Overview of the main changes since the first report

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The previous report update was published in May 2023.

International protection

• Key asylum statistics: In 2023, the police recorded 60,587 irregular entries. 58,757 persons expressed their intention to apply for international protection but only 7,261 applications for international protection were lodged. 129 applicants were granted international protection, including 74 refugee status and 55 subsidiary protection. Out of 55 applications granted subsidiary protection, 52 were Ukrainian. With 294 rejections, this makes for a 43% protection rate at first instance. In 2023, the Administrative Court did not grant any applicant international protection.
• General developments: A new Minister of the Interior was appointed in February 2023. During the year, EUAA was deployed in Slovenia to support with asylum, reception and temporary protection activities. In September, a new Integration strategy was adopted by the Government. This is the first Integration strategy that was adopted as an independent document, separate from the Immigration strategy. The Immigration strategy was adopted in March 2024. In December new legislative proposals for amendments of the International Protection Act and the Foreigners Act were put up for public discussion. In October, the Government reintroduced border controls with Croatia, Italy and Hungary.

Asylum procedure

• Access to the procedure: Violations regarding access to the asylum procedure were not detected by NGOs in 2023. According to official statistics only 257 people were readmitted to neighbouring countries during the year. Out of 257, 176 were readmitted to Croatia. Although no longer locked in Slovenian facilities, asylum seekers continued to be de facto detained before lodging the application throughout the year. In case they left the facilities, they could be detained after lodging their application. The Ombudsman reiterated that the inadequate and inappropriate reception conditions deter individuals from asylum in Slovenia and therefore infringe on the right to asylum.
• Constitutional review of law denying access to the asylum procedure: The provisions of the Foreigners Act which allow the authorities to deny asylum seekers the possibility lodge an application in case of a complex migration crisis were submitted for review before the Constitutional Court in 2022, however no decision was made by the end of 2023.
• Dublin procedure: In 2023 Slovenia sent the largest number of Dublin requests to date – 4.776 out of which 3.489 were made to Croatia. During the year asylum seekers and different civil society organisations organised several protests against Dublin returns to Croatia. Due to the lengthiness of the procedure several asylum seekers were employed and integrated by the time the Dublin return would take place.
• Length of procedure: The lengthiness of the procedure continued to be one of the biggest shortcomings of the asylum procedure. Ukrainian asylum seekers were prioritized and were granted subsidiary protection in a few months but the procedure prolonged for other groups of asylum seekers.
• Legal assistance at first instance: Asylum seekers do not receive information on grounds for asylum before lodging the application. Free legal counselling and representation during the first instance procedure was provided by the PIC, albeit not to all asylum seekers.

In 2022, the Advocate for the Principle of Equality reviewed the provisions of the IPA as per which the principle of confidentiality does not apply to refugee counsellors or legal guardians of asylum seekers. In the decision, the Advocate noted that the provisions are discriminatory and issued a recommendation that the provisions should be changed. No legislative changes were made by the end of the year.

• Legal assistance at second instance: Access to free legal help and representation before the Administrative Court continued to be a challenge for most asylum seekers. Due to difficulties to access refugee counsellors (unclear information provided by the Migration directorate, language barriers, ,) and short time limits for the judicial review, some asylum seekers were unable to exercise their right to legal remedies. Regarding the 3-day time limit for judicial review, the CJEU issued the preliminary ruling stating that it restricts access to judicial review.[1] The court procedures were also prolonged at the second instance due to the backlog of cases. In practice, asylum seekers can wait for more than 2 years to get a decision from the Administrative Court if their application was rejected in a regular procedure. In case of appeal to the Supreme Court the court procedure can last for several years depending on the case.

Reception conditions

• Reception capacity and conditions: Lack of sufficient accommodation capacity continued to be a shortcoming in 2023. The facilities were often overcrowded due to the large number of arrivals. The reception conditions changed based on the number of arrivals. Although the official capacity of the Asylum home in Ljubljana is 350, from 1000 to 1800 people were accommodated at one point. As a result, the reception conditions worsened significantly during that period. Due to lack of capacity, containers were installed at the premises of the Asylum home as additional accommodation spaces for asylum seekers. During the year, GOAIM was unable to establish new reception facilities due to opposition from local communities. In the beginning of 2024 the Government made the decision to establish 2 additional temporary reception centres on governmental ground. It is not clear when and how they will operate.
• Accommodation of unaccompanied minors: The legal ground for systematic separate accommodation for unaccompanied minors was adopted during the year however the systematic solution for accommodation of unaccompanied minors was not established in 2023. As a result, unaccompanied minors continued to be accommodated in the same facilities as other asylum seekers during the year. Crisis centres for children refused to accommodate unaccompanied minors during 2023 meaning that the most vulnerable unaccompanied minors were also accommodated in the Asylum Home VIČ (before lodging the application) and its branch Logatec. They were not properly separated from adult asylum seekers in Logatec or the Asylum Home Vič. The pilot project with the Student Dormitory Postojna was prolonged but it could only host up to 22 unaccompanied minors at a given time. In the second half of the year UOIM issued a call for additional accommodation capacities for unaccompanied minors. The reception centre for unaccompanied minors became operational in April 2024.
• Financial assistance: Since the legislative changes in 2021, asylum seekers cannot receive financial support for moving into a private accommodation. During the asylum procedure they are entitled to 18 EUR of monthly allowance.

Detention of asylum seekers

• Detention: Both the Migration directorate and the UOIM detained asylum seekers during the year. Regarding de facto detention before lodging the application, the Administrative court issued a decision that it amounts to deprivation of liberty not freedom of movement.[2]
• Legal assistance: Detained asylum seekers faced difficulties to access the help of refugee counsellors in order to apply for judicial review by the Administrative Court. In practice the help of the MOI, social workers or NGOs is needed in order to access refugee counsellors. 22 asylum seekers, 3 individuals who lodged the request for a subsequent application and 2 people waiting to lodge the application were detained during the year, 27 administrative disputes regarding detention were lodged before the Administrative court.
• Alternatives to detention: Alternatives to detention are still not available in Slovenia.

Content of international protection

• Family reunification: Ukrainians are granted subsidiary protection for one year, which means that they can only apply for family reunification after their status is prolonged. Refugee status holders and individuals granted subsidiary protection for more than one year can apply for family reunification after they obtain their status.
• Integration contract: While all beneficiaries of international protection are entitled to basic rights (health care, access to labour market, education, ), they have to sign an integration contract if they want to access the full scope of the rights (accommodation in the integration house, social support for accommodation, etc.). In practice, the majority of beneficiaries sign the integration contract.
• Housing: Due to a small number of beneficiaries of international protection in Slovenia, beneficiaries do not report about systematic issues that would prevent them access to their rights. However, beneficiaries often face difficulties when finding accommodation.

Temporary protection

The information given hereafter constitute a short summary of the 2022 Report on Temporary Protection, for further information, see Annex on Temporary Protection.

• Key temporary protection statistics: According to the Ministry of the Interior, between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2023, 1,761 persons applied for temporary protection in the Republic of Slovenia. Among them, 1,714 were Ukrainian citizens. In the same time period, Ukrainian citizens submitted 92 applications for international protection. In 2023, temporary protection was granted altogether to 1,671 persons, out of which 1,638 were citizens of Ukraine, while subsidiary protection was granted to 52 citizens of U In the same time period, 31 applications for temporary protection were dismissed, 10 were rejected and 59 procedures were stopped.

Temporary protection procedure

• Procedure: Upon entry into the Republic of Slovenia, an applicant completes an application for temporary protection with the Police and presents all the evidence at their disposal which is relevant for the decision on granting temporary protection. The Police then submit the application and supporting documents to the competent authority for processing and deciding on granting temporary protection, which is the administrative unit in the territory where the applicant is staying. Persons can also apply for temporary protection directly at the administrative unit. Displaced persons making an illegal entry into the Republic of Slovenia and those already present in the Republic of Slovenia need to, without delay and within three days at the latest, complete an application for temporary protection and submit it to the local police office or the administrative unit in the area where the person is staying. If, in these two cases, the application is submitted to the Police, the latter then forward it without delay to the competent administrative unit. Administrative units then process the application and decide whether an applicant fulfils the conditions to be granted temporary protection.
• Backlog: In the first few months of activating temporary protection in 2022, the administrative units faced backlogs, the reasons for which may have been incomplete applications in some cases, however they can mostly be attributed to administrative units being overloaded with applications that they were not able to process in time. Administrative units are also unequal both in terms of size and workload, which affected how long applicants were waiting to be granted temporary protection and consequently to be able to enjoy the rights that are granted under temporary protection such as the right to work, financial assistance etc. This issue has since then improved and the average number of days from the receipt of an application to the issuance of a decision in most administrative units in 2023 was reported to be less than 30 days, however in certain administrative units the legislative time limit was still exceeded (with the longest time 147,94 days on average in one of the administrative units).

Content of temporary protection

• Rights enjoyed: Upon receiving a positive decision, the beneficiary is provided with an identity card, which also serves as a permit for temporary residence in the Republic of Slovenia. By law, persons enjoying temporary protection have the right to: temporary residence in the Republic of Slovenia; accommodation and meals in accommodation centres, as well as an allowance (when staying in accommodation centre) or financial assistance for private accommodation (as payment for rent and utility costs) and financial assistance (for everyday expenses) for those in a private accommodation; health care; work; education; family reunification; free legal aid; to be informed of their rights and obligations and to receive support in exercising their legal rights.
• Main issues: In 2023, the main issues faced by persons fleeing Ukraine continued to be the lack of information related to temporary protection, as well as being exposed to risks of exploitation and human trafficking. One of the issues also remained access to health care, as persons enjoying temporary protection only have the right to limited medical care and treatment (mostly emergencies), unless they are employed, in which case they are included in compulsory health insurance. Finding appropriate private accommodation also continued to be a challenge due to shortage of affordable private accommodations and their temporary nature, meeting the specific needs of vulnerable groups and the risk of exploitation, while accommodation in containers at the accommodation centre in Logatec remained an issue as well. Other concerns were mostly related to uncertainty with respect to transitioning out of the temporary protection regime. Temporary protection beneficiaries are also still not able to exercise the right to family reunification in practice.

[1]          Preliminary ruling, CJEU C-58/23, available at: https://bit.ly/42jeeka.

[2]          Administrative court decision, III 62/2022, 19, May 2023.