Public services and online portals

Key authorities

• Oddelenie cudzineckej polície (foreign police department, Ministry of the Interior): reporting your arrival, registering your residence, residence cards. See SK-SEJOUR-TOUS-001.
• Finančná správa and its daňový úrad (tax office): tax registration (DIČ), income tax, VAT. See SK-NIF-TOUS-001 and SK-IMPOTS-TOUS-001.
• Sociálna poisťovňa (social insurance agency): pensions, sickness-maternity, unemployment, contributions of self-employed people, European forms (U1, U2, A1). See SK-ENTREPRISE-TOUS-001.
• Zdravotné poisťovne (health insurance funds: VšZP, Dôvera, Union) and the ÚDZS (healthcare surveillance authority), which publishes information on health insurance in the EU (European regulations). See SK-SANTE-TOUS-001.
• ÚPSVaR (Úrad práce, sociálnych vecí a rodiny, office of labour, social affairs and family): registration as a jobseeker (optional); to transfer unemployment benefits from another EU country, registration within 7 days of your arrival, then submission of form U2 to the Sociálna poisťovňa (EURES); family benefits, including the prídavok na dieťa (child allowance), the rodičovský príspevok (parental allowance) and the príspevok na starostlivosť o dieťa (contribution to the costs of looking after a child under 3), paid by the office of your place of residence.
• Okresný úrad (district office of the State): business one-stop shop (jednotné kontaktné miesto) and self-employment trade licences, and other State services (land registry, etc.). See SK-ENTREPRISE-TOUS-001.
• Regionálny úrad školskej správy (regional school administration office): recognition of foreign school reports and diplomas to continue studies. See SK-ECOLE-TOUS-001.
• Dopravný inšpektorát (police traffic inspectorate): driving licences and vehicle registration. An EU or EEA licence does not have to be exchanged (exchange possible 185 days after registration of residence); a British, Swiss or other licence from a country party to the Geneva or Vienna Convention on Road Traffic must be exchanged within the 60 days following those 185 days, otherwise it becomes invalid (Act 8/2009, § 104). See SK-PERMIS-TOUS-001.
• Obec or mestský / miestny úrad (town hall, or district town hall in Bratislava and Košice): local taxes, waste charge, dog tax, enrolment in nursery and public primary school. See SK-IMPOTS-TOUS-002.
• Ministry of the Interior call centre: 0800 222 222 (the ministry's call centre, shown on minv.sk).

Online services

• slovensko.sk: the central portal. To log in, you need an electronic identification means: the Slovak chip identity card (eID karta, reserved for Slovaks), the doklad o pobyte s elektronickým čipom (chip residence permit, issued to third-country nationals, Act 404/2011, § 73), an electronic identity from another EU country through the eIDAS node, or other means provided by the portal. A card reader is needed for chip cards.
• Slovensko v mobile: login app using a "mobile key". According to its official FAQ (consulted in October 2026), it can for the moment only be activated with a Slovak chip identity card (občiansky preukaz s čipom) and a reader: with a foreigner's residence permit, you cannot use it yet.
• Elektronická schránka (official electronic mailbox): free (Act 305/2013, § 12). It is created automatically for adult Slovaks; for a foreigner, the law creates it as soon as residence is granted or after a first successful login with an electronic identity recognised through eIDAS, and otherwise on request (created within 5 working days). The "Ako začať" page of slovensko.sk describes the paper request: €2.87 for signature certification at a notary and €0.65 for postage. Activation, which allows you to receive official decisions, is done at the holder's request (§ 13). Companies entered in the commercial register have a mailbox activated at the same time as it is created.
• Qualified electronic signature (KEP): obtained with certificates loaded onto the chip card; it allows you, for example, to file online the declaration of a free trade (voľná živnosť): the €7 fee is then halved, i.e. €3.50 (Act 145/1995, § 6 para. 2 and item 148).
• Foreign police: since 15/12/2024 (EURES), certain procedures have been digitised (registration of EU citizens, residence renewal, consent to accommodation). The law allows the registration application to be submitted in person or through this electronic service (Act 404/2011, § 66); this service goes through the portal and therefore in principle requires an electronic identity accepted on slovensko.sk (to be checked on the service). The police FAQs (July 2025) describe only the counter (see SK-SEJOUR-TOUS-001).
• Taxes: the Finančná správa portal accepts online returns, with electronic identification or after an electronic exchange agreement (dohoda o elektronickom doručovaní) signed with the tax office; compulsory for self-employed people, companies and VAT-registered persons.

Steps

1. Within 10 working days: report your arrival to the foreign police (unless your host does it for you); if you stay more than 3 months, have your residence registered within the 30 days following those 3 months (SK-SEJOUR-TOUS-001).
2. As soon as you work: choose your health insurance fund: your employer registers you with it within 8 working days of the start of the contract; if you are self-employed, you register yourself within 8 days (EURES; SK-SANTE-TOUS-001). Your employer also registers you with the Sociálna poisťovňa.
3. If you become self-employed: okresný úrad one-stop shop or slovensko.sk for the licence, then tax registration. If you rent out a property: tax registration (SK-NIF-TOUS-001, SK-ENTREPRISE-TOUS-001).
4. At the town hall: find out about the waste charge (rates and arrangements set by municipal order); declare your property before 31 January of the year following its acquisition, and your dog within 30 days of the start of the tax obligation, that is, the first day of the month following the one in which it becomes taxable (Act 582/2004, § 99a; SK-IMPOTS-TOUS-002).
5. Online: with your country's electronic identity (or your chip residence permit, if you have one), log in to slovensko.sk and check your electronic mailbox; ask for its activation if you want to receive official decisions online.
6. Children: enrolment in nursery (April-May) or primary school (February-April) with the school or the town hall (SK-ECOLE-TOUS-001).

Common pitfalls

• Thinking everything can be done online. Without a Slovak electronic identity, many procedures remain at the counter; the paper request for an electronic mailbox requires a certified signature.
• Confusing the okresný úrad (State) and the obecný úrad (town hall). Self-employment licence at the okresný úrad; local taxes and schools at the town hall.
• Ignoring the electronic mailbox. Once activated, an official letter sent "to the addressee's own hands" is deemed received when you confirm receipt or, at the latest, at the end of the storage period (úložná lehota, 15 days), even if you have not opened it; any other letter is deemed received the day after it is deposited (Act 305/2013, § 32). Check it regularly.
• Forgetting the language. Forms are in Slovak; a certified translation is often requested for foreign documents.

What changes by country of origin

• EU and EEA citizens: slovensko.sk accepts, through the eIDAS node, the identification means notified by each country, added over time. Examples from the published list: France (app "L'Identité numérique La Poste" and France Identité), Belgium (eID, foreigner's card, itsme), Germany, Spain, Portugal (card and mobile identity), Italy (SPID and eID card), Austria, Poland, Netherlands (eHerkenning), Luxembourg, Croatia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Malta, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Norway, Liechtenstein. If your country is not on it, check on slovensko.sk which other identification means suits you: the chip residence permit is provided for third-country nationals (Act 404/2011, § 73); the law does not provide for a chip on the residence document of Union citizens (§ 66, para. 11).
• Swiss citizens: eIDAS login is reserved for EU and EEA identification means; Switzerland is not on the list. In Act 404/2011 (§ 2), Switzerland counts as a member state: a Swiss citizen is treated as a Union citizen for residence. Check on slovensko.sk which identification means applies to the residence document the police gives you.
• British citizens (Scots included): login with GOV.UK Verify was discontinued in January 2021 because of Brexit (slovensko.sk). Your access key will, in principle, be the Slovak chip residence permit (Act 404/2011, § 73).
• Manager of a Slovak company without residence in Slovakia (all nationalities): you can request an alternatívny autentifikátor (access card for the electronic mailbox) from one of the 12 foreign police departments, with your passport and the company's IČO.
• Czech citizens: the Czech electronic identity (eID card, eGovernment mobile key, MojeID) is on the slovensko.sk list.