STA, 17 December 2018 - Prime Minister Marjan Šarec said during questions time in parliament on Monday that record keeping on foreigners in the country should be more detailed, so that foreigners will not be just numbers and that any abuse of the welfare system would be prevented.
Šarec was responding to a question by MP Zmago Jelinčič of the opposition National Party (SNS), who wanted to know how many foreigners are currently in the country, how many of them have working permits, where do they work and how many relatives each foreigner with a working permit has brought to the country.
Jelinčič said that by agreeing with the UN Global Compact for Migration Slovenia had opened the door wide to even more illegal migrants.
He said that one channel of illegal migration was Albanians coming to the country and the other were illegal migrants arriving through student or working visas, and shell companies.
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Data show that foreigners from Turkey, Pakistan and India are founding or buying companies with no employees in Slovenia, Jelinčič said.
The illegal migrants who come to the country either go further west or get a job, an address and request for social transfers, which they receive.
Jelinčič asked Šarec if he was aware of such abuses of the system and how the government plans to act against "this type of crime and illegal migration."
The prime minister presented official statistics, saying that 172,073 foreigners had a residence permit in Slovenia on 30 November, of whom 27,666 people were from the European Economic Area and Switzerland, and 14,407 from third countries.
According to the latest figures by the Employment Service, a total of 39,260 working permits have been issued this year.
The prime minister explained that not all citizens of third countries who live in Slovenia need an additional permit to get a job, start a business or work in Slovenia in addition to the work and residence permit.
He said that it was difficult to check whether a person actually lives at their address and that changes were absolutely needed here.
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"More will need to be done to keep good and accurate records, so that people will not be just numbers, which allows for abuses of the system, especially with welfare benefits," Šarec said.
On 30 November, the number of valid temporary residence permits due to family reunification stood at 11,692, Šarec said, adding that no records were kept on the family relations of the foreigners who receive temporary residence permits due to family reunification.
Šarec said that 18,600 foreigners received child benefits this year, which is 6.1% of all rightful claimants.
Jelinčič said that the UN spoke of 244,800 migrants in the country and the OECD of 340,000 people who were not born in Slovenia, so he proposed a parliamentary discussion on the issue. The National Assembly will decide on this on Wednesday.
