SI · Citizenship by descent

Slovenian citizenship by descent

Reaches a great-grandparent. Every answer on this page is what Postern’s rulebook returns, word for word, with the law it cites. The free check runs the same rules.

Last verified 25 September 20268 sourcesNot legal advice

SI · PARENTPOSSIBLEThrough a parentEmigrants and descendants (Art. 12)SI · GRANDPARENTPOSSIBLEThrough a grandparentEmigrants and descendants (Art. 12)SI · GREAT-GRANDPARENTPOSSIBLEThrough a great-grandparentEmigrants and descendants (Art. 12)
Routes
Naturalisation of emigrants and descendants (Art. 12)
Dual citizenship
Kept on every open route
Language
Slovenian: a basic-level Slovenian exam (ZDRS Art. 10(1)(5), applied by Art. 12)
Comes with
EU citizenship: the right to live and work in 27 countries

The stamps assume no one in the line became a citizen of another country before the next person in the line was born. What changes each answer is below.

On this page
  1. 01Who qualifies
  2. 02Dates that matter
  3. 03Mothers’ lines
  4. 04Keeping your citizenship
  5. 05The routes and the law
  6. 06The documents
  7. 07What it takes
  8. 08Where the records live
  9. 09Former places
  10. 10Law changes
  11. 11Other doors
  12. 12Sources

01Who qualifies

Who qualifies, generation by generation

POSSIBLE

Can you claim Slovenian citizenship through a parent?

Emigrants and descendants (Art. 12)

Children and grandchildren of Slovenians abroad can apply from home for naturalisation on national grounds, with no residence or language test, if the Government finds it in the national interest; otherwise a year's residence and a basic Slovenian exam open Article 12.

What would settle itYour age: under 36, a child of a Slovenian parent simply registers; otherwise, the family's active ties to the Slovenian community, which the Government weighs under Article 13.

What changes the answer

  • POSSIBLE
    If you have a criminal conviction or charges pending

    Both naturalisation routes require no final unconditional prison sentence over three months, or suspended sentence with probation over one year. ZDRS Art. 12 with Art. 10(1), unofficial consolidated text, Art. 10(1)(6), applied by Arts. 12 and 13

  • POSSIBLE
    If you were born before 1991

    The family's active ties to the Slovenian community, which the Government weighs under Article 13; the grant is discretionary.

  • LIKELY
    If you were born in 1991 or later

    Born abroad to a Slovenian parent and not yet 36, you acquire Slovenian citizenship by origin simply by registering at the embassy.

  • POSSIBLE
    If the parent is your mother and you were born before 1991

    The family's active ties to the Slovenian community, which the Government weighs under Article 13; the grant is discretionary.

  • LIKELY
    If the parent is your mother and you were born in 1991 or later

    Born abroad to a Slovenian parent and not yet 36, you acquire Slovenian citizenship by origin simply by registering at the embassy.

POSSIBLE

Can you claim Slovenian citizenship through a grandparent?

Emigrants and descendants (Art. 12)

Children and grandchildren of Slovenians abroad can apply from home for naturalisation on national grounds, with no residence or language test, if the Government finds it in the national interest; otherwise a year's residence and a basic Slovenian exam open Article 12.

What would settle itThe family's active ties to the Slovenian community, which the Government weighs under Article 13; the grant is discretionary.

What changes the answer

POSSIBLE

Can you claim Slovenian citizenship through a great-grandparent?

Emigrants and descendants (Art. 12)

A great-grandchild of a Slovenian emigrant can naturalise, at the state's discretion, after a year living in Slovenia and a basic Slovenian exam, without giving up another citizenship.

What would settle itWhether someone in the family will live in Slovenia for a year and pass the basic Slovenian exam.

What changes the answer

  • POSSIBLE
    If you have a criminal conviction or charges pending

    Both naturalisation routes require no final unconditional prison sentence over three months, or suspended sentence with probation over one year. ZDRS Art. 12 with Art. 10(1), unofficial consolidated text, Art. 10(1)(6), applied by Arts. 12 and 13

  • POSSIBLE
    If you can’t pass the Slovenian language requirement

    A great-grandchild of a Slovenian emigrant can naturalise after a year living in Slovenia, but only with the basic Slovenian exam; until then the route is closed to you.

02Dates that matter

The dates that matter

No date named in Slovenia’s rule decides who qualifies. The answers above turn on the family’s facts, not on when anyone was born or left.

03Mothers’ lines

How mothers’ lines were treated

In Slovenia’s rule, the answer changes when the line runs through a woman:

  • POSSIBLE
    If the parent is your mother and you were born before 1991

    The family's active ties to the Slovenian community, which the Government weighs under Article 13; the grant is discretionary.

  • LIKELY
    If the parent is your mother and you were born in 1991 or later

    Born abroad to a Slovenian parent and not yet 36, you acquire Slovenian citizenship by origin simply by registering at the embassy.

In the law’s words

04Keeping your citizenship

Dual citizenship with your home country

You keep your citizenship.

On every open route, the rule lets a citizen of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina or South Africa keep that citizenship.

05The routes

Every route, and the law behind it

Emigrants and descendants (Art. 12)

Open through a parent, a grandparent or a great-grandparent

  • POSSIBLE
    Through a parent
  • LIKELY
    Through a parent, if you were born in 1991 or later
  • POSSIBLE
    Through a great-grandparent
  • POSSIBLE
    Through a great-grandparent, if you can’t pass the Slovenian language requirement

The law

What would settle an unsure case

  • Your age: under 36, a child of a Slovenian parent simply registers; otherwise, the family's active ties to the Slovenian community, which the Government weighs under Article 13.
  • The family's active ties to the Slovenian community, which the Government weighs under Article 13; the grant is discretionary.
  • Whether someone in the family will live in Slovenia for a year and pass the basic Slovenian exam.

06The documents

The documents, as the rule lists them

Emigrants and descendants (Art. 12)

Through a parent or grandparent

  • Your ancestor's birth or baptismal record from today's Slovenia
  • Birth and marriage records for each generation to you
  • Evidence of active ties to the Slovenian community (membership of Slovenian organisations)

Through a parent, if you were born in 1991 or later

  • Registration form for a person aged 18 to 36
  • Your birth certificate with apostille and Slovenian translation
  • Your parent's proof of Slovenian citizenship at your birth

Through a great-grandparent

  • Your ancestor's birth or baptismal record from today's Slovenia
  • Birth and marriage records for each generation to you
  • A basic Slovenian language certificate

Most countries also want proof that no one in the line became a citizen elsewhere before the next birth: the naturalization record with its date, or a letter that none exists.

07What it takes

What it takes: time, cost, the hard part, who decides

Emigrants and descendants (Art. 12)

Time
1–2 years, including at least a year of residence in Slovenia that the law requires before filing.
Cost
About $500–1,200: certified copies, apostilles, translations into Slovenian and the cost of the residence period itself.
The hard part
The year of actual residence in Slovenia. Keeping your U.S. citizenship also isn’t automatic — it needs the government’s discretionary consent, not just a request.
Who decides
The Ministry of the Interior, through the Slovenian embassy, after the residence period.
The first record
Your ancestor’s birth or baptismal record from today’s Slovenia, from The upravna enota (administrative unit) civil registry, or the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia. Write to the administrative unit for the ancestor’s birthplace; for records before 1900, the national Archives in Ljubljana hold parish registers. gov.si

How it’s filed

Where
An administrative unit (upravna enota) in Slovenia; the one for your registered residence decides. Not filed from the U.S. office list
How
In person; you appear in person
Fee
About $206
Decision
6–18 months
What goes in the file (8)
  1. Completed application form
  2. Extensive CV (življenjepis)
  3. Proof of descent from a Slovenian emigrant (birth and marriage records for each generation, up to the fourth)
  4. Proof of at least one year's actual residence in Slovenia and regulated alien status (residence permit)
  5. Certificate of the basic-level Slovenian language exam
  6. Criminal record certificates (FBI, apostilled and translated)
  7. Proof of means of support and settled taxes, where applicable
  8. Your passport and apostilled, translated U.S. birth certificate
What goes wrong (7)
  • Article 12 requires at least one year of actual residence in Slovenia with regulated alien status before filing, plus conditions 1 and 4–10 of Article 10 (including basic Slovenian for everyday communication, proved by exam); release from U.S. citizenship (condition 2) is not among them. The decision is discretionary and must be in the national interest.
  • Fee: €181.20 administrative fee for the decision (tariff no. 12), one fee for family members admitted together; filed through a consulate the tariff is €354 (tariff no. 59).
  • Alternative without residence: the Embassy in Washington takes Article 13 extraordinary-naturalisation applications from people of Slovenian descent (the Embassy says up to the second generation) with a multiannual active connection and at least 5 years in Slovenian associations, schools or expatriate organisations; the Government decides on national interest. Documents all in Slovenian, FBI check required; the Embassy recommends a representative in Slovenia with power of attorney.
  • A child of a Slovenian citizen born abroad and not registered by 18 can still register as a citizen by origin up to age 36 through the Embassy.
  • Keeping U.S. citizenship after naturalisation is at the authority's discretion; confirm with the Ministry before filing.
  • U.S. missions: Embassy Washington (all states except CO, IL, IN, IA, MI, MN, MO, OH, PA, WI; plus DC, PR), 2410 California Street NW, Washington, DC 20008; Consulate General Cleveland (those ten states), 1100 Superior Avenue, Suite 720, Cleveland, OH 44114, email sloconsulate.cleveland@gov.si. Appointments by email with the completed form. Addresses and the Cleveland email are search-sourced (embassypages, gov.si representations page), not independently confirmed; snippet confidence, verified 2026-09-25.
  • Neither U.S. mission files the Art. 12 application above — it is filed in person at a Slovenian administrative unit (upravna enota). The two missions only take the Art. 13 national-interest alternative (see above) and passport/civil-status services; the Cleveland consulate hosts its own fillable-PDF Art. 13 form (filename literally 'FillTheForm') at gov.si/assets/predstavnistva/GK-Cleveland, snippet confidence, verified 2026-09-25.

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

Estimates are honest ranges from official fee tables and what families report; where a fee or time could not be confirmed, it says so.

08Where the records live

Where each record lives, and how to ask for it

  • birth1946–2026

    The central register of civil status (matični register), extracts issued by any upravna enota (administrative unit) in Slovenia

    Any administrative unit can issue an extract; from abroad, a proxy in Slovenia or the Embassy can request it.

    Ask
    By email, in Slovenian
    Takes
    2–13 weeks
    Good to know (1)
    • Fee under the Administrative Fees Act tariff for extracts (small; amount not checked for this record type).

    Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

  • birth1700–1945

    Parish registers held by the diocesan archives (Ljubljana, Maribor, Koper and others) or still in the parish

    Identify the parish; many Slovenian Catholic registers are scanned on Matricula.

    Ask
    By email, in Slovenian
    Takes
    4–17 weeks
    Good to know (1)
    • Fees vary by diocesan archive (unverified). Registers before the mid-19th century are mostly in Latin.

    Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

Translations

Into
Slovenian
Who may translate
A translator on the consulate’s list
About
$30–$90 a page

All documents must be filed in Slovenian. The Embassy in Washington does not translate; it authenticates a translation you provide against the original (request plus consular fee) and keeps a list of Slovenian-language translators. U.S. documents need an apostille; Slovenian documents need none. Per-page prices are an estimate.

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

The passport

Where
In person at the Slovenian Embassy in Washington or Consulate General in Cleveland (or during consular hours in other U.S. cities), after citizenship is granted
Fee
About $131
Time
4–13 weeks

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

09Former places

Places on old papers that lead to Slovenia

If your family’s records name one of these, Slovenia’s law may be the one that applies. The town decides.

10Law changes

Recent and pending changes

The legislative watch has no pending bill or recent ruling recorded for Slovenia.

The watch re-reads the official pages behind this guide every day. When one changes, a person re-checks the rule before anything here moves.

11Other doors

If descent doesn’t reach you

2 residence programs lead to Slovenia without an ancestor, each with its own law and road to citizenship.

12Sources

Every source on this page

4 laws and official pages behind the answers, then the offices and pages behind the records and filing. Records and filing checked 25 September 2026.

  1. LawZDRS Art. 13, unofficial consolidated text · Art. 13(1)-(3)
  2. LawZDRS Art. 12 with Art. 10(1), unofficial consolidated text · Art. 12(1) with Art. 10(1)(5); Art. 10(1)(6), applied by Arts. 12 and 13
  3. LawEmbassy of Slovenia in Washington: consular information (registration of adults 18 to 36; Article 13 applications) · checked 25 September 2026
  4. LawCitizenship of the Republic of Slovenia Act (ZDRS)
  5. RecordsThe upravna enota (administrative unit) civil registry, or the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia: Your ancestor’s birth or baptismal record from today’s Slovenia
  6. RecordsHow to file: Emigrants and descendants (Art. 12) · checked 25 September 2026
  7. RecordsBirth records, 1946–2026: The central register of civil status · checked 25 September 2026
  8. RecordsBirth records, 1700–1945: Parish registers held by the diocesan archives · checked 25 September 2026

Not legal advice. Postern’s rulebook is written from the statutes and tested against documented cases; where the law is unsettled, the answer says “possible” or “unsure” rather than guess.

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