Slovakia, as well as several other countries, has recently been experiencing a rapid increase in the size of its migrant population. During the last five years this growth has accelerated, growing from approximately 90 000 persons in 2016 to more than 150 000 persons in 2020. By the end of 2020, foreigners with diverse types of residence permits held an almost 3% share of the country's total population.

In this most recent year, measures adopted during the global COVID-19 pandemic have successfully curbed the spread of the virus in Slovakia, but at the same have affected the economy and employment rates, as well as the situation for the country's migrants, negatively. The pandemic affected everyone, but the effect on migrant communities has been particularly hard. The temporary halting of international travel, the self-isolation, the curfew, the lack of comprehensible information in migrants' native languages and limited support for migrant communities all served to deepen the vulnerability of migrants living in Slovakia.

Residence

Over the last year the government adopted a number of measures to alleviate the negative effects of COVID-19 and quarantine on foreigners, for instance by extending the legal residence period allowed, so that third-country nationals with a temporary, permanent or tolerated residence permit which would have expired during the pandemic were automatically entitled to stay in the country for two months after the end of emergency measures.

Similarly, foreign nationals without a residence permit in Slovakia (those who entered the country legally with a visa or within a visa-free regime) were authorised to stay in the country until one month after the end of the pandemic measures. Additionally, a third-country national residing outside the territory of the Slovak Republic was able to renew their temporary residence permit or to apply for permanent residence for an unlimited period of time at the embassy. Another measure, targeting migrant entrepreneurs, temporarily removed the requirement to meet a minimum income/profit threshold in 2021 for those whose residence permits were linked with their business activity.

Availability of information

The lack of information in languages other than Slovak, as well as the general failure to provide additional support for those without the citizenship or nationality of the majority, adds to the list of major disadvantages for migrants since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 in Slovakia. Although the country's official web portal dedicated to the COVID-19 pandemic offers some translated materials, the portal updates in these lagged well behind the rapidly changing pandemic situation, so the limited material that was translated was usually out of date.

Vaccination

The vaccination campaign which began in Slovakia in late 2020 was also criticised for not representing migrants, or minority groups, as well as for failing to translate campaign materials (including the website). Non-governmental and international organisations therefore played a substantial role in keeping migrant communities informed of the situation, helping them to understand and follow the very specific rules, limitations and curfew, and their rights and obligations within the pandemic context.

Migrant communities also experienced unequal access to vaccinations. Certain foreigners' access to the vaccination was denied because of their type of health insurance, for example. Foreigners with health insurance from providers other than the state-run or two pre-defined private insurers, were denied access. This issue was eventually solved by a new legislative amendment that enabled access to vaccination for all foreigners (e.g. including those with subsidiary protection, tolerated residence and other types of residences).