A third-country national (the “foreign national”) applying for temporary residence must, in addition to the other documents listed in Section 32 of Act No. 404/2011 Coll. on the Residence of Foreigners, provide proof of accommodation that is no more than 90 days old.
Period for which accommodation is provided
The proof of accommodation must show that the third-country national has accommodation secured for at least six months of temporary residence. To this you must add the time it will take to decide on the application. The decision period for a foreign national’s temporary residence is 90 days and may be extended in cases specified by law. It is therefore advisable for the proof of accommodation to cover at least a year, allowing for the length of the decision-making process and any possible extension.
Documents confirming the foreign national’s accommodation
- Section 122 of the Act on the Residence of Foreigners defines proof of accommodation as follows:
- a sworn declaration by the property owner (where there are several owners, a sworn declaration by all co-owners) confirming that accommodation will be provided, with officially certified signatures
- a sworn declaration by the foreign national that they own the property
- a tenancy agreement bearing the officially certified signatures of the owner(s) or user(s) as landlord(s) and of the foreign national as tenant; where the tenancy agreement is with the user of the property, also a document proving their right to use the property
- a confirmation from an accommodation establishment that accommodation will be provided (we recommend checking in advance whether the consent of that establishment will be accepted, since in many cases the operators are not its owners) – a certified signature of the accommodation provider was not required if the consent was issued on the establishment’s letterhead and bore its stamp.
Where a confirmation from an accommodation establishment is submitted, the police department may refuse to accept it as proof of accommodation if it finds that the number of persons with granted residence registered at the establishment exceeds its capacity.
In such a case, it is up to the accommodation establishment to prove that its capacity has not been exceeded. This problem arises when the establishment does not keep proper records of the confirmations it has issued and the residence permits granted.
Since May 2018, it has no longer been necessary to provide the title deed (list vlastníctva) recording the property in which the foreign national will be accommodated.
Sworn declaration by the property owner – required particulars:
The property owner’s sworn declaration should contain:
- the details of the owner or owners of the property,
- a description of the property as stated on the title deed,
- the details of the foreign national being provided with accommodation, stating at least their first name, surname, passport number and nationality
- the details of the persons who will be living in the property with the foreign national, where family reunification is also being applied for
- the period for which the accommodation is provided.
In practice, proof of accommodation has sometimes been rejected where it related to non-residential premises, or to an apartment or house that had not received final building approval.
Shared accommodation with family members
When applying for temporary residence for the purpose of family reunification, you must provide proof of shared accommodation. This means more than proof of accommodation at the same address: in the case of hotels and other accommodation establishments, the provider must state that these persons will be staying in the same room.
This must be demonstrated both in an application for temporary residence for family reunification and in the case of a third-country national within the meaning of Section 30(1)(e) of the Act on the Residence of Foreigners.
Living space of the property used to accommodate a foreign national
As regards living space, the Act on the Residence of Foreigners requires the accommodation provided to meet the minimum standards laid down by separate legislation, namely Decree of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic No. 259/2008 Coll. on the details of requirements for the indoor environment of buildings and on minimum requirements for lower-standard flats (Section 8(1)) and for accommodation establishments (Section 9).
Section 8(1) requires a lower-standard flat to have a living area of at least 12 m2 for the occupant and 6 m2 for each additional person living in the household. The usable floor area of a lower-standard flat must be at least 15 m2.
