In 1991, the Constitutional Act Implementing the Basic Constitutional Charter and the Citizenship Act gave legislative form to the pre-plebiscite declaration whereby the Slovene state guaranteed all members of other nations and nationalities the right to all-round cultural and linguistic development and that all those who did not have citizenship of the then Republic of Slovenia, but had permanent residence in Slovenia and actually lived in Slovenia, could obtain citizenship if they wished this. Rather more than 171,000 persons obtained Slovene citizenship in this way.
For the period until obtaining citizenship, the constitutional act guaranteed these persons the same rights and imposed on them the same obligations as Slovene citizens, with the exception of the purchase of real estate. Persons who chose not to apply for citizenship were also entitled to equal treatment with citizens, but only until 26.2.1992.
For these persons, namely, the Aliens Act, adopted in the summer of 1991, began to apply from that day. However, this determined in Article 81 that until a final decision in the administrative procedure for the recognition of citizenship RS, the provisions of the Aliens Act did not apply for citizens of former Yugoslav republics who, within six months of the entry into force of the Citizenship Act, applied for citizenship of the Republic of Slovenia under Article 40 of that act. For citizens of the former SFRY who were citizens of other republics and did not apply for Slovene citizenship within the stated six months, it was determined that the provisions of the Aliens Act would begin to apply two months after the expiry of the time limit in which they could apply for citizenship or until the issue of a final decision.
Thus on 26 February, around 18,000 permanent residents of Slovenia lost permanent resident status, who had had it until that time and could have re-obtained it if they had applied as aliens for a permanent residence permit. They could have obtained such a permit if they fulfilled the conditions that applied for all aliens equally. One of the essential conditions was a previous permit for temporary residence and at least three years unbroken residence in Slovenia on that basis. In connection with the numbers involved, it should be explained that of the aforementioned 18,000, 7339 obtained Slovene citizenship after 1992, 2551 a temporary residence permit and 4230 permanent residence without subsequently obtaining Slovene citizenship. According to data of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 4205 persons did not regulate any status in Slovenia.
Since none of these persons would not meet this condition, in September 1992 the Government of the Republic of Slovenia adopted a resolution that a permanent residence permit could be recognised for all foreigners who had registered permanent residence in Slovenia and actually lived in Slovenia, but only if they applied for it and met all other conditions (guaranteed housing, means of subsistence, justifiable reason for residence, no criminal record). Many did not do this because they were unaware of the government resolution, some were not in Slovenia at that time, and many were completely unaware that they had lost permanent residence, since they had not received a relevant decision on this.
In 1994, two initiatives were filed with the Constitutional Court for a review of the constitutionality of the Aliens Act. In February 1999, the Constitutional Court ruled that the Aliens Act was not in compliance with the Constitution because it did not specify conditions for obtaining a permanent residence permit, because of which it violated the principle of equality, since the law specified for aliens who had a valid permanent residence permit on 25.2.1992 that this permit automatically remained valid. The Constitutional Court also found that the "erased" had not been issued with any notification of loss of status.
In 1999, parliament therefore adopted a Regulating the Status of Citizens of Other State Successors of the Former SFRY Act, which determined that a permanent residence permit be issued to the "erased" who already had permanent residence in Slovenia in 1990 and also actually lived in Slovenia. A permanent residence permit could be obtained by those who applied for it within three months and who showed that they had actually been living in Slovenia at least since 25.9.1991. On the basis of the permit issued, they were entitled to re- registration of permanent residence, but with effect from the date of obtaining the permit, and not retroactively.
In April 2003, the Constitutional Court ruled that part of this act was also in conflict with the Constitution because it did not recognise permanent residence from the date of erasure from the register. The constitutional judges unanimously decided that the Ministry of Internal Affairs must ex officio issue a supplementary decision on permanent residence in the Republic of Slovenia from 26 February 1992 onwards, to all persons to whom a permanent residence permit had been issued (on the basis of the provisions of the Aliens Act and the Regulating the Status of Citizens of Other State Successors of the Former SFRY Act).
The Government then decided to solve the problem of the erased by means of two laws. The first law (technical) is connected with the eighth point of the operative part of the ruling of the Constitutional Court, which speaks of enforcing the rights of those persons who had already received a permanent residence permit, on condition that they had actually lived in Slovenia throughout, and the second law (systemic) deals with individual standards defining which circumstances of absence count as a break in actual living in the Republic of Slovenia and which not, and additionally determines further categories of persons for obtaining status that the Constitutional Court ruling does not cover, or is an umbrella law that includes criteria for awarding status to those citizens of former SFRY who had not to date regulated any status in Slovenia.
When in autumn 2003, parliament adopted the so-called technical law, a group of 30 delegates demanded that a subsequent legislative referendum be held, at which a decision would be made on the act that enforced the ruling of the Constitutional Court.
The Constitutional Court then in December explicitly noted that the Ministry of Internal Affairs must, without delay, start to issue decisions directly on the basis of the Constitutional Court ruling itself. By means of the issued decision, permanent residence of persons is established from the moment of "erasure" to obtaining a permanent residence permit; the decision thus means a finding of a time period of permanent residence for the period when the law did not allow such a possibility unless they applied for it and fulfilled conditions.
Although the so-called technical law was rejected at the referendum on 4.4.2004, because of respecting the principle of a state ruled by law and the Constitutional Court as an institution which has the authority of the highest judicial branch of power in the legal order of the RS, it cannot have any impact on the further course of issuing decisions. The Ministry of Internal Affairs is therefore continuing to issue decisions which derive from the obligation imposed by the Constitutional Court, directly on the basis of the decision of the Constitutional Court.
An initiative for a prior legislative referendum was filed against the so-called systemic law, but parliament sent it for a ruling by the Constitutional Court because of lack of clarity and thus possible anti-constitutionality. The Constitutional Court ruled on 20.4.2004 that such a referendum would indeed be anti-constitutional and it will therefore not be held.