Yes. A foreign national may be the head of the organisational unit of a foreign company; the register will additionally check whether they hold a residence permit in Slovakia. No permit is required from citizens of EU, EEA and OECD states, so a Czech national does not need one. The head must not be subject to a disqualification and, if the unit carries on business under a trade authorisation, must also satisfy the requirements of age, legal capacity and integrity.
An organisational unit of a foreign company in Slovakia is run by its head. The head is entered in the Commercial Register together with the unit and, from registration onwards, acts for the founder in everything concerning the unit. A Czech parent company naturally looks for that person among its own staff; in other cases the unit is to be run by a manager from Ukraine, Serbia or another country outside the European Union. Slovak law places no restriction on the head’s nationality, but for a national of a third country a residence condition is added.
What the head may do
The Commercial Code defines the head’s position broadly:
The head of an organisational unit of an enterprise or the head of an enterprise of a foreign person who is entered in the Commercial Register is authorised to carry out, on behalf of the entrepreneur, all legal acts concerning that organisational unit or enterprise.
— Section 13(5) of Act No. 513/1991 Coll. (unofficial English translation)
The authority is tied to registration. Until the head appears in the register, the unit is signed for by the statutory body of the parent company or by a person holding a power of attorney. Because the Act defines the scope of that authority so broadly, internal approval limits (for loans, real estate or contracts above a certain value, for example) must be set out in the decision on appointment and in the contract with the head.
What the register checks in the case of a foreign national
Under the new Act on the Commercial Register, effective from 17 August 2026, before registering any individual who is to act for the registered person, the registry court or the notary acting as registrar examines in the register of disqualifications whether a disqualification decision prevents registration (Section 51(3) of Act No. 29/2026 Coll.). The prohibition applies to the head of an organisational unit of a foreign person in the same way as to a managing director (Section 13a(1) of the Commercial Code), and the register also records disqualifications imposed in another Member State where these have been recognised (Section 114(1)). For a foreign national, the question of residence is added:
Before registering the recorded details of a foreign individual in a capacity that is entered in the Commercial Register and that entitles that person to act in the name of or for the registered person, the registry court or the registrar shall examine whether the foreign individual holds a residence permit in the Slovak Republic; a residence permit in the Slovak Republic is not required in the case of a citizen of a Member State or of a member state of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
— Section 51(4) of Act No. 29/2026 Coll. (unofficial English translation)
By a Member State the Act means a state of the European Union and a state of the European Economic Area (Section 20(2)). A citizen of Czechia, Poland or Austria needs no residence permit, and the same applies to a citizen of an OECD state. A manager from a country belonging to none of these groups must hold one already when the application is filed; otherwise the registration will not go through, and a unit without a head cannot begin operating as the company planned.
What details are registered about the head
For the head of a branch of a foreign legal entity, the register records the name, date of birth, birth number, residence and the dates on which the office arose and ended (Section 23(1)). A foreign national generally has no Slovak birth number, so another identifier assigned or determined for their unambiguous identification is registered instead (Section 23(4)). The birth number, the identifier and the residence are not published (Section 100(2)). The head’s specimen signature is filed in the collection of documents (Section 35(1)(g)).
Trade authorisation and the head
If the unit carries on business under a trade authorisation, the head must satisfy the general conditions for operating a trade, that is, the age of 18, legal capacity and integrity (Section 6(4) of Act No. 455/1991 Coll.). Under the same provision, the foreign company itself must also be of good repute. Professional competence for craft and regulated trades is addressed through a responsible representative; that person’s relationship with the entrepreneur and the differences between Slovakia and Czechia are discussed in responsible representative — Slovakia compared with Czechia.
What we recommend
Before choosing a head, verify their citizenship and, in the case of a third-country national, their residence status, and check that they are not subject to a disqualification. We prepare the decision on appointment, the definition of the head’s powers in relation to head office and the registration documents as part of setting up an organisational unit in Slovakia. If a further person is to act for the unit alongside the head, consider granting a procuration; a procurator is likewise registered in the case of a branch of a foreign company (Section 21(1)(f) of the Act on the Commercial Register).
This answer provides general information on the law as at 12 September 2026. It does not constitute legal services or replace an assessment of an individual case. The details of your situation may differ. Book a consultation to discuss them.
