(104kB)

After achieving independence, on 25 June 1991, the so-called legislation of independence of the Republic of Slovenia (i.e. laws needed in the field of citizenship, aliens, external borders and passports in order to carry out the independence in practice) were published in the Official Gazette of Republic of Slovenia, including Aliens Act and Passports of the Citizens of the Republic of Slovenia Act. The Ministry of the Interior began to inform Local Administrative Offices on the new legislation.

For this purpose the Ministry of the Interior sent the first internal instruction to the Local Administrative Offices by which officials were warned about the changed legal status of the citizens of other republics of former Yugoslavia living in Slovenia.

Two groups of citizens of other Republics were defined as well as the methods according to which these groups should be dealt with.

1. Citizens of other republics who registered their permanent residence in Slovenia after 23 December 1990 or have a temporary residence or want to register permanent or temporary residence should be considered as foreignersin all administrative procedures in the field of internal affairs concerning their rights.This is the group of people who according to the conditions of the Citizenship Act didn’t have the right to acquire citizenship by extraordinary naturalization, because they registered their permanent residence too late (after the plebiscite) or because they only had temporary residence in Slovenia. This group of people was not allowed to vote in the plebiscite for independence.
2. Citizens of other Republics who had a permanent residence registered in Slovenia on 23 December 1990 and they still have it, are in their rights and obligations equal to citizens of RS.This group had the right to vote in the plebiscite and also had possibility to acquire citizenship by extraordinary naturalization if they also fulfilled two other conditions (the first one was de facto life in Slovenia and the second one, which was added later, required that the person did not represent a threat to public order, safety and defence of the country). For individuals from this group a six-month period for lodging a citizenship application started on 25 June 1991 and until the expiration of this time limit they were in their rights equal to citizens of Slovenia.

(59kB)

Given the Moratorium the Ministry of the Interior changed its opinion on the treatment of citizens of other republics so that all citizens of other former Yugoslav republics should be considered as citizens of FSRY and not as foreigners during the three-month Moratorium, and by the end of the Moratorium their status should not be changed against their will.

The Ministry of the Interior underlined that this applies also to citizens who registered their permanent or temporary residence between 23 December 1990 (the date of plebiscite) and 25 June 1991 (adoption of the independence legislation).

Citizens of other republics who registered their permanent residence before 23 December 1990 and actually lived in Slovenia were by the Constitutional Act in their rights and obligations still equal to the citizens of RS.

This meant that the people of both groups could still assert the rights they already had by then, and could still keep their legally regulated status in Slovenia. At the end of the moratorium the temporary residence registrations were immediately erased and all the people affected by this measure had to regulate their status anew – or they continued living in Slovenia without any status and were exposed to all the negative consequences, including deportation.

(127kB)

When the deadline for lodging applications for citizenship expired and when the date determined by the Aliens Act (26 February 1992) approached, the Ministry of the Interior began to prepare for the erasure from the register of permanent residents and destruction of personal documents.

For this purpose the Ministry of the Interior conducted consultations for representatives of Local Administrative Offices who had numerous questions regarding the implementation of the new independence legislation, especially regarding the Aliens Act.

After the consultations the Ministry of the Interior sent the conclusions to all Local Administrative Offices. The conclusions include the instructions on issuing visas, permits for temporary or permanent residence, termination of residence, deportations and dealing with personal documents of foreigners.

Especially important is the instruction that dictates the Local Administrative Offices to determine, during the process when regulating the status matters of foreigners, whether the person possesses public documents (identity card, passport or firearm certificate) issued from the Authorities of the Interior Affairs of Slovenia. The instruction namely state that if the person is arranging the status of a foreigner, the documents must be taken away from him/her. According to the instruction the passport should also be taken away and destroyed, and the person should be referred to acquire a passport of country of their nationality (exceptionally a passport for foreigners could be issued).

Dispatches were sent to the Local Administrative Offices prior to the erasure and related to all citizens of FSR Yugoslavia who had not acquired Slovenian citizenship or at least applied for it. The Ministry of the Interior took a position that they are no longer legally entitled to reside in Slovenia. This internal instruction determined the measures that have not been based in law. Persons, to whom the instructions related, were not notified on these measures.

Handling of the Passports was especially problematic. Passports that were issued under the Passports of the Citizens of FSRY Act should have been valid for two more years after the adoption of the Passports of the Citizens of the Republic of Slovenia Act (25 June 1991), i.e. until 26 June 1993 or until the expiry date if this was sooner. After two years they had to be replaced, but under the new Passports of the Citizens of RS, only citizens of RS could obtain a new passport. Citizens of other republics of former Yugoslavia could exceptionally obtain only a passport for foreigners if they fulfilled the required conditions (refugee status, foreigners with a temporary or permanent residency permit, who didn’t have a valid foreign passport, or other foreigners if there were justified reasons).

The distinction between the passports of the Slovenian citizens and citizens of other republics of former Yugoslavia was therefore not set by the law. This distinction was introduced by the internal instructions without any legal basis. Statutory provisions, which would contain the necessary legal basis for undoing valid passports issued by Slovenia to the citizens of other republics of former Yugoslavia, did not exist.

(64kB)

With this internal instruction the Ministry gave permission to all Local Administrative Offices to issue work visas on the request of the companies to all workers (foreigners) that had a valid Yugoslav passport. The company was required to specify the period for which the visa was issued, but as instructed by the Ministry of the Interior the Local Administrative Offices were not allowed to issue a visa for a period longer than three months until the adoption of the labour legislation. If a foreign worker did not have a Yugoslav passport he could exceptionally obtain a passport for foreigners.

This internal instruction explains why some of the erased that remained without valid personal documents could keep their jobs without having to do anything for it – on their behalf their employers could request for working visas. On the other hand, due to restrictive conditions of issuing work visas, short time value and the need for continuous renewal, the citizens of other republics were more likely to lose their jobs.

(67kB)

With this instruction the Ministry for the first time demonstrated how it intends to interpret the unclear wording of the Act, which stated only that on the specific date “the Aliens Act applies” for these persons.

All Local Administrative Offices for internal affairs in Slovenia received an instruction regarding the implementation of the Aliens Act on 27 February 1992, stating that for all citizens of other Yugoslav republics who have not applied for Slovenian citizenship, and for those, who have applied but have been served a negative decision at least two months ago, the provisions of the Aliens Act come into force on 28 February 1992. With this date the above mentioned persons should start arranging their status, and at the same time the clearing of the records (i.e. the erasure) should begin.

The date set by the Ministry in this instruction is misleading. It states that “the clearing of the records” began on 28 February 1992, but the registrations of the residence were actually erased on 26 February 1992. This means that the affected people had their residence registered from the day of the registration until 26 February 1992 regardless of when the registration was actually erased.

People that resided in Slovenia until 25 February 1992 on the basis of a permanent residence and were in their rights and obligations equal to Slovenian citizens, did not have the right to reside in Slovenia anymore after 26 February 1992, and had to apply for a temporary or permanent residence permit again. This shows how the Ministry of the Interior interpreted the Aliens Act in which this was not specified (note that it was only stated that the Aliens Act will be applied for these people two months after the expiration of the time limit to apply for Slovenian citizenship). With this internal instruction on 27 February 1992 only Local Administrative Offices were informed about this interpretation of the Aliens Act, while the people that were affected by it were not. Nobody informed them about the termination of their registration of permanent residence.

“Clearing up the records” meant that in the register of permanent residents the officials terminated the registration of permanent residence of citizens of other republics of former Yugoslavia, who did not apply for the citizenship of RS by 26 December 1991. For those who applied for Slovenian citizenship but received negative decisions, the date of the erasure was set to two months since the final decision on rejection of citizenship application has been served to them. The officials also wrote in the register, that since the erasure these people lived in one of the other former Yugoslav republics. The official chose the alleged place of residence on the basis of estimated republican citizenship, without verifying if the affected person actually moved there. In fact, most of these people were actually still living in Slovenia, since no one informed them about the erasure and the deprivation of their legal status.

It was written in the dispatch that it was realistic to expect numerous problems with the people that would on 28 February 1992 become foreigners in Slovenia (the date was not correct, the people were considered foreigners without a status already on 26 February 1992). The dispatch also once again stressed that public documents of these people, even if they were issued by the competent authorities of Slovenia and were still valid, were due to the changed status of these people no longer valid.

The authorities, despite being aware of the problems the erasure would cause, decided to deprive them of their legal status. In fact, they even adjusted the measures to the expected problems. The Ministry of the Interior once again instructed the Local Administrative Offices to remove and destroy passports and personal ID cards which were for foreigners no longer valid – which was in contradiction with the Passports of the Citizens of RS Act. Further, the termination of validity of ID cards, issued in the time of former Yugoslavia, which were still valid, was not regulated by the legislation until 1997. Nevertheless, ID cards of the erased people were also destroyed.

Further measures, with which, according to the Ministry, these issues should be resolved, were deportations. The ministry responded to the issue of conflicting interpretations of the provisions regarding residency and deportation by Articles 23 and 28 of the Aliens Act. It took the position that if a foreigner illegally comes to the territory of Slovenia or is living in Slovenia without the residence permit, the Article 28 applies. According to this provision an authorized official of the Authority of Interior (the police) had the right to bring the foreigner to the state border and deploy him/her without any decision of the Administrative Office (deportation). The citizens of other republics of former Yugoslavia who were erased and deprived of any legal status, of course did not come to Slovenia with a passport, visa, entry permit or residency permit, because this was not necessary – there were no borders between republics of the former Yugoslavia before its dissolution. Nevertheless, this instruction referred to them as well. Numerous testimonies of the erased people confirm that they actually experienced deportations (see the stories of the erased people on this portal).

(608kB)

The then Minister of the Interior, Igor Bavčar, addressed a letter regarding the open questions on the implementation of the Aliens Act to the government. At the beginning of the letter he stressed that the citizens of other republics of former Yugoslavia had an opportunity to arrange their status based on their free will. According to the estimations of the Ministry, there were 40,000 people, that “by the force of the law or based on the negative decision regarding the citizenship” became foreigners and were arranging their residence status in Slovenia. It is evident from the letter that the Ministry received 800 applications for permanent residence permit by 1 June 1992, while a much greater “problem” was the temporary residence permit, since only the City Secretariat of the Interior of Ljubljana issued more than 5000 temporary residence permits until that date.

Furthermore, the Minister pointed out a special problem of two legal positions that have been formed regarding the permanent residence applications. According to the first position people who resided permanently in Slovenia before the independence should be acknowledged their acquired rights and their legal status of permanent residents should be maintained; according to the second position, the provision of the Aliens Act should be strictly enforced, by which the condition of a three-year residence, based on the temporary residence permit should be fulfilled for the permanent residence permit. He also warned the government that, if taking the first position, they will have to recognize to these people also their existential rights, such as social welfare. The Minister warned the government about the fact that these people have families in Slovenia and are therefore also existentially tied to this country, which, obviously, did not convince him, as he finally suggested to the government to take the second legal position and “to ignore the acquired rights”.

From the letter it is evident that some employees at the Ministry were aware of the consequences that the erasure as deprivation of status would have for the victims, that also economic reasons (social welfare!) played a role in decision making, that the government was aware of the erasure and was familiar with it, and that the representatives of the authorities consciously ignored the acquired rights of the individuals who until then lived on the territory of Slovenia as full-fledged citizens.

(341kB)

It was concluded at the consultation taking place on 28 May 1992 that persons who were not Slovenian citizens cannot be included in the register of permanent residents.

The instruction follows, that a person who was not a Slovenian citizen should be directed to arrange status of a foreigner and then this person should be removed from the register of permanent residents. The change of the status should be adequately marked in computerized records and in the manual files; in the personal file the officials were to write “Became foreigner” in the section “Official remarks” and the date when the person changed the status. Further, the personal files were then moved into a special record of people who have been dismissed from the Slovenian citizenship. In the household file from the register of permanent residents, next to the household member that changed the status, the officials were to write “Became foreigner” in the section “Type of change” and the date, and then they were to cross this member out of the household file. If all family members become foreigners this is to be written in the section “Official remarks” and the file was to be moved into a special record of households that have moved or ceased to exist.

The officials were, of course, aware of the fact that individuals or families that make up the households did not move away or cease to exist, but mostly still lived in Slovenia. Since they remained without a regulated legal status, they ceased to exist only legally in the registers of the Administrative Offices.

In this dispatch there were also instructions to destroy ID cards of these people issued in Slovenia. The file on the issued ID card was to be removed from the record of issued ID cards and was as well to be destroyed. This instruction did not have any legal basis.

In this dispatch there was also an explanation on when a person became a foreigner:

• Persons, that had a permanent residence registered in Slovenia on 23 December 1990 and had, according to the Article 40 of the Citizenship of the Republic of Slovenia Act, the right to apply for citizenship and did so and received a positive decision, became citizens of Slovenia on the day when the decision was served.
• Persons, that had a permanent residence in Slovenia on 23 December 1990 and had, according to the Article 40 of the Citizenship of the Republic of Slovenia Act, the right to apply for the citizenship but did not do so, became foreigners on 26 February 1992 (or if they arranged their status before that, on the day when they arranged their status of a foreigner). Persons that applied for the citizenship and received negative decisions became foreigners two months after the delivery of the negative decision.
• Persons, that registered their permanent residence after 23 December 1990, became foreigners on 26 June 1991.

It is written at the end that the explanations on how the clarification of the register of permanent residents will be carried out, will be forwarded subsequently.

(97kB)

When Minister Bavčar sent a letter on 4 June 1992 to the government some positive changes happened despite the fact that he suggested the government to ignore the acquired rights of the citizens of other republics of Yugoslavia. On 2 September 1992 the government issued a decision no. 260-01/91-2/5-8 based on which the Ministry when dealing with applications for permanent residence had to take into account that the condition of three-year uninterrupted residence in Slovenia, based on temporary residence permits is also fulfilled if the foreigner had permanent residence registered in Slovenia at least three years before the provisions of the Aliens Act applied, and that he or she also de facto lived in Slovenia during that time. This governmental decision was more favourable than the Aliens Act, according to which the permanent residence permit could be acquired only if a person resided in the independent Slovenia for three years based on the temporary residence permit. The erased of course did not fulfil this condition right after the erasure, because before the independence they did not need a temporary residence permit to live in Slovenia. The decision of the government took into account also their registration of residence from the time before the independence.

Regarding this topic the Ministry of the Interior published instructions for the Local Administrative Offices alerting them on the more favourable solution, adopted by the government. The Constitutional Court, however, stated in one of its decisions that such a governmental decision was in contradiction with the constitutional principle of division of powers, since the government as the executive interfered with powers of the legislature by changing the conditions for acquiring a permanent residence permit.

(74kB)

Considering the fact that the erased remained without any legal status, the provisions regarding issuing visas became relevant for them as well. This dispatch defines some of the viewpoints on issuing visas after the independence.

(47kB)

Numerous people, that were later erased, applied for citizenship, but were denied due to rejected application or due to a terminated procedure of acceptance into citizenship.

For this purpose the Ministry of the Interior responded to Administrative Offices’ question when the provisions of the Aliens Act come into force for a foreigner who is a citizen of one of the other republics of former Yugoslavia who applied for Slovenian citizenship according to Article 40 of the Citizenship of the Republic of Slovenia Act, in which case the decision on termination of the procedure due to non-cooperation was issued.

The Ministry responded that in such cases the provisions of the Aliens Act came into force with the finality of this decision, and the decision becomes final being served to the person.