← All articles · June 25, 2026

Family reunification in Slovakia: residence for your family

Current as of August 2026. Thresholds, fees and deadlines in Slovakia are revised regularly — check the official source before you file.

Family reunification (zlúčenie rodiny) is the ground on which Slovakia issues temporary residence (prechodný pobyt) to a spouse, to children and in some cases to parents of someone already living here legally. The good news: you can file from inside the country if your stay is lawful. Here is who qualifies, what the receiving side has to prove and where people lose months.

What the ground is and who the sponsor is

Family reunification is not a separate family status but an ordinary residence permit issued on a family ground. Someone with a valid stay already lives in Slovakia — the sponsor — and the family joins them or regularises its status here.

The sponsor is a foreigner holding temporary residence (prechodný pobyt) or permanent residence (trvalý pobyt). Their type of stay decides almost everything: how long the relative gets, and how soon the family can work. Temporary protection (dočasné útočisko) sits apart — on its own it does not make a person a sponsor, but the law expressly lets a temporary protection holder file a residence application at a foreign police department inside Slovakia, without going back to an embassy.

Accept one thing early: nothing here is automatic. Reunification is a full procedure with a full file — criminal record certificate, apostille, sworn translations, proof of housing.

Who counts as a family member

The list is closed. Residence on this ground goes to:

• the spouse of the sponsor;
• unmarried children under 18 — the sponsor own children or the children of the spouse;
• dependent unmarried children over 18 who cannot look after themselves because of a long-term adverse health condition;
• a parent of the sponsor or of the spouse who depends on care and has no adequate family support in the country of origin.

Not on the list: unmarried partners, siblings, nieces and nephews, healthy adult children, and the grandparents of the sponsor. For them reunification does not work and another residence ground is needed.

What the receiving side has to prove

The police check housing above all; the family’s finances are assessed in the general way — the law asks for no separate document about money.

Money. The law requires no separate proof of financial means for family reunification: under § 32(2)(c) of Act 404/2011 such proof is attached only for the business purpose. There is no sworn declaration by the sponsor with three months of bank statements on the list. Financial standing is a general criterion the police weigh when assessing any application (§ 33(1)(b)), so the sponsor’s stable income still matters — it is just not proven by a dedicated document. For a family member the sponsor proves housing and, for a child, the consent of the other parent.

Housing. Proof of accommodation must be no older than 90 days, and there are five accepted forms:

• a sworn declaration of ownership of the property;
• a lease with the owner or user of the property, plus a document showing their right to use it;
• confirmation from a hotel or a hostel;
• a sworn declaration by a natural or legal person providing accommodation, plus a document showing the right to use the property;
• since 15 July 2026, the property owner’s electronic consent submitted through the e-service (§ 122(1)(a)).

Signatures have to be officially certified. The classic failure is a lease without the document proving the landlord right to the property — the police will not accept the file.

Which documents to collect

• a valid travel document;
• the civil status document — a marriage certificate or the birth certificate of the child; this one may be older than 90 days;
• a criminal record certificate from the country of citizenship and from every country where the applicant spent more than 90 days within six consecutive months over the past three years;
• a sworn declaration by the legal representative that the child is not married;
• consent of the other parent where the child is under 18 and the parent without custody has contact rights;
• a copy of the decision placing the child in personal custody, if one exists;
• photocopies of the residence documents of the sponsor and of the parents of the child;
• for a dependent parent, medical evidence of the long-term adverse health condition and of dependency, plus a sworn declaration that no one in the country of origin can provide family support;
• proof of accommodation.

Two details people ask about constantly. The criminal record certificate has to cover the entire territory of the issuing state — an extract for one region will not do; children under 14 do not submit one at all. Freshness runs from the date of issue to the day you file, and 90 days disappear fast while the apostille and translation are being arranged.

Order of legalisation: apostille or superlegalisation on the original first, sworn translation into Slovak second. Do it the other way round and the file has to be rebuilt.

How filing works

1. Assembling the file. The longest part. Criminal record certificate, apostille, translations and certified signatures comfortably eat six weeks.
2. Appointment and personal attendance. The application is filed in person — at a Slovak embassy abroad, or at a foreign police department if your stay in Slovakia is lawful. A legal representative acts for a minor.
3. Filing. With a complete file you are entitled to stay until the decision is issued, which matters when the previous status is running out.
4. Decision and card. A positive decision leads to a residence card, and from the day you collect it a 30-day clock starts.

Parents: the contested case

You can bring a parent, your own or your spouse. But the condition is double, and both halves need separate evidence: the parent depends on the care of the sponsor, and there is no adequate family support available in the country of origin.

Retirement age on its own is not a ground. You need medical evidence of the long-term adverse health condition and of dependency, plus a sworn declaration that no other relative back home can provide care. If adult children or the other parent are still in the country of origin, the police will ask about it — prepare for that conversation in advance, not at the counter.

Adult children

As a rule a child drops off the list at 18. One exception: a dependent unmarried child over 18 who cannot look after themselves because of a long-term adverse health condition.

A healthy nineteen-year-old student will not get residence through reunification. They need their own ground, usually study or residence through employment. So if the child is close to 18, do not wait: a decision takes up to 90 days, and at the next renewal the ground is checked again.

Timing: how long it takes and how long you get

The decision is issued within 90 days of the application being accepted. A separate rule applies in one case only: if the sponsor is simultaneously applying for an EU Blue Card, the family application is decided within the period that applies to the sponsor (§ 33(8)(d)). With an ordinary sponsor, filing together does not shorten anything — the family has its own 90 days.

The permit itself runs until the end of the stay of the sponsor, and for five years at most. This is the detail people underestimate most. If the card of the sponsor has a year left, the spouse and children get a year too, however much effort went into the file. Plan renewals as a package.

The first 30 days after you get the card

From the day you collect the residence card you have 30 days for two things:

• submit to the police a document confirming health insurance issued in your name;
• submit a certificate from an infectious diseases specialist stating that you do not suffer from a disease threatening public health; that certificate must be no older than 30 days.

For reunification the insurance document is required on top — unlike residence for employment, where the regime is different. A missed deadline surfaces at renewal, and fixing it retroactively costs more.

Keep the address in mind too. If the family moves, the change has to be reported to the foreign police within a handful of working days. Otherwise letters go to the old address and you hear about the problem last.

Where people trip up

• A criminal record certificate that does not cover the whole territory of the country.
• The 90 days expiring on certificates while the apostille and translation were being arranged.
• A forgotten consent of the other parent — a separate document with its own freshness limit.
• A lease without the document proving the landlord right to the property.
• Translation done before the apostille.
• Counting on five years when the card of the sponsor expires in one.
• Missing the 30 days for insurance and the medical certificate.
• A marriage the police suspect of being one of convenience — different addresses, no shared history, contradictions in the interviews. A direct ground for refusal.

Frequently asked questions

Can you work straight away on a reunification permit

Not always. In the first period after the card is issued a separate work permit from the labour office is normally required, and after a defined length of residence it is no longer needed. That period changed during 2026 along with the law on residence of foreigners, so check the current rule on upsvr.gov.sk or at your local labour office. Business is different: a holder of a family reunification permit may run a business (podnikať) without a separate permit (§ 27(6) of Act 404/2011).

Is a lease agreement mandatory

No. A lease is one of five accepted ways to prove accommodation; a sworn declaration by the owner works, so does confirmation from a hostel, and since 15 July 2026 the owner’s electronic consent through the e-service. What matters in every variant is the document showing that whoever accommodates you has the right to dispose of the property.

Is a marriage concluded abroad recognised

For reunification, a civil status document on the marriage with an apostille or superlegalisation and a sworn translation is enough. But if you later apply for permanent residence as the spouse of a Slovak citizen, a marriage concluded outside Slovakia has to be registered through the osobitná matrika in Bratislava — at that stage a foreign certificate with a translation is no longer accepted.

What to do when the sponsor renews their own stay

File in sync — though not for the sake of the decision period: a decision “within the sponsor’s period” is granted by law only to the family of a Blue Card applicant (§ 33(8)(d)); otherwise the family has its own 90 days. The point of filing together is different: spread them out and the family risks a card valid for a few months.

Would rather not assemble this file yourself? We will handle the reunification end to end: we check the ground, collect the documents, arrange the sworn translations and go to the police with you. And if the faster route turns out to be work, we will set up residence through employment.