You have the right to reception conditions that will provide a dignified standard of living.
The Reception Conditions Directive imposes an obligation on all Member States to ensure that the material reception conditions of asylum-seekers provide an adequate standard of living, which guarantees their subsistence and protects their physical and mental health.
As an asylum-seeker, you may move freely within the territory of Slovakia with some limitations.
After completing first steps at the police department you will have 24 hours to go to a reception centre, where you will complete a medical examination, you receive an asylum- seeker registration card and you will be informed about your rights and obligations during the asylum procedure. According to the Slovak legislation you cannot leave premises of the reception centre until the results of the medical examination are available. After receiving a results of medical examination you can ask the Migration Office for permission to temporarily leave the reception centre.
If you have completed procedures at the reception centre, you can stay in private accommodation paid by yourself, or you can choose a state-paid accommodation centre, until a decision on your asylum-application is not adopted.
During this part of the asylum proceeding (which cannot exceed 6 months) you can be invited for a second “asylum interview”, in order to give more information and evidences about your situation.
important The provision of financial support to asylum-seekers is subject to actual residence in the reception centre. You will not receive financial support if you live away from the centre.
In some limited cases outlined in the law, your freedom of movement may be restricted by detention. Read about detention in the asylum context.
At the accommodation centre, applicants are allocated rooms taking into account family unity, gender, language and cultural concerns.
If you are a single man, you will be placed in the accommodation center in Rohovce. If you are a woman, elderly person, or a person with family you will be placed in the accommodation center in Opatovska Nova Ves.
The Ministry of Interior provides applicants with board or boarding-out allowance, basic hygiene products and other things necessary for living. In the course of their stay in an asylum facility or in an integration centre, the applicants are provided with a pocket money.
Asylum-seekers who are subject to the obligation to attend a Slovak language course in the case of an applicant to whom compulsory school attendance applies.
Asylum-seekers may work in Slovakia if the decision on their application for international protection has not entered into force within six months of the submission of the application, due to reasons beyond the applicant’s control. There is no special work permit required and the date when the asylum-seeker is allowed to start working is marked on their asylum-seekers’ ID card.
The Ministry of Interior pays for an urgent health care on behalf of an applicant who does not have a public health insurance; if, based on individual examination of the applicant’s health condition, it is established that special needs for the provision of health care exist, the Ministry of Interior also covers the costs of such healthcare in the cases worth special consideration. The Ministry of Interior ensures adequate health care for minor applicants who are victims of abuse, neglect, exploitation, torture or cruel and inhuman and degrading treatment, or who have suffered from consequences of an armed conflict. For these purposes of provision of health care, the Ministry provides the applicants with a document confirming their eligibility for the provision of healthcare.
The specific situation of vulnerable persons has to be taken into account when organising the reception of asylum-seekers. Vulnerable persons are considered to be:
- minors
- unaccompanied minors
- disabled people
- elderly people
- pregnant women
- single parents with minor children
- victims of human trafficking
- persons with serious illnesses
- persons with mental disorders
- persons who have been subjected to torture, rape or other serious forms of psychological, physical or sexual violence.
Appropriate support must be provided to applicants with special reception needs during the whole asylum procedure.
If you believe that your right to certain reception conditions has been violated, you may submit a complaint to the Migration Office or a Regional Administrative Court.
Read more about complaint mechanisms.