Six digits that you create yourself at the police window. Without them, the plastic residence card remains just a card: no access to slovensko.sk, no authorized booking at the cudzinecká polícia (Foreigners' Police). No appointment is needed — but in Bratislava from May 25, 2026, activation is done at only one place, and it is no longer the cudzinecká polícia (Foreigners' Police).
What is a BOK code and why do you need it
BOK (bezpečnostný osobný kód — security personal code) is a six-digit number with which the document holder confirms their identity before state information systems. The code is chosen by the foreigner themselves: when applying for residence or for a doklad o pobyte (residence card) or later, at the police station.
The card and code work only together. The card has a contactless chip, but until the code is set, it is silent: no state system will recognize your card.
BOK is most often mentioned when dealing with the reservation system: without the code, you see fewer available dates and can book for a shorter period. How to catch the dates is explained separately — how to get an appointment at the cudzinecká polícia (Foreigners' Police).
The chip here is not a property of a separate batch of cards, but a legal requirement: § 73a of the law on the stay of foreigners is called "Elektronický čip" (Electronic chip) and concerns the doklad o pobyte as a type of document. A person under § 73 ods. 13 is issued the same doklad o pobyte — with the inscription "DOČASNÉ ÚTOČISKO" (Temporary shelter) and valid for three years.
How is BOK different from PIN and PUK?
Two different codes live on the card. They are constantly confused: the names are similar, the length is the same, but the consequences of mistakes are different.
Code | Digits | Purpose | Blocked after |
|---|---|---|---|
BOK | 6 | login and identity confirmation | 5 errors |
KEP PIN | 6 | document signing | 3 errors |
KEP PUK | 8 | unlocking KEP PIN | — |
BOK is set personally, in the presence of an employee. KEP PIN relates to kvalifikovaný elektronický podpis (qualified electronic signature) — certificates for it are downloaded by the activated card owner themselves, online and via the eID app. There is a separate explanation about the signature itself and what it can be used for — electronic signature in Slovakia.
BOK has nothing in common with a bank PIN except length. There is no usual password for slovensko.sk either: the portal is accessed with a chip card and code, not a login. And the code Slovaks set works by the same mechanism but is on a different document (občiansky preukaz — ID card) and is issued at a different window.
Where to activate BOK and what to bring?
There are three types of places: branches of the cudzinecká polícia (Foreigners' Police), oddelenie dokladov (document department) at the district police directorate, and client centers. Since August 14, 2025, the Ministry of Interior allowed applying not only to the cudzinecká polícia (Foreigners' Police). The reason is simple — queues.
Bratislava from May 25, 2026, follows a separate rule. Activation of the residence card there is done only by Klientske centrum Bratislava – Zlaté piesky at Studená 4/B street; neither the capital's cudzinecká polícia (Foreigners' Police) nor other document departments provide this service anymore. No appointment is needed through the reservation system here.
Procedure:
Bring your residence card with you. Nothing can be activated without the document.
Think of six digits in advance — it is inconvenient to think at the window.
Say at the reception that you need aktivácia BOK (BOK activation).
Set the code in the presence of the employee.
If you plan to sign documents, separately download certificates for KEP — this is done online, from home.
No money is charged for the code itself. The administrative fee schedule (zákon č. 145/1995 Z. z.) has no item about BOK — neither for first setting, nor for changing, nor for unlocking, and according to § 2 of the same law, fees are charged only for actions named in the schedule.
What to do if you forgot or blocked BOK?
Five consecutive wrong entries — and electronic communication is blocked. The document itself remains valid: only the electronic part is disabled, not the card.
Next, everything depends on the document issue date.
Card issued after June 21, 2021 — you unlock it yourself: the eID app has a PIN management section where you enter the PUK.
Older card — a personal visit to the district police directorate remains necessary.
If the code is not blocked but just forgotten, the issue date no longer matters: at any district police directorate, an employee will verify your identity and allow you to set a new one. The story with blocked KEP PIN is different — it is blocked after three errors but can be unlocked online with an eight-digit KEP PUK in the same app.
That is why it is better to invent six digits from your head, not to use your birth date: a code easy to remember is usually also easy to guess.
How to change BOK to another
The code can be changed during the validity of the document — at the district police directorate or via the eID klient app. The reason can be quite ordinary: someone was standing behind you when you typed the digits.
Is BOK needed if you have temporary protection?
The document matters, not the status. People with temporary protection apply for a doklad o pobyte in the form of an ID card at the cudzinecká polícia (Foreigners' Police) department, and it is issued for three years — the same type of document as for residence permit holders.
The paper confirmation in A4 format, given immediately after registration, is valid for a maximum of 90 days until the card is ready. With the paper, authorized e-services are not available: there is simply nothing to activate.
Another detail that often causes confusion is the obligation. According to § 73a ods. 4 of the law on the stay of foreigners (zákon č. 404/2011 Z. z.) in the version effective from July 15, 2026, a foreigner older than 15 years must choose a BOK: when applying or later at the police station. For Slovak citizens, the code has been mandatory since October 2016 but in a narrower age range — from 15 to 65.
The law requires choosing the code itself, not activating the card by a separate visit: § 73a ods. 4 names the moment of application, police station, or another place that the Ministry of Interior will publish on its website. Reference pages of state portals slowly catch up with the new version, so in case of discrepancies, rely on the text of the law.
Which services do not work without BOK
Authorized booking at the cudzinecká polícia (Foreigners' Police): with an activated code, dates are visible 60 days ahead, without it — 40 days.
Official electronic mailbox (úradná elektronická schránka) on slovensko.sk — opened with a chip card and activated code.
Certificates for qualified electronic signature: cannot be downloaded on an inactive document.
Portals of other EU and EEA countries accept the Slovak document under eIDAS rules, but also only with the code.
Other legalization steps where the electronic mailbox will be useful are collected in the direction legalization in Slovakia.
What changed from July 15, 2026
The possibility to choose or change the code outside the police station appeared earlier than aggregators write: it was introduced into § 73a by zákon č. 70/2026 Z. z., and has been effective since May 15, 2026 — exactly from the date the Ministry of Interior announced in April, naming the post office branch as a possible place.
The July amendment (zákon č. 128/2026 Z. z.) reissued these § 73a norms and supplemented them with rules about the code for unlocking. It also opened digital copies of the card in the eDoklady app for foreigners with an activated document — it does not work at the border.
What is still missing is the list of places itself. The law entrusts the Ministry of Interior to publish it on its website; as of early August 2026, we did not find it on minv.sk. Until the list appears, the old scheme applies. If you are in Bratislava — Studená 4/B, no appointment, card in hand. We wrote separately about the fact that the office is simultaneously updating the entire document system and services for foreigners may temporarily slow down — here.
