Foreigners in Slovenia

The 21^st century has brought the world closer together and there are fewer and fewer people who have lived all their life in one country and never visited a place outside their homeland. Travelling has become much easier, opportunities more accessible and so it’s not hard to find reasons to visit or stay in a foreign county. Being regarded as ‘Europe’s best kept secret’, Slovenia doesn’t seem to be a top choice to live in or visit, which makes it even more interesting to find out something more about foreigners there.

The overall immigration level in Slovenia is rather low. According to the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, in 2015 foreigners make up 5% of the total population of 2,061,952. In other words, 1,961,342 Slovene residents have Slovenian citizenship, whereas other large ethnic groups are Serbs (2%), Croats (2%) and Bosnians (1%). The numbers indicate just a general outline of the population. Foreigners have the right to apply for a temporary residence permit after 5 years of living in the country. The level of foreigners in the reality might be quite higher. Namely, the majority of foreigners have a temporary residence permit due to their studies and work.

A high number of foreign students come to Ljubljana thanks to the University of Ljubljana. It is the biggest higher education institution in the country and has many contacts abroad. Within the framework of developmental pedagogical and research activity of European programmes, the university partakes part in ERASMUS (student exchange program), ERASMUS+ (student internship program), CIP (program for young adults with learning differences to succeed in education, work, etc.), Intelligent Energy for Europe (program for funding projects regarding energy); TEMPUS (program for modernisation of higher education), COST (program for researchers, engineers and scholars in science and technology) and other programs. The University of Ljubljana has connections with more than 500 universities in Europe and America. People’s reasons for going to Slovenia vary. The most common reasons for choosing Slovenia are the low living costs, lush green nature and location in the centre of Europe.

The living costs

Most foreigners say that living in Slovenia is rather good, especially if you are a student. There are numerous benefits that foreigners are using. One of them is the subsidised student meals (Študentski boni). The average cost of a meal is around 7 €, but with the discount that can be used in a variety of different places, it is possible to cut the price by half. Another great benefit that not all countries have is the bicycle hire system (Bicikelj) in Ljubljana. It costs only around 3 € per year and it enables you to use a bike for one hour for free whenever and as often as you wish. There is great fluctuation of bikes in Ljubljana, which is not only a problem for students and foreigners, but for all residents of Ljubljana that own a bike. The hire system is also a great benefit for foreign as well as local students who face the problem of their bikes being stolen.

As far as renting a place is concerned, rents prove to me somewhat higher. The average price of renting one bedroom apartment in the city centre of Ljubljana is 376 €. However, if you are a student or taking part in some other exchange program, you can stay in dormitories and cut the renting cost at least by half. The most popular place among foreign youth is the campus Rožna Dolina that offers a lot of sports activities (volleyball, tennis, basketball) and is located near the Tivoli Park. It is always a lively place and is perfect for meeting new people. For those who like a more peaceful lifestyle, Bežigrad dorms are the best option as most of them are quieter, but foreigners can’t always choose in which dorms they will stay. There are cases when Slovenes get more lucky with the ability even to choose rooms, especially if saying that there is a known person who is moving out and has agreed to take his place.

Nature and location

It is hard to find any foreigner who doesn’t like the nature in Slovenia. Mountains and high density of forests make really nice scenery worth exploring. As the country is rather small, it doesn’t take much time to explore other bordering countries like Austria, Croatia, Italy and Hungary as well. Slovenia has two great lakes, Bled and Bohinj. On the travel webpage Tripadvisor Bled itself has 5145 photos provided by users and a lot of positive reviews that indicate that a lot of people visit the place and have a good experience. Germans love to visit the Slovenian and Croatian coast with its pure blue water. Of course, they are not the only ones who love to go there. Slovenes themselves also love to visit the coastline. Spanish people also love to go to the coast. However, they quite often choose to enjoy Ljubljana’s nightlife instead. As there tends to be high number of Spanish people, sometimes it might seem that they are everywhere.

Below you will find some observations and stories from some foreign people who have lived or are still living in Slovenia. These are not their exact words – their shared information is summarised.

Portuguese, MA in business:

- I chose to go to Slovenia to experience studying in a different environment. I really enjoyed my time there, so I decided to stay. For a start, the main problem regarding living in Slovenia is the language barrier. Even when obtaining some language knowledge, it’s clear that Slovenian employers will prefer to hire local job seekers. The most common jobs I got for a start were in bars and coffee shops, but I knew that some foreigners who were lucky enough got into teaching in language schools. After some time, I also had a chance to climb higher in my professional sphere. I met a young guy who recommended me later to the director of the recruitment agency MojeDelo and just after a few days I was working for the company’s international section.

Mexican, post-graduate:

- To be honest, at first I didn’t know anything about such country’s existence, but it so happened that during my studies I met a Slovenian woman and so we started living together. For some time, we lived in Mexico, but then we moved back to her homeland. I got married, but the marriage fell apart. Living with the person I loveed had a great influence on my language learning and the situation in Slovenia was not as complicated as back in my country (low employment rate, high crime level, etc.), so I decided to stay. For some time, I worked in the advertisement agency Renderspace and then I decided to open a Mexican food restaurant called El Patrón with some of my friends. The reason for that is that I saw that in many places the food that was presented as ‘Mexican’ was based on stereotypes and I wanted to introduce something closer to reality. The business could be doing better if the place would be located in the city centre, but for now it is a good start.

Slovakian, MA in the English Language teaching:

- I choose Slovenia because it was near to my living place and my Comenius University in Bratislava had a close connection with the University of Ljubljana. I’m rather close with my family and thus I didn’t want to go for a half year without seeing them. But, on the other hand, I wanted to get some international experience. I could go to my hometown and back with a train and it was easy. I knew that Slovenia and Croatia had a great coastline and that was something I was missing in my home country.

Latvian, BA in Translation and Interpreting:

- As I like Nordic countries, especially Norway, I wanted to experience putting myself in the boots of the people I had seen in the media. Unfortunately, my higher education institution didn’t have any cooperation with the Nordic countries in my field, leaving me to choose between Spain, Hungary, Turkey and Slovenia. I didn’t prefer Spain’s culture and climate, Turkey had more negative reviews and was highly different in religion and other fields, Hungary was the least heard of and, to be honest, I didn’t bother to research more comprehensively as Slovenia seemed to be in a better location near the sea with high forest and mountain range.

The European Union’s integration policy and easy travelling has brought a new mobility to Europe. In the recent years, the number of foreigners in Slovenia has risen and projections suggest that it will keep rising. More and more Slovenia reveals itself not only as an attractive destination for travelling and studies but also as an attractive work and living destination. Some choose to stay only for a particular period of time; others try to open their own business, work part-time jobs or for the local companies. The common thing that seems to be true for all people who come here is– they like their experience.


Source: Citymagazine.si

References:

Slovenia: Europe’s Best Kept Secret’’ (Accessed: http://www.neverendingvoyage.com/slovenia-europes-best-kept-secret)
On 1 April 2015 Slovenia's population 2,061,952, 5% of which foreign citizens (Accessed: http://www.stat.si/StatWeb/en/show-news?id=5350&idp=20&headerbar=16)
Bled Slovenia (Accessed: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g274863-Bled_Upper_Carniola_Region-Vacations.html)
Finding a Job in Slovenia: The Perspective of a Foreigner (Accessed: http://www.sloveniatimes.com/finding-a-job-in-slovenia-the-perspective-of-a-foreigner)