Statutory processing time | 90 days as of 2026-08-24[7] The competent foreign police department decides within 90 days of receiving the complete application. It decides within 30 days where the applicant represents or works for a significant foreign investor in Slovakia, or is their child meeting one of the § 43 ods. 1 písm. b) to d) conditions. |
| Observed processing time | Not established from a qualifying source No official observed-duration statistics were located. |
| Fees |
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| Quota |
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Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Yes as of 2026-08-24[7] The route is itself the family route, and it reproduces: § 43 ods. 1 písm. c) grants five-year permanent residence to the unmarried child under 18 of a third-country national who holds five-year permanent residence, and to a child under 18 entrusted to their personal care. |
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| Eligible relations | minor child, adult dependent child as of 2026-08-24[7] § 43 ods. 1 písm. c) and d), read as the grounds available to the family of an existing five-year permanent resident: an unmarried child under 18, a child under 18 entrusted to personal care, and a dependent child over 18 unable to care for themselves because of a long-term adverse state of health. |
| Family may apply at the same time | Not established from a qualifying source Not established. |
| Family members' work rights | full as of 2026-08-24[9] A child granted permanent residence on this ground holds permanent residence, so § 23a ods. 1 písm. a) applies to them in their own right. |
Your next step
Read the requirements above considering your own situation: the income multiple, the absence limits, who you can bring. Check the country record for the reference figure those amounts are calculated from, and for anything that has changed recently.
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Verification
| Sources cited | 9 |
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| of which official (tier 1) | 8 |
| Oldest as-of date | 2026-08-24 |
| Newest as-of date | 2026-08-24 |
| Reviewed on | 2026-08-26 |
| Schema version | 1.1 |
Sources
- [1] Zákon č. 404/2011 Z. z. o pobyte cudzincov a o zmene a doplnení niektorých zákonov (znenie vyhlásené v Zbierke zákonov, čiastka 126)
Ministerstvo vnútra SR (kópia vyhláseného znenia na webovom sídle Úradu hraničnej a cudzineckej polície) · gazette · Tier 1 · Published 2011-10-21 · Accessed 2026-08-24 - [2] Kto nepotrebuje povolenie na zamestnanie ani potvrdenie o možnosti obsadenia voľného pracovného miesta?
Migračné informačné centrum IOM (Medzinárodná organizácia pre migráciu) · international organisation · Tier 2 · Published 2026-08-11 · Accessed 2026-08-24 - [3] Pobyt cudzinca – účely prechodného pobytu, druhy trvalého pobytu a podávanie žiadostí
Ministerstvo zahraničných vecí a európskych záležitostí SR (Generálny konzulát SR v Užhorode) · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2022-07-08 · Accessed 2026-08-24 - [4] Poplatky — sadzobník konzulárnych poplatkov, položky 240 až 265 (položka 242: žiadosti o udelenie pobytu)
Ministerstvo zahraničných vecí a európskych záležitostí SR · fee schedule · Tier 1 · Published 2024-03-11 · Accessed 2026-08-24 - [5] Nadobudnutie štátneho občianstva Slovenskej republiky (§ 7 zákona č. 40/1993 Z. z.)
Ministerstvo zahraničných vecí a európskych záležitostí SR (Generálny konzulát SR v New Yorku) · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2022-09-04 · Accessed 2026-08-24 - [6] 44. Finančné zabezpečenie pobytu podľa zákona č. 404/2011 Z. z. o pobyte cudzincov (edícia október 2024)
Úrad hraničnej a cudzineckej polície, Prezídium Policajného zboru, Ministerstvo vnútra SR · official guidance · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-24 · Superseded by sk-uhcp-faq-podnikanie - [7] 30. Doklady potrebné k prijatiu žiadosti o udelenie trvalého pobytu na päť rokov podľa § 43 zákona o pobyte cudzincov
Úrad hraničnej a cudzineckej polície, Prezídium Policajného zboru, Ministerstvo vnútra SR · official guidance · Tier 1 · Published 2025-07-07 · Accessed 2026-08-24 - [8] 21. Doklady k žiadosti o udelenie trvalého pobytu na neobmedzený čas (edícia júl 2025)
Úrad hraničnej a cudzineckej polície Prezídia Policajného zboru, Ministerstvo vnútra SR · official guidance · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-24 - [9] 4. Zamestnanie štátneho príslušníka tretej krajiny, u ktorého sa povolenie na zamestnanie ani potvrdenie o možnosti obsadenia VPM nevyžaduje (§ 23a zákona č. 5/2004 Z. z. o službách zamestnanosti)
Ústredie práce, sociálnych vecí a rodiny SR · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2024-03-07 · Accessed 2026-08-24