On 21 March 2008, a seminar was held on the premises of the Hotel Bosna for Slovenians who live in and around Banja Luka. One-day seminar was organised by the Ministry of the Interior and the Office of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for Slovenians Abroad, for the purpose of replying to the most frequent questions, including the acquisition of the Slovenian citizenship, entry in the Registry Books and Slovenian citizens’ exercising the right to vote.

Seminar was attended by over 120 people and it was conducted by Mr. Aleš Selan, a representative of the Office of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for Slovenians Abroad, Mrs. Metka Pirc and Mrs. Mirjana Stefančič, representatives of the Ministry of the Interior of Slovenia.
Given that the attendees were mostly interested in the acquisition of the Slovenian citizenship, major portion of the seminar was dedicated to elaborating on requirements and procedure for the acquisition of the citizenship, primarily following the extraordinary naturalisation on national grounds, pursuant to Article 13 of the Law on the Citizenship of the Republic of Slovenia. For that purpose, Mr. Selan noted the criteria defined by the new Decree on Criteria to Determine National Interest in the Admission to the Citizenship of the Republic of Slovenia. The Decree dates from May 2007 and it was the first time the criteria were introduced for the purpose of meeting the requirements of national interest, which is the basis for the citizenship. The attendees were informed that extraordinary naturalisation on national grounds would be possible only if the applicant is a Slovenian emigrant or their direct descendant three times removed, or a member of an indigenous Slovenian national group, presenting an active relationship with the Republic of Slovenia, or being active over many years in Slovenian associations, Slovenian language schools or Slovenian emigration or minority organisations. The applicant is to enclose reference letters of appropriate organisations confirming their active relationship with the Republic of Slovenia and, if possible, an opinion of the relevant Embassy or Consulate of the Republic of Slovenia in the country of residence.
In the second part of the seminar, representatives of the Ministry of the Interior explained the procedure and the way how to exercise the right to vote and clarified the dilemmas about the registration of permanent place of residence in Slovenia and obligations of Slovenian citizens to notify authorities of the Republic of Slovenia about changes in the data entered in the Registry Books. On that occasion, all Slovenian nationals who attended the seminar had the opportunity to verify and change their personal details in the Registry Book.
Specific questions were then addressed to the representatives of the Slovenian Government, and they patiently responded thereto. In that way, the seminar which was organised and conducted in a very professional fashion, was successfully concluded.

 

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