Temporary residence for the purpose of family reunification
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Prechodný pobyt na účel zlúčenia rodiny as of 2026-08-24[3][6] The statutory name of the § 27 purpose. |
|---|---|
| Official name (English) | Temporary residence for the purpose of family reunification as of 2026-08-24[4] The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs' own English wording in the consular tariff is 'Family reunion' (item 242 a) 5.); this is the fuller translation of the Slovak name. |
| Legal basis | Zákon č. 404/2011 Z. z. o pobyte cudzincov, § 27 (zlúčenie rodiny), read with § 27 ods. 4 (súhlas druhého rodiča), § 31 ods. 3 (podanie žiadosti), § 32 ods. 5 písm. q) (doklad o odkázanosti), § 32 ods. 6 písm. g) (finančné a hmotné zabezpečenie garantom) a § 122 (ubytovanie) as of 2026-08-24[5][6] |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-08-24[3] |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | EU as of 2026-08-24[3] |
|---|---|
| Minimum age | Not established from a qualifying source No minimum; the route is built around 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[6] 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. |
Permit terms
| Initial duration | up to 5 years as of 2026-08-24[3][6] Granted until the expiry of the residence of the person the applicant claims reunification with, and for no longer than five years. The term is therefore derived from the sponsor's permit and capped, not granted independently. |
|---|---|
| How the initial term is set | matches the sponsor's permit |
| Renewable | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Work rights | authorisation required as of 2026-08-24[2][7] § 23a ods. 1 písm. c) of the Employment Services Act: no work permit and no labour-office confirmation are needed after nine months of uninterrupted residence in Slovakia counted from the grant of the family-reunification residence. Before then a separate permission is required, which is what authorisation_required records. The nine months fall away entirely for the family member of an EU Blue Card holder, of an intra-corporate transferee, of a holder of research-and-development residence, and of a person present under employee or researcher mobility — for those four the right is immediate. |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Not established from a qualifying source |
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Requirements
| Who can sponsor | permanent resident, temporary permit holder as of 2026-08-24[5][6] § 32 ods. 6 písm. g) describes the sponsor in terms: a third-country national who has been granted permanent residence or temporary residence under this Act, or who is applying for either, and with whom reunification is sought. The police document list requires a copy of the sponsor's residence document. A Slovak citizen is not a sponsor under this route: the spouse or dependent direct relative of a Slovak citizen with permanent residence in Slovakia applies instead for five-year permanent residence under § 43, recorded here as sk-trvaly-pobyt-5-rokov-rodina. That boundary is the single most important thing to get right about family migration to Slovakia. |
|---|---|
| Eligible relations | spouse, minor child, other dependent as of 2026-08-24[6] |
| Sponsor income requirement | Recorded at the source, but not reducible to a single value[5] |
| Sponsor accommodation requirement | Recorded at the source, but not reducible to a single value[6] |
| Sponsor waiting period | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Pre-entry language test | Not established from a qualifying source |
Process
| Where to apply from | either as of 2026-08-24[6] In person abroad at a Slovak mission, or directly at the competent foreign police department where the applicant is lawfully in Slovakia. § 31 ods. 3 lists the in-country conditions — a valid residence permit under a special regulation, tolerated stay under § 58 ods. 1 písm. a) to c) or ods. 2, a Schengen visa for seasonal employment, a national visa under § 15, visa exemption, temporary refuge, or a certificate of a Slovak living abroad — and an applicant who has filed a complete application may stay until it is decided. |
|---|---|
| Statutory processing time | 90 days as of 2026-08-24[3][6] The competent foreign police department decides within 90 days of the application. |
| Observed processing time | Not established from a qualifying source No official observed-duration statistics were located. |
| Fees | |
| Quota |
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Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Not established from a qualifying source Not established. Whether a holder of family-reunification residence may in turn sponsor another family member was not sourced; the financial-security provision describes the sponsor as a holder of temporary or permanent residence without qualifying which kind. |
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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.
The next step is your own case. That assessment is legal work. Create profile for our assistance in this.
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Verification
| Sources cited | 7 |
|---|---|
| of which official (tier 1) | 6 |
| 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] 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 - [6] 17. Doklady potrebné k prijatiu žiadosti o udelenie prechodného pobytu na účel zlúčenia rodiny podľa § 27 zákona o pobyte cudzincov (edícia júl 2025)
Úrad hraničnej a cudzineckej polície Prezídia Policajného zboru, Ministerstvo vnútra SR · official guidance · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-24 - [7] 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