Every year, thousands of foreign students enter universities and colleges in Slovenia. The number of arrivals is constantly growing. A high level of education and comfortable living conditions, typical for Europe, are attractive not only for yesterday’s graduates of schools and universities, but also for adults who have reached a certain top limit in their current careers.
Why do foreign students choose Slovenia? First, because of the price level. The tuition fee even in the most prestigious Slovenian universities, as well as the price for accommodation and food are lower than in other European countries. For example, a year of studies at a Slovenian university costs about 2,500 EUR, in a college – 1,500 EUR, renting a room – from 150 EUR, lunch – from 3 EUR.
Second, when applying to universities and colleges in Slovenia, you do not need to pass entrance examinations. Enrolment is based on a certificate of secondary school completion. Becoming a student in Slovenia is easy enough at any age.
Finally, foreign students in Slovenia can receive a residence permit. This is really an important factor. The residence permit immediately provides a student with an opportunity to work, and, therefore, to partially cover his or her expenses and practice in the future profession. For comparison, in many other European countries, foreign students receive only visa that does not allow to work officially.
A temporary residence permit is provided to the following categories of students:
- primary and secondary school pupils,
- students of universities, colleges, technical schools, both full-time and part-time (evening) forms of education,
- graduate students of universities or research centres.
Foreign students receive a residence permit for one year, which can be extended based on the documents confirming the continuation of their studies in the next year.
The package of documents for obtaining residence permit can be collected independently, but it is better to seek assistance from specialized agencies. If you contact an agency, application procedure is faster and there are fewer additional issues because the office staff knows well the representatives accompanying a student. Perhaps, most importantly, if a client turns to professional intermediaries for help, he or she not only gets rid of unnecessary paperwork, but also excludes the possibility of mistakes due to his or her own inexperience in such issues.
The holder of a residence permit card has the following advantages:
- Visiting all Schengen countries without visa.
- An opportunity of officially work. Jobs for students are published on special websites, including a weekly publication on the 2TM website.
- Participation in international exchange programmes for students and internships in other European countries.
It should be remembered that Slovenia has temporary and permanent residence permits, while students can receive only a temporary permit. After five years of official residence in the country, it is possible to receive a permanent residence permit. And in 10 years, to become a citizen of Slovenia. It is important to take into account that when obtaining a permanent residence permit, only half of the time that a person spends in the country as a student is counted, despite the fact that he or she had a temporary residence permit all this time. However, as a rule, those wishing to stay after graduation can easily find a job and confirm their right to citizenship. Therefore, if you decided to stay in Slovenia permanently after graduating from a university, you have all the possibilities for this.
We will not discuss in this article the fact that many people fall in love with the beauty of Slovenia, the greatness of its mountains and the measured rhythm of life right after the first visit. This is another amazing topic for discussion. People choose the best country for them with their heart, and such choice needs no explanations. However, we tried to describe in detail the objective factors that say “yes” to studies in Slovenia, in particular, the availability of obtaining a residence permit. Thus, becoming a part of student family in one of the Slovenian educational institutions, in the near future, you will provide yourself with several fascinating student years filled with professional and cultural discoveries, communication with new people and travel to other countries. In addition, you will gain real prospects in the future to obtain Slovenian citizenship and permanently link your life with Europe.
Svetlana Romanovich
