Most legal residents must wait five years to be eligible for a long-term residence permit. Students can count half their time studying, but refugees cannot count any of their time awaiting an asylum decision. Migrants must then meet conditions including proof of sufficient income, insurance and an integration assessment. Long-term residents are partially secure in their status. They can be expelled even if they were born or socialised in Slovakia. In making this decision, the state is not obliged to consider, for instance, their personal behavior and existing links with Slovakia. Long-term residents have equal rights as Slovaks to employment, welfare benefits, housing and healthcare. Their skills and qualifications, however, do not get the same recognition as Slovaks', and they are not free to move and live in other EU Member States.
