Hello,
I am sending you an example of the extension of a temporary residence permit for a third-country national, where one of the conditions for the extension of the temporary residence permit is that the person has obtained a certificate of non-criminal record from the country of origin (the country of nationality).
This certificate must understandably be attached to the application before the alien enters the RS for the first time. However, when an alien is only renewing a temporary residence permit and has already been residing here for 5 years (maybe even less, depending on the reason for which the permit was issued) and is now only renewing a temporary permit, I do not understand why he/she has to bring the certificate from his/her country of origin again when renewing the permit, since he/she is already residing in the territory of the RS. If he already has to bring it, it might make more sense to take into account the certificate of non-conviction from the RS. Perhaps the reason for obtaining this certificate is the fear that the person has not committed a criminal offence in the meantime, but then he would have to obtain it from all countries in the world, not only from his home country, since the possibility of committing a criminal offence in his home country is less than in the country where he is temporarily residing (especially if the permit is linked to work in the RS).
Why am I raising this issue?
It is not easy to obtain such a certificate, especially if the country of origin is quite far from the RS (maybe it is easier for BIH, Serbia, because these countries are not very far from the RS, but the problem is e.g. Australia, South America, Africa, etc., where if you want to get the certificate in person, it is connected with high travel costs, etc.). The process from obtaining the certificate, to all the verifications at the MFA, embassy, court translation into Slovenian, etc. is quite lengthy and extremely expensive (obtaining a certificate of non-criminal record from a West African country cost approx. €600 and took 3 months), when in the end the clerk just makes a tick that you meet the conditions for obtaining an extension of the temporary residence permit. However, from experience we have found that other conditions are crucial for the extension of a temporary residence permit anyway, and these are: sufficient means of subsistence and whether the reason on the basis of which the temporary residence permit was obtained in the first place is still the same. So would it not make sense that, if the foreigner is already residing here, it would be sufficient to obtain a certificate of non-criminal record from the Republic of Slovenia alone?