Reporting Foreign Guests to the Police in Slovakia (2026): Deadline, Form, Fines up to €3,300

Who the duty applies to

The duty lies with the ubytovateľ (accommodation provider), which the Act defines as “a legal person or a natural person – entrepreneur (podnikateľ) who provides accommodation under an accommodation contract” (§2(9)). The Act does not distinguish by business form (trade licence, s. r. o.), booking channel (Airbnb, Booking.com, direct) or number of units. It does not apply to guests who are Slovak citizens. Whether short-term rental through the platforms needs a trade licence is covered in a separate guide.

This includes citizens of the EU, the EEA and Switzerland: under §2(2) a foreigner is anyone who is not a Slovak citizen, and §112(1)(j) requires an EU citizen to sign the form the host fills in. Alongside that, the EU citizen has their own duty to report the start of their stay to the police within 10 working days of entry (§64(2)) — that is the guest’s duty, not a substitute for your report.

Where the report is filed: slovensko.sk vs. portal.minv.sk

This is the most common source of confusion. The life situation “Reporting short-term stays of foreigners” is catalogued on the Central Government Portal (slovensko.sk) — that is the entry point where you find out what the service involves.

The actual electronic form is operated by the Ministry of Interior on portal.minv.sk (the e-service “Zápis do knihy ubytovaných”). That is where the electronic report is really filled in and submitted — not on slovensko.sk itself.

The e-service is not the only route, though. The Act (§113(c)) requires the completed form to be delivered to the police unit and allows the e-service as one option; the Ministry states that delivery is possible in person at a police unit, by post, or through the e-service. The provider registration, eID and KEP described below are prerequisites for filing electronically.

What you need before the first report

Electronic reporting cannot be done ad hoc. You need:

1. A Slovak eID card with a chip and an activated qualified electronic signature (KEP).
2. Prior registration as an accommodation provider (ubytovateľ) in the Ministry of Interior’s system — without it, you cannot reach the guest-reporting form at all, even with working eID and KEP.

Arrange both well before your first guest, not right before the deadline — provider registration is not instantaneous. If you are a foreign owner without a Slovak eID, treat this as a real project, not a formality.

Two ways to submit

• Manual electronic form — one guest at a time, via portal.minv.sk.
• Bulk XML import — for hosts who keep their guest records in software and want to file in batches.

The Ministry does publish the import format: the e-service user manual (“Evidencia cudzincov – portál, Príručka používateľa”, version 2.0.0, under Documents and forms) contains a sample XML file and chapter 6.2.3 “XSD schéma pre programátorov”. It is still a file you upload to the e-service after logging in — not an interface for automatic submission like the Czech UbyPort.

What the report must contain

The Act sets the data on the form according to where the guest is from:

• third-country nationals (§111(1)(l)): name and surname, date and place of birth, nationality, permanent residence, purpose of stay, travel document number, visa number and validity, place of issue or number of the residence document and its validity, address of stay in Slovakia, the host’s name, and the names of accompanying children;
• EU, EEA or Swiss citizens (§112(1)(j)): name and surname, date of birth, nationality, travel document or ID card number.

The guest signs the completed form — signing is the guest’s statutory duty under the same provisions. The Ministry’s e-service additionally asks for the start and end dates of the stay, a purpose-of-stay code and the country and place of birth; that is a requirement of the portal, not a list from the Act.

Purpose of stay: the code list

In the e-service, the purpose of stay is picked from a code list. The Ministry publishes it in the e-service user manual (Table 1): codes 84 to 97, for example 93 – tourism and transit, 85 – business stay, 87 – stay with family, 97 – other. If the purpose is not on the list, the manual lets you state it as text in the XML file.

The deadline: 5 days (not working days)

The Act (§113) sets the deadline at five days from the guest’s accommodation — plain calendar days. Beware: some secondary summaries incorrectly say “5 working days,” which optically extends the window. For a guest arriving just before a weekend or public holidays, the real filing window shrinks — the safest habit is to submit as soon as possible after check-in, ideally on arrival day.

Penalties

Failure to report, or late reporting, carries a fine of up to €3,300. It is not a misdemeanour (priestupok) but an administrative offence (správny delikt) of a host who breaches §113 (§119(1)(a) of Act No. 404/2011 Coll.); the fine is imposed by the police unit (§119(2)). It can be imposed within one year of the police unit learning of the breach, and no later than three years after the breach (§119(3)) — the obligation does not quietly lapse a few weeks after the stay.

How Best Guest helps

No publicly documented automated reporting interface exists for Slovakia yet (unlike the Czech UbyPort, which has a public API). Best Guest therefore prepares, from the data your guest fills in at online check-in, an XML file for import into the “Zápis do knihy ubytovaných” e-service — covering every guest who is not a Slovak citizen, EU citizens included — and a digital guest register as a PDF. You upload, sign and send the file in the e-service on portal.minv.sk within the statutory deadline; Best Guest does not fill in the official paper form. Submitting to the police is currently a manual step for the host; if an official interface becomes available, we plan to connect to it.

Related pages

• Act No. 404/2011 Coll. on Residence of Foreigners
• The guest register (kniha ubytovaných) in Slovakia
• All host obligations in Slovakia
• Fines for non-compliance in Slovakia