Slovakia has the most exclusive citizenship scheme in Europe based on investment. This scheme is not widely promoted and only very few know about this scheme.
Slovakia also has the most expensive citizenship by investment scheme in the world starting from EUR 100 million. The scheme requires investors create 300 jobs but citizenship granted in public interest facilitated discretionary procedure.
Slovakia is a central European country known for its dramatic natural landscape and many castles.
- EU member country: since 1 May 2004
- Currency: euro. Euro area member since 1 January 2009
- Schengen: Schengen area member since 21 December 2007
According to the EU study by the Commission, Slovakia naturalized 6 investors granting citizenship in the interest of the Republic. From 2006 to 2017, Austria also granted 303 citizenships in special interest of the State.
The Slovak legislation has a provision to grant citizenship or permanent residency based on exceptional contribution to the country in state’s interest.
|
Year |
Number/Percentage of TCNs who obtained citizenship on the basis of investors’ residence permit |
Source |
|
2012 |
0 |
The Ministry of Interior |
|
2013 |
1 |
The Ministry of Interior |
|
2014 |
0 |
The Ministry of Interior |
|
2015 |
2 |
The Ministry of Interior |
|
2016 |
1 |
The Ministry of Interior |
|
2017 |
2 |
The Ministry of Interior |
Major Investor Scheme
Key to the Slovak context is the concept of “major investor”. This is defined in Act No. 175/1999 Coll. on Measures Concerning Preparation of Major Investments Act
Act No. 175/1999 Coll. also sets out rules for issuing of the so called “Certificate of a Major Investment”. The Certificate is issued by the Ministry of Economy in cooperation with SARIO agency upon request of the concerned business.
The requirements to issue the Certificate are the following:
- A capital investment for the development of the enterprise of at least EUR 100 million,
- The investment is economically significant or at least 300 new jobs will be created by the company,
- The investment is in the public interest of Slovakia as per decision of the Government of the Slovak Republic
Foreign investors may, thus, access the Slovak citizenship in two different premises:
-
Investors who have temporary residence for business purposes, after five years, may apply for permanent residence. After they obtain permanent residence they can access to naturalization as explained in the bullet point below.
-
Major investors who are directly granted a permanent residence in the interest of the Slovak Republic access the Slovak citizenship more directly (i.e. without 5 years of waiting to become eligible) either in a general or in a facilitated discretionary procedure (when they have contributed to the economy of Slovakia, without having to wait for three more years until they complete the total of eight years of continuous residence as required by the law in the general procedure)
According to the Ministry of Interior, the fact that a TCN has been granted permanent residence in the interest of the Slovak Republic does not mean that they can access directly the discretionary naturalization procedure.
According to this provision, Slovak citizenship can be granted to a foreigner who has significantly contributed to the benefit of the Slovak Republic in the area of economy (…) or if it is for another reason in the interest of the Slovak Republic. In this case applicant is exempt from the condition of a continuous permanent residence in the Slovak Republic for at least eight years and also from the condition to speak or understand Slovak.
Permanent Residence
The permanent residence in the interests of the Slovak Republic available to major/ significant investors or those who were provided investment aid.
Last year according to the report, 174 Third Country Nationals (TCN) were granted permanent residence in the interests of the Slovak Republic: These include 82 Korean KIA managers, 37 Chinese and 17 Russians.
In comparison, by the end of 2017, 6,112 TCNs were granted temporary residences for business purposes (total, self-employed and companies).
Competent Authorities
The national competent authority in the general area of migration is the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic (Ministerstvo vnútra Slovenskej republiky), which is responsible to review applications for citizenship of the Slovak Republic pursuant to Act No. 40/1993 Coll
The competent authorities in the area of investors’ residence are Bureau of Border and Alien Police of the Presidium of the Police Force (UHCP) and the Ministry of Economy.
