Slovenia Changes Rules for Crossing Its Borders

The government of Slovenia has issued a new decree through which it implements new changes of measures at border crossings at the external border and checkpoints at the internal borders, in a bid to stop the further spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19), Slovenia’s Ministry of Economic Development and Technology announced.

“The first paragraph of Article 9 of the Decree stipulates that a person entering the Republic of Slovenia who has a permanent or temporary residence in the Member States of the European Union or other Schengen countries not listed in the second paragraph of this Article who may be infected, with the SARS-CoV-2 virus following the second paragraph of Article 19 of the Infectious Diseases Act, quarantine for 14 days,” the statement reads, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

Exempt from this regulation will be Slovenian citizen holders and internationals with permanent or temporary residence in Slovenia.

The categories that need to travel to Slovenia for work-related purposes to which Article 9 does not apply are as follows:

• A cross-border daily or weekly working migrant who has an employment relationship in one of the EU or Schengen Member, for which he has proof or a signed statement that justifies the reason for crossing the border as a daily or weekly working migrant.
• A person in commercial traffic or activities who, when crossing the border, proves himself with evidence of performing traffic or activities in the Republic of Slovenia or abroad and returns across the border on the same day or submits a negative test result on SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), which is not older than three days.

In the case of a person employed by a foreign company providing a service in the Republic of Slovenia and residing in the Republic of Slovenia, this person must also submit the address of residence in the Republic of Slovenia and a negative SARS-CoV-2 test result when crossing the border ( COVID-19), not older than three days.

• A person seconded to or from the performance of tasks in the international transport sector and duly substantiating this when crossing the border.
• A person who carries out the transport of goods to the Republic of Slovenia or from the Republic of Slovenia and for freight transport in transit.
• A person who crosses the border daily or occasionally because he/she is employed in an educational institution, visits the Republic of Slovenia or abroad as a higher education teacher or is involved in a research project in the Republic of Slovenia or abroad and proves this with appropriate evidence.
• A member of the protection and rescue services, health care, police, firefighters and for persons carrying out humanitarian transport for the Republic of Slovenia, who crosses the border to perform these tasks.
• A citizen of the Republic of Slovenia, the Republic of Croatia, the Republic of Austria, the Italian Republic or Hungary who is a dual owner or tenant of land and has his own land on both sides of the state border and performs agricultural and agricultural work.
• A person providing public service services (e.g. energy, health, transport, utilities) for which a certificate has been issued by the competent ministry and the failure to provide these services due to the quarantine order could cause major social or economic damage.

The categories that need to travel to Slovenia for family-related purposes to which Article 9 does not apply are as follows:

• A person who attends the funeral of a close relative in an EU country or another Schengen country and leaves or returns to the Republic of Slovenia on the same day and has proof of the date and time of the funeral.
• A person who crosses the border for family reasons in order to maintain contact with close family members and returns across the border on the same day.
• A person who is a close relative of a citizen of the Republic of Slovenia or lives with him in a common household and has a permanent or temporary residence in a country of the European Union or another country of the Schengen area.

Other categories exempt from the restrictions are as follows:

• An EU citizen or other Schengen country travelling through the Republic of Slovenia to another country on the same day.
• A person with a diplomatic passport.
• A person who has proof of a planned medical examination or intervention in the Republic of Slovenia, another country of the European Union or another country of the Schengen area on the day of crossing the border.
• A person who crosses the border due to involvement in education or scientific research in the Republic of Slovenia, European Union countries or other Schengen countries and proves this with appropriate evidence, and his parents or other persons transported and returned across the border in the same day.
• A person who owns real estate or a registered aircraft or watercraft in the Republic of Slovenia and possesses proof of such ownership, together with close family members;
• A person who has a confirmed reservation of an overnight stay of a tourist establishment in the Republic of Slovenia and proves this with proof of reservation.

On April 4, the Slovenian Ministry of Health announced that a new entry regime has come into force as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic.

In mid-March, Slovenia announced the closure of the Schengen Zone’s external borders and limited non-essential travel out of the EU zone. The Slovenian government also tightened border controls with the most affected European Union countries.