A complainant applied for parental allowance and at the same time also submitted a request to extend her temporary residence permit in Slovenia. The CSD rejected her request for parental allowance, even though the first paragraph of Article 64 of the Parental Protection and Family Benefits Act states that the mother has the right to parental allowance if both she and the child have permanent or temporary residence in the Republic of Slovenia and actually live in the Republic of Slovenia. The Ombudsman concluded that the claim had been rejected because the Complainant's application to the Register of Foreigners was filed with a delay and therefore there was an unjustified interruption of the registration of temporary residence, which meant that the complainant no longer met the conditions for obtaining the right. After the Ombudsman intervened with the MZ and the MDDSZ, the latter ordered the upgrading of the information system, which will enable the issuance of a positive decision on the right to parental allowance even in the event that no information on temporary residence is available from the Central Population Register. The condition is, however, that the applicant proves that they have submitted an application for the extension of the temporary residence permit to the administrative unit and received a certificate to that effect.

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The Ombudsman of the Republic of Slovenia (Ombudsman) dealt with the case of a complainant who submitted a request to the competent Centre for Social Work (CSD) for the enforcement of the right to parental allowance. At the time of the decision of the CSD, the complainant also submitted a request to the competent administrative unit for the extension of a temporary residence permit in Slovenia. The Administrative Unit issued her with a certificate of the submitted application for the extension of the temporary permit, from which the address of her then-registered temporary residence in Slovenia was also derived. During the decision on her application for the extension of the temporary residence permit, the complainant received a decision from the competent CSD that her claim for the enforcement of the right to parental allowance had been rejected. The CSD explained that the complainant does not meet the conditions from Paragraph 1 of Article 64 of the Parental Protection and Family Benefits Act (ZDSP-1), which states that a mother has the right to parental allowance "if the mother and the child have permanent or temporary residence in Republic of Slovenia and they actually live in the Republic of Slovenia". For clarification, the Ombudsman turned to the competent CSD, which decided on the complainant's specific case, and to the Ministry of the Interior (MNZ).

The Ombudsman found that the complainant's application to the register of aliens was submitted with a delay, and therefore there was an unjustified suspension of the application for temporary residence and, as a result, the rejection of the request for parental allowance.

The complainant did not take advantage of the available legal remedies against the aforementioned decision of the CSD; however, on the basis of the specific complaint in question, the Ombudsman asked the question of recognising the right to parental allowance for persons who have been issued a certificate of application for the extension of a temporary permit, from which the address of the registered of temporary residence in the Republic of Slovenia is derived. Therefore, in accordance with Paragraph 2 of Article 9 and Paragraph 2 of Article 26 of the Human Rights Ombudsman Act (ZVarCP), the Ombudsman began to deal with the issue of unjustified suspension of the application for temporary residence and the consequent suspension of certain rights and, referring to Article 6 of the ZVarCP, turned to the Ministry of Work, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities (MDDSZ) and the MNZ with a request for a definition of the highlighted issue and for an explanation of what activities may (already) take place at the level of the ministry in the direction of solving such situations and how individuals should act in specific cases.

The MNZ explained to the Ombudsman that, in their opinion, the statistical data indicate that the administrative units are aware of the fact that timely applications for the extension or issuance of a further permit for temporary residence must be recorded in the Register of Foreigners in a timely manner, i.e. before the previous permit expires. The MNZ has also warned the administrative units to timely record data in the Register of Aliens about the initiation of the procedure for extending the temporary residence permit for a child of a foreigner born in the Republic of Slovenia, which the administrative unit shall initiate ex officio in accordance with Article 49 of the ZTuj-2. Among other things, the administrative units were warned that when entering data, they pay special attention to the correct entry of information on the type of case in the Register of Foreigners. The MDDSZ informed the Ombudsman that it was already aware of the issue raised, which is why it turned to the MNZ with a request for an explanation of some situations in which foreigners find themselves when registering or extending their temporary residence. After receiving their answer, the MDDSZ ordered the upgrading of the information system, which will enable the issuance of a positive decision on the right to parental allowance even in the event that no information on temporary residence is available from the Central Population Register (CRP). The condition is, however, that the applicant proves that they have submitted to the administrative unit an application for the extension of the temporary residence permit and received a certificate to that effect.

As can be seen from the above-mentioned explanations received from the MNZ, the MNZ has already warned all administrative units that the registration of residence must be consistently checked in the register of permanent residents, as there may be an unjustified interruption of the registration of temporary residence and the suspension of certain rights. The Ombudsman is otherwise aware of the systemic reasons for delays in decision-making at the departments for foreigners of administrative units, as well as the activities of the competent authorities, which are aimed at solving the aforementioned problem. Regardless of the above, according to the Ombudsman, lengthy procedures at administrative units must not have negative consequences for customers. It should not be ignored that at the time of the decision of the administrative unit on the application for the extension of the residence permit, the foreigner has all the rights related to the registered residence.

According to the collected data, the Ombudsman again contacted the MDDSZ in early November 2023 and asked for information on whether the information system had been upgraded since the last response. In an additional reply, the MDDSZ explained that the upgrade of the information system was carried out on 7.9.2023, and from that date onwards social work centres have had the option of issuing a positive decision on the right to parental allowance in the event that there is no information on the temporary residence, on the condition that the applicant proves that they have submitted an application for the extension of the temporary residence permit to the administrative unit and received a confirmation of this. The centres for social work have already been informed about the installation of the upgrade, which the Ombudsman welcomes.

Based on the explanations received, the Ombudsman does not find that any additional problems related to the highlighted issue have been detected in the meantime. 9.5-15/2023