IOM MIGRATION INFORMATION CENTRE

Parental Allowance

The parental allowance is a type of state social benefit paid by the state to the entitled person for providing due care to the child. Upon meeting certain conditions, even a foreigner with a temporary or permanent residence on the territory of the Slovak Republic is entitled to receive the allowance. 

A person entitled to receive the parental allowance is:

• the parent of a child (or the spouse of the child’s parent, if living with the child’s parent in a common household)
• a natural person, to whose care the child was entrusted, as a replacement for parental care

Conditions for granting the entitlement are:

• provision of due care (i.e. care for the mental and physical development of the child, especially the child’s adequate nutrition, hygiene, and raising), which can be performed in person or through another person
• temporary or permanent residence on the territory of the Slovak Republic, regardless of the activity that the entitled person performs (the entitlement to the allowance does not arise only in case the entitled person is not health insured and lives outside of the EU/ EEA states and Switzerland).

 For the purpose of receiving a parental allowance, the term child refers to the following:

• a child under three years of age or
• a child under six years of age
  • who has a long-term adverse health condition, or
  • whose care is provided by a person to whom the child has been entrusted in foster care (the benefit is payable for a maximum period of three years from the date on which the decision to entrust the child to care becomes final); or
  • who has not been admitted to a state kindergarten according to his/her place of residence, at the latest until the beginning of the school year in which he/she starts compulsory pre-primary education. 

The entitlement can be claimed only by one entitled person as agreed, if:

• more entitled persons take care of the child,
• there are more children in the family aged three (or six years).

The entitlement cannot be claimed:

• by a minor parent who was not granted parental rights by the court,
• if the entitled person and the child reside in a country that is not a member state of the EU/ EEA or Switzerland and the entitled person does not have compulsory public health insurance in Slovakia,
• if at least one of the entitled persons is entitled to maternity benefit or another similar benefit in a member state and the amount is higher than the amount of parental benefit or
• if at least one of the entitled persons is paid a similar benefit as maternity or parental benefit by a state that is not a member state,
• if another child of the entitled person has been entrusted to foster care.

Amount of benefit

• As of January 2024, the amount of the parental allowance is 345.20 EUR per month or 473.30 EUR per month, if the entitled person who applied for the parental allowance was previously receiving a maternity benefit or similar benefit in the EU/EEA states.
• If the older child of the entitled person fails to fulfil the compulsory school attendance for at least three consecutive calendar months, the parental allowance shall be reduced by 50%.
• The amount of the parental allowance is adjusted each year on January 1st of the calendar year.
• If the entitled person provides due care to two and more children born at the same time, the parental allowance is increased by 25% for each subsequent child, born at the same time as the first child.
• If the entitled person is receiving maternity benefit or another benefit similar to maternity benefit in a member state at an amount lower than the amount of parental allowance, the parental allowance is calculated as the difference between the amount of parental allowance and the amount of maternity benefit or another benefit similar to maternity benefit in a member state.

Application

• The entitled person claims the entitlement by submitting a written application to the Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, Department of State Social Benefits according to the place of permanent or temporary residence.
• The application must contain your given name, surname, date of birth, social security number (if allocated) and the residential address of the entitled person of the child, in relation to which the entitlement to parental allowance is being claimed. Upon request of the office, the entitled person fills in other necessary data required for parental allowance entitlement proceedings.
• In case the child was born outside of the territory of the Slovak Republic, an official translation of the child’s Birth Certificate must also be attached to the application (or an equivalent document)

Documents

The parental allowance application must be accompanied by the following documents:

• Travel document (passport)
• Proof of applicant's (parent's) residence in the Slovak Republic (residence card)
• Birth certificate of the child
• Confirmation of entitlement to a maternity benefit abroad
• Affidavit on the fact that the other parent is not receiving a maternity benefit
• Document proving another decisive fact (such as the alternative care, long-term unfavourable health condition, marriage with the child's parent, health insurance in Slovakia)

• Prev
• Next