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From 1 January 2014, an amendment of the Act No. 404/2011 Coll. on Residence of Foreign Nationals and Act 5/2004 Coll. on Employment Services came into effect. The changes relate to the terms of residence, work permit, or employment of foreign nationals in Slovakia.
Information on the changes in residence of foreigners in Slovakia is available in IOM Migration Information Centre (MIC) in Bratislava and Košice, and also on the website www.mic.iom.sk. More information about the actual changes is provided by the legal counsellors of MIC in person, via phone 0850 211 478 or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
In the first quarter of 2014, IOM Bratislava organized two trainings and four follow-up workshops for experts from state and public administration working with third-coutry nationals. These events are part of a capacity building project aimed at fostering intercultural communication skills, increasing knowledge in the field of migration and migrant integration, providing information on the latest legislative changes in the field of residence and employment of migrants and supporting regional cooperation of relevant institutions.
Representatives of migrant communities in Slovakia, in cooperation with the IOM Migration Information Centre (MIC), organized several events in the first three months of 2014. These events helped to promote community life of migrants, awareness of different cultures and mutual understanding of the majority and migrants in Slovakia.
EMN Returns Expert Group (REG) was established within the European Migration Network (EMN). It aims at enhancing the operational cooperation among Member States in order to facilitate humane and dignified returns of irregular migrants to their countries of origin. The group took over the agenda of the Voluntary Return European Network (VREN).
The Slovak Republic provided a temporary shelter to 103 new refugees from Afganistan and Somalia. Families with children who had to flee their home countries due to risk of persecution, were granted international protection and they were transferred to Slovakia in March 2014. The refugees will be accommodated in an Emergency Transit Centre (ETC) in Humenne for a period of 6 months. In the Centre they will complete all preparations for a life in new country. After that they will be permanently resettled to the United States of America, or to other countries.
The One World Film Festival ranked the documentary film Aj my sme tu doma (We Are At Home Here) among the selected festival films that you can borrow and screen in your municipality – in your home or work for yourself and your friends, in your school, in your library, on premises of your organization, or in your film club. You can even organize a public screening of these films to the general public. More information on the Screen Yourself project is available here.
The film We Are At Home Here was screened four times in the One World Film Festival 2013. It can also be seen in selected cities, where the One World Film Festival in Regions takes place with projections of interesting films from the Festival and where organizers selected this film in the programme in their town.
The first 2014 issue of the e-newsletter of the Office of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Slovakia informs about IOM activities that took place from October to December 2013.
Newsletter of the IOM Office in the Slovak Republic, Issue 01/2014
In 2013, IOM in Slovakia assisted 50 migrants with their return back home and provided post-return reintegration assistance to 31 migrants. IOM identified 29 human trafficking victims and trained 158 employees of organizations and institutions on identifying victims and prevention of human trafficking. IOM Migration Information Centre in Bratislava and Košice counselled 1,913 clients from more than 60 countries.
In the following lines you can find a summary of the key activities and achievements of IOM Bratislava, which we were able to carry out in the past year in the field of integration of migrants, assisted voluntary returns and reintegration, counter trafficking, coordination of activities of the European Migration Network and humanitarian transfers of refugees.
In the last three months of 2013, cultural mediators – representatives of migrants’ communities – in cooperation and support of IOM Migration Information Centre (MIC) in Bratislava and Košice, organized several events that introduced various countries, cultures and customs and supported community life of migrants.
IOM Migration Information Centre (MIC) organized so-called One-Stop Shops – consultation days on 17 October in Bratislava and on 21 November in Košice. The complex counselling at one place was provided by the representatives of alien police department, labour offices, trade licensing office, health insurance companies, department of state citizenship and registry office, and MIC counsellors. Migrants from more than 10 countries attended the consultation days.
