Single permit for work as a self-employed person
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Enotno dovoljenje zaradi opravljanja dela kot samozaposlena oseba as of 2026-08-25[1][5] The statutory permit name, taken from the heading of article 37.b of ZTuj-2-UPB15. The statutory name is recorded where the law gives the permit a name of its own, and here it does. The Employment Service of Slovenia uses the shorter administrative phrase 'enotno dovoljenje za samozaposlitev' on its own page; the two refer to the same permit and the statutory form is the one recorded. |
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| Official name (English) | Single permit for work as a self-employed person as of 2026-08-25[5] Translation of the Slovenian statutory name. Slovenian is the only language of the operative text; GOV.SI's English pages describe the single permit generally and give no official English name for this article 37.b variant, so this is a translation and not an official English name. |
| Legal basis | Zakon o tujcih (ZTuj-2), uradno prečiščeno besedilo ZTuj-2-UPB15 (Uradni list RS, št. 46/25), 37.b člen, read with 37. and 37.a člen (procedure, duration, extension) and the third paragraph of 33. člen (general conditions); Zakon o zaposlovanju, samozaposlovanju in delu tujcev (ZZSDT), uradno prečiščeno besedilo ZZSDT-UPB4 (Uradni list RS, št. 91/21), 15. člen as of 2026-08-25[5][6][7][8] |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-08-25[5] Article 37(1) defines the single permit as a temporary residence and work permit; article 37.b creates the self-employment variant of it, and it is issued as a card (izkaznica). |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | EU, EEA as of 2026-08-25[2][4] Both sources define a third-country national as a person who is not a national of an EU member state, of an EEA member state or of the Swiss Confederation. Switzerland is not a bloc in this vocabulary, so it is named here rather than encoded; Swiss nationals are outside this route for the same reason EU and EEA nationals are. |
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| Minimum age | Not established from a qualifying source Not established. Neither article 37.b of ZTuj-2 nor article 15 of ZZSDT states an age condition, but neither is framed as an exhaustive list of conditions on the applicant's person, so no age floor is asserted and none is denied. |
| Criminal-record condition | Not established from a qualifying source |
Permit terms
| Initial duration | up to 2 years as of 2026-08-25[1][5] Article 37.b(2) applies articles 37 and 37.a mutatis mutandis to the issue, extension and validity of this permit. Article 37(3) sets the first single permit for the term of the employment contract or the contract for work, but not more than two years, and the Employment Service states the same two-year ceiling. A self-employed person has no such contract, so what carries over to this route is the ceiling rather than the contract-linked term; recorded as a maximum for that reason, and no initial_duration_basis is set because the relational basis in article 37(3) does not apply to a self-employed applicant. |
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| Renewable | Yes as of 2026-08-25[1][5] Article 37(4), applied through article 37.b(2): the single permit may be extended if the foreigner or the employer applies in time under article 36(1) and the conditions continue to be met. |
| Renewal duration | up to 3 years as of 2026-08-25[1][5] Article 37(4) sets the extension for the term of the contract but not more than three years; the Employment Service states the same three-year ceiling. The same mutatis mutandis caveat as initial_duration applies. |
| Work rights | self-employment only as of 2026-08-25[5] Article 35(5): a foreigner holding a temporary residence permit issued for a specific purpose may reside in Slovenia only in accordance with that purpose, unless the Act provides otherwise. The purpose of this permit is work as a self-employed person, so it authorises self-employment and not dependent employment; taking up employment would require a further permit of a different purpose under article 36(3). |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Yes as of 2026-08-25[5] Article 52(1): a permanent residence permit may be issued to a foreigner who has lawfully resided in Slovenia for five uninterrupted years on the basis of a temporary residence permit and meets the Act's other conditions, including basic Slovenian. This permit is such a temporary residence permit and article 52 excludes no purpose in the limb relied on here. |
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Requirements
| Minimum capital | Not applicable as of 2026-08-25[5][8] No capital condition exists. The two provisions that between them state this route's own conditions – ZTuj-2 article 37.b and ZZSDT article 15 – impose a one-year prior-residence condition with one exemption and nothing else beyond the general conditions of article 33(3). SPOT's English page for non-EU founders states an own-funds requirement of EUR 10,000 and a business-premises requirement for a 'personal work permit for self-employment', but that page describes the regime of the Employment and Work of Aliens Act (ZZDT-1, Uradni list RS, št. 26/2011), which ZZSDT replaced in 2015, and it names permit types – personal work permit, work permit for a foreign representative, employment permit for a majority owner – that no longer exist. Those figures are therefore not recorded as current conditions. |
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| Business plan required | No as of 2026-08-25[5][8] Read on the same closed basis as min_capital: neither ZTuj-2 article 37.b nor ZZSDT article 15 requires a business plan, and article 15(1) removes the Employment Service from the procedure entirely, so there is no consent stage at which a plan could be assessed. |
| Endorsement required | No as of 2026-08-25[5][8] ZZSDT article 15(1) states that the consent of the Employment Service is not required for the issue or extension of a single permit for self-employment, and the Employment Service's own page repeats it. There is no committee, accelerator or ministry endorsement stage. |
| Innovation criterion | No as of 2026-08-25[5][8] Neither provision conditions the permit on innovation, novelty or economic benefit. Slovenia's self-employment route is a residence-duration route, not a merit-assessed one. |
| Own means requirement | 1 × basic amount of minimum income per month as of 2026-08-25[5] Article 33(3): a foreigner who wishes to reside in Slovenia must have sufficient means of subsistence for the period of residence, or have subsistence otherwise assured, monthly at least in the amount of the basic minimum income in the Republic of Slovenia. The same paragraph lists what may prove it: means the foreigner secures by their own work, rights arising from work or insurance other than reimbursement of work-related expenses, income from property, income from capital and other sources, support from those obliged to maintain them, a scholarship, or funds in an account at a bank or savings bank in Slovenia or abroad. This is the general condition on every residence permit, not a condition special to this route, and it is the only means test this route carries. |
Process
| Where to apply from | either as of 2026-08-25[2][5] |
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| Statutory processing time | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Fees |
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| Quota |
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Physical presence
| registration only | to keep the permit as of 2026-08-25[2] A foreigner issued a temporary residence permit must register their temporary residence with the administrative unit within eight days of entering the country, of being served the document, or of taking up residence, producing an identity document with a photograph and evidence of the right to reside at the address. No minimum day count in Slovenia was found as a condition of keeping this permit; the day counts that exist attach to permanent residence and are recorded on the country block. |
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Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Yes as of 2026-08-25[5] Article 47(1): the right to family reunification is recognised for a foreigner residing on a permanent residence permit, and for a foreigner who has resided in Slovenia for the last year on a temporary residence permit issued with a validity of at least one year. Seasonal workers and daily cross-border migrants are excluded; this route is neither. |
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| Eligible relations | spouse, registered partner, unmarried partner, minor child, adult dependent child, parent as of 2026-08-25[5] Article 47(3) defines family members as the spouse, the partner in a registered or civil partnership or a partner with whom the foreigner lives in a long-lasting life community; the foreigner's minor unmarried children; the minor unmarried children of that spouse or partner; the parents of a minor foreigner with whom the foreigner lived in a family community before coming to Slovenia; and adult unmarried children and parents of the foreigner or of the spouse or partner whom the foreigner or the spouse or partner is obliged to support under the law of their state of nationality. Article 47(4) allows the authority to treat a further person as a family member by exception. |
| Family may apply at the same time | No as of 2026-08-25[5] Article 47(1) conditions reunification on a year of prior residence on a permit valid for at least a year. Article 47(2) names the categories that may reunite family members from the validity of their own permit – EU Blue Card holders, researchers and higher-education staff, holders under article 38.b, intra-corporate transferees under articles 45.b and 45.d, holders whose residence is in the interest of Slovenia, digital nomads, persons of Slovenian descent under article 48, and former beneficiaries of protection. A self-employment single permit is not among them, so the one-year wait applies. |
| Family members' work rights | Not established from a qualifying source |
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 | 8 |
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| of which official (tier 1) | 8 |
| Oldest as-of date | 2026-08-25 |
| Newest as-of date | 2026-08-25 |
| Reviewed on | 2026-08-26 |
| Schema version | 1.1 |
Sources
- [1] Enotno dovoljenje
Zavod Republike Slovenije za zaposlovanje · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-25 · Archived copy - [2] Entry and residence
Ministrstvo za notranje zadeve in javno upravo (GOV.SI) · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-06-12 · Accessed 2026-08-25 · Archived copy - [3] Enotna dovoljenja (eBDP) – Stroški
Ministrstvo za notranje zadeve in javno upravo (SPOT) · fee schedule · Tier 1 · Published 2024-03-27 · Accessed 2026-08-25 · Archived copy - [4] How can non-EU nationals start a business in Slovenia?
Ministrstvo za notranje zadeve in javno upravo (SPOT) · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2023-09-07 · Accessed 2026-08-25 · Archived copy - [5] Zakon o tujcih (uradno prečiščeno besedilo) (ZTuj-2-UPB15)
Uradni list Republike Slovenije · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2025-06-24 · Accessed 2026-08-25 · Archived copy - [6] Zakon o spremembah in dopolnitvah Zakona o zaposlovanju, samozaposlovanju in delu tujcev (ZZSDT-D)
Uradni list Republike Slovenije · gazette · Tier 1 · Published 2023-04-07 · Accessed 2026-08-25 - [7] Zakon o spremembah in dopolnitvah Zakona o zaposlovanju, samozaposlovanju in delu tujcev (ZZSDT-E)
Uradni list Republike Slovenije · gazette · Tier 1 · Published 2025-05-06 · Accessed 2026-08-25 - [8] Zakon o zaposlovanju, samozaposlovanju in delu tujcev (uradno prečiščeno besedilo) (ZZSDT-UPB4)
Pravno-informacijski sistem Republike Slovenije (PISRS) · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2021-06-07 · Accessed 2026-08-25 · Archived copy · Amended by si-zzsdt-d, si-zzsdt-e