# Slovenia — records retrieval dossier > EasyPassport knowledge base for citizenship-by-descent record retrieval. **General > guidance to confirm on the official pages listed under Sources — not legal > advice.** Fees, URLs, offices, and processing times change; verify before quoting. ## Vital records (birth / marriage / death) - **Holding office:** Modern civil birth/marriage/death records (post-WWII, from ~1946) are held in the state civil register (matični register) and issued by the local Administrative Unit — Upravna enota — for the district where the event was registered (analogous to a county clerk). The register is run under the Ministry of the Interior (competent authority per eUprava). There is a Central Population Register, but requests still route through a matičar (registrar) at an Upravna enota. - **How to request:** Three channels: (1) Online via the eUprava portal application 'Extract from the Register of Births/Marriages/Deaths' (requires SI-PASS login, so effectively for people with a Slovenian digital identity); (2) In person at any Upravna enota (records are now centralized so any unit can print an extract regardless of where the event occurred); (3) By mail/email request to the relevant Upravna enota, or via a Slovenian consulate abroad. The US Embassy in Ljubljana directs applicants to the local Upravna enota (contact list at upravneenote.gov.si). For overseas use, request the INTERNATIONAL multilingual extract (issued in 8 languages incl. English under the Vienna Convention) rather than the domestic Slovene-only form. - **Online portal:** https://e-uprava.gov.si/en/podrocja/personal-documents-certificates-change-of-residence/certificates-and-extracts.html - **Who may request:** You may apply for your own extract, for a minor child under 18, or for a deceased person (no power of attorney needed for a minor or a deceased person). To obtain another living adult's extract you must attach that person's written power of attorney. This matters for descent research: a great-grandparent's/grandparent's DEATH extract and (if they are deceased) their birth/marriage extracts can be requested by a descendant without a POA, but a living parent's record needs their authorization. - **Cost:** Administrative fees are modest (a few euros); the exact civil-extract tariff was not stated on the eUprava pages actually read, so confirm with the issuing Upravna enota. By contrast the downstream apostille fees ARE published (see apostille field). International multilingual extracts are frequently issued free of administrative tax. - **Timeline:** In-person/online extracts of existing register entries are typically issued same-day to a few days. Mail/consular routing adds weeks. No precise statutory turnaround was published on the pages read. - **Language:** Slovene (the eUprava portal and Upravna enota operate in Slovene; Italian or Hungarian are additionally official in the respective bilingual minority municipalities). Requests should be made in Slovene unless using a consulate. - **Notes:** CRITICAL cutoff: the Upravna enota / civil register only holds records from the introduction of secular civil registration (broadly after 1945/1946; in parts of former Habsburg Slovenia the state kept duplicate parish-based civil registers 1895-1918). For an ancestor born/married BEFORE that (e.g. a great-grandparent born ~1900), the Upravna enota will NOT have the record — you must go to church/parish registers and archives (see historicalRecords). The birth extract also proves citizenship and personal status for Slovenian nationals. ## Historical & church records (before civil registration) - **Parish / church:** Roman Catholic parish registers (matične knjige — baptisms/rojstva, marriages/poroke, deaths/smrti) are the cornerstone of pre-1946 (and pre-1895) Slovenian genealogy. Registers commonly begin mid-17th century inland (e.g. Tržič 1602-03) and much earlier on the former Venetian Littoral (Piran 1458, Izola 1506). Josephine reforms (1780s) made baptism/marriage/burial registers obligatory across the Habsburg lands. A large share is digitized and free online via the Matricula portal (https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/), covering Carniola, Styria, Carinthia and the Littoral. Non-digitized registers are held by the Archdiocesan/Diocesan archives — Nadškofijski arhiv Ljubljana, Nadškofijski arhiv Maribor, and the Koper diocese for the coast — or by individual parishes. The definitive finding aid is the 3-volume repertory 'Vodnik po matičnih knjigah za območje SR Slovenije' (Ljubljana, 1972-74). - **National / state archive:** Arhiv Republike Slovenije (Archives of the Republic of Slovenia), a body within the Ministry of Culture: https://www.gov.si/en/state-authorities/bodies-within-ministries/archives-of-the-republic-of-slovenia/ . It holds administrative, cadastral, land, court/notarial, population and emigration records of genealogical value (records may be in Slovene, German, Latin or Italian). Regional state archives (Zgodovinski arhiv) exist for Ljubljana, Maribor/Ptuj, Celje, Koper, Nova Gorica etc. and hold territory-specific holdings including some register copies. Older civil registers are gradually transferred from Upravna enote to state/regional archives under privacy rules. - **Notes:** Records are multilingual by era and region: Latin and German dominate Catholic registers; Italian appears in the Littoral/Primorska (which was under Italy 1918-1945); Slovene increasingly from the late 19th/20th c. The Archiepiscopal (Archdiocesan) Archives of Ljubljana in 2021 broadened public release of parish records. Denomination matters — small Lutheran/Protestant and Jewish communities kept separate registers. ## Apostille / legalization - **Competent authority:** TWO different competent authorities depending on WHO signed the document — this is the most error-prone Slovenian fact: (1) DISTRICT COURTS (Okrožna sodišča) apostille public documents signed by registrars/matičar, government bodies, school authorities, notary assistants etc. — this INCLUDES civil birth/marriage/death extracts from the Upravna enota. (2) The MINISTRY OF JUSTICE (Ministrstvo za pravosodje, Župančičeva ulica 3, 1000 Ljubljana) apostilles only documents signed by district JUDGES, NOTARIES, and COURT INTERPRETERS (sworn translators). So a civil-registry certificate → District Court; but a sworn translation of it → Ministry of Justice. - **URL:** https://www.hcch.net/en/states/authorities/details3/?aid=344 - **Process:** District-court apostilles: since 1 Sept 2012 Slovenian district courts issue the Apostille via a centralized e-register (scanned judge signature + court seal), verifiable online at https://evlozisce.sodisce.si/overitve/ei01/create.jsf ; since 1 Oct 2015 they also issue e-Apostilles for electronic and paper documents. Take the certificate to any Okrožno sodišče. Ministry-of-Justice apostilles (for notary/judge/court-interpreter signatures) are still manually signed and sealed. Official Slovene-language guidance: https://www.gov.si/zbirke/storitve/overitve-javnih-listin-za-uporabo-v-tujini/ . Practical shortcut: an INTERNATIONAL multilingual civil extract (Vienna Convention, 8 languages) is exempt from legalization/apostille between contracting states, so requesting that form can avoid the apostille+translation step entirely for many destinations. - **Cost:** Ministry of Justice: €3.00 administrative tax per apostille. District courts: €2.46 per apostille if the underlying public document is in Slovene, €5.00 if it is in a foreign language (Court Fees Act). - **Notes:** Slovenia is a party to the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention, so a single apostille (no consular legalization) suffices for use in other member states. If the destination country is NOT a Hague member, the chain is: issuing authority → Ministry of Justice/District Court authentication → Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs → the destination country's embassy/consulate in Slovenia. > **Apostille authority — verification (✓ confirmed against HCCH, 2026-07):** Both facts confirmed against official sources. Apostille: HCCH aid=344 confirms Slovenia's two Art. 6 competent authorities — (1) Ministry of Justice, Zupanciceva ulica 3, 1000 Ljubljana (notaries, notary candidates, court interpreters/sworn translators; EUR 3.00 admin tax) and (2) District Courts / Okrozna sodisca (notaries, notary candidates, judges, state institutions, legal persons; EUR 2.46 Slovenian / EUR 5.00 foreign-language). The dual routing holds: civil-registry extract from a state institution -> District Court; sworn translation -> Ministry of Justice. ONE correction to the research text: it assigns 'district JUDGES' to the Ministry of Justice, but per HCCH judges fall under the District Courts — the Ministry handles only notaries, notary candidates, and court interpreters (confirmed twice on the page). Portal URL: the e-uprava.gov.si 'Certificates and extracts' page resolves (HTTP 200) as a real official Slovenian government page with live sub-links to the register-of-births/marriages/deaths extracts. ## Translation - **Requirement:** For a Slovenian citizenship-by-descent application processed in Slovenia (Ministry of the Interior), foreign-language documents (e.g. a US/Canadian/Argentine birth, marriage or naturalization record) must be translated INTO SLOVENE by a sworn court interpreter (sodni tolmač). Slovenian civil extracts going the other way should be issued as the international multilingual form where possible to avoid needing a translation abroad. - **Notes:** Only a court-appointed sworn interpreter/translator (sodni tolmač, appointed by the Ministry of Justice) may produce a legally valid certified translation. Directory: Association of Sworn Court Interpreters and Legal Translators of Slovenia (https://www.sodni-tolmaci.si/?lang=en). Because the sworn translator's signature is authenticated by the Ministry of Justice, a sworn translation destined for use abroad is apostilled by the MINISTRY OF JUSTICE (not the district court) — the mirror image of the certificate itself, which is apostilled by the district court. ## Emigration & naturalization (the chain-break) - **Emigrant / exit records:** Slovenia kept two kinds of emigration records: emigrant APPLICATIONS (permissions to emigrate) and DEPARTURE lists, beginning in 1857 and recording names and dates of birth of all emigrants; these are held at the Arhiv Republike Slovenije. The main departure port for the region was TRIESTE (from 1904); detailed Trieste passenger records (name, age, marital status, profession, last residence, citizenship, destination, ship, date) exist for 1912-1914 and are held partly in the Österreichisches Staatsarchiv (Vienna) and the State Archive in Trieste. Hamburg/Bremen and Ellis Island passenger lists (via FamilySearch/Ancestry) are the practical route for the US-bound majority. - **Destination naturalization:** The chain-break question for Slovenia turns on Yugoslav/Slovenian citizenship law: acquiring a foreign citizenship (e.g. US naturalization) historically caused loss of the prior (Austro-Hungarian/Yugoslav) citizenship, which can sever transmission to descendants born AFTER the ancestor naturalized abroad. So establish the ancestor's foreign-naturalization DATE and compare it to each descendant's birth date. Check the DESTINATION country's naturalization records: for the US, USCIS Genealogy Program and NARA (pre-1906 naturalizations may be in county/state courts); for Canada, LAC; for Argentina/Australia, their national archives. A key nuance: an ancestor who emigrated but NEVER naturalized abroad (remained a Yugoslav/Austro-Hungarian subject) generally preserves the descent chain. - **Notes:** Pre-1918 emigrants almost never appear as 'Slovenian' — Slovenia did not exist as a state; they were subjects of Austria-Hungary and frequently self-identified (and were recorded) as 'Austrian'. Slovenia's citizenship-by-descent line generally traces to a person who was a citizen of Yugoslavia/People's Republic of Slovenia; very old Habsburg-era emigration can fall outside the transmissible line, so verify against current Citizenship of the Republic of Slovenia Act criteria. ## Gotchas - APOSTILLE OFFICE CONFUSION (the #1 error): a Slovenian birth/marriage/death extract is signed by a registrar (matičar), so its apostille is issued by a DISTRICT COURT (Okrožno sodišče), NOT the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Justice only apostilles documents signed by judges, notaries and sworn court interpreters. People routinely send civil certificates to the wrong office. - WRONG-ERA OFFICE: the Upravna enota (civil registry) only holds records from ~1946 onward (with 1895-1918 duplicate civil registers in some areas). For a great-grandparent born/married ~1900 you must use PARISH registers via Matricula or the Archdiocesan archives (Ljubljana/Maribor/Koper) — requesting such an old record from the Upravna enota will simply come back empty. - BORDER/TERRITORY SHIFTS: western Slovenia (Primorska, Istria, the Trieste/Gorizia hinterland, and the Gottschee/Kočevje German enclave) changed sovereignty repeatedly. Parish registers for the Littoral may sit in ITALIAN archives (Trieste, Gorizia) or the Koper diocese, and Habsburg-era duplicates in AUSTRIAN archives — the ancestor's record may not physically be in Slovenia at all. - 'AUSTRIAN' IDENTITY MASKING: pre-1918 emigrants were Austro-Hungarian subjects and were routinely recorded on passenger/naturalization lists as 'Austrian' (or by Germanized town names), not Slovenian. Searching only for 'Slovenia' misses them; you must first pin the exact town/parish of origin. - NAME-SPELLING DRIFT: names shift between German, Italian, Latin and Slovene forms across regimes and get further Anglicized on emigration (e.g. -ič → -ich/-itch). Latin/German given-name forms in old parish books differ from the modern Slovene civil-register spelling; match on parents + village, not spelling alone. - USE THE INTERNATIONAL FORM: for a modern Slovenian civil certificate, always request the international multilingual (Vienna Convention, 8-language) extract — it is exempt from apostille+translation between contracting states and can eliminate two whole processing steps that the domestic Slovene-only form would require. ## Sources - [HCCH — Slovenia Competent Authority (Apostille), apostille split + fees + e-register](https://www.hcch.net/en/states/authorities/details3/?aid=344) - [eUprava (gov.si) — Authentication of public documents for use abroad (registrars/govt bodies → district courts; judges/notaries/interpreters → Ministry of Justice)](https://e-uprava.gov.si/en/podrocja/personal-documents-certificates-change-of-residence/certificates-and-extracts/authentication-of-public-documents-for-use-abroad.html) - [eUprava (gov.si) — Extract from the register of births (Ministry of Interior competent authority; who can request; POA rules; multilingual form)](https://e-uprava.gov.si/en/podrocja/personal-documents-certificates-change-of-residence/certificates-and-extracts/extract-from-the-central-register-of-birth.html) - [eUprava (gov.si) — Certificates and extracts (index of birth/marriage/death extract services)](https://e-uprava.gov.si/en/podrocja/personal-documents-certificates-change-of-residence/certificates-and-extracts.html) - [U.S. Embassy in Slovenia — Birth, Death, Marriage Records (Upravna enota; international 8-language version; sworn court interpreters)](https://si.usembassy.gov/birth-death-marriage-records/) - [Association of Sworn Court Interpreters and Legal Translators of Slovenia (sodni tolmači)](https://www.sodni-tolmaci.si/?lang=en) - [Archives of the Republic of Slovenia (Arhiv Republike Slovenije) — emigration/administrative records](https://www.gov.si/en/state-authorities/bodies-within-ministries/archives-of-the-republic-of-slovenia/) - [FamilySearch — Slovenia Emigration and Immigration (emigrant applications from 1857 at ARS; Trieste port lists 1912-14; US destinations)](https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Slovenia_Emigration_and_Immigration) - [Matricula Online — digitized Slovenian Catholic parish registers](https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/) - [Ex-Yu Genealogy — Slovenia church records & archives (Matricula, Archdiocesan archives Ljubljana/Maribor, 1895-1918 duplicate civil registers, Vodnik po matičnih knjigah)](https://exyugenealogy.net/archives-church-records/) --- General guidance, not legal advice. EasyPassport is a document-organization tool, not a law firm. Confirm your own case with the relevant authority or a qualified professional.