The Czech Republic and Slovakia each have their own citizenship law, and each has a route for descendants of former Czechoslovak citizens. They interact: the Czech route is not open to people who are Slovak citizens. This overview explains the main routes as Czech consular pages and Slovak sources describe them, as of October 2026. Confirm every detail with the official authority before you act.
The Czech Republic: acquiring citizenship by declaration
According to Czech consular pages, Act No. 186/2013 Coll. lets persons who lost Czech or Czechoslovak citizenship before 1 January 2014 acquire citizenship by declaration under Section 31, unless they lost Czechoslovak citizenship under certain conditions. A person whose at least one parent or grandparent is or was such a former citizen may also acquire Czech citizenship by declaration, provided the person is not a citizen of the Slovak Republic on the day of the declaration. A summary of the Act lists exclusions for people who lost citizenship under the postwar presidential decree on persons of German and Hungarian nationality and under the treaty on Subcarpathian Ruthenia.
- Where to apply. Consular pages say the declaration is made in person at a Czech embassy or consulate, usually by appointment.
- Language. A Czech embassy says all written submissions must be in Czech, and that the embassy cannot act as a translator, interpreter or lawyer.
- Documents. Consular pages ask for a document that certifies the date and basis on which the parent or grandparent lost Czech or Czechoslovak citizenship, with birth, marriage and other certificates as needed.
- Another route. Section 32 covers persons who were citizens of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic on 31 December 1992.
Slovakia: the 2022 changes
The Slovak Ministry of Interior said that on 16 February 2022 parliament approved an amendment to the Citizenship Act (Act No. 40/1993) under which Slovaks would no longer lose Slovak citizenship on acquiring a foreign one if they prove at least five years of residence abroad, and that descendants of former Czechoslovak citizens born in the territory of Slovakia would be able to apply for citizenship. Wikipedia and several law firms describe the descent route as open to people with a parent, grandparent or great-grandparent who was a Czechoslovak citizen born in present-day Slovakia, with applications accepted by a county administrative authority or a Slovak mission abroad and decided by the Ministry of Interior. We could not confirm those conditions on a current Slovak government page, so check with the Slovak authorities.
What both routes have in common
- They rest on documents that prove each generation and where an ancestor was born or held citizenship.
- They depend on records such as parish registers and civil certificates. See our records hub.
- Neither is a matter of ethnicity alone. A DNA result is not among the evidence the consular pages describe.
The Czech-American history that explains many cases
Czechoslovakia and the United States had a treaty that forbade dual nationality for those naturalized in the other country at age 21 or older, according to Wikipedia, so a US naturalization certificate often documents the loss of Czechoslovak citizenship that the declaration route requires.
Go deeper
- Read the full guide in Czech and Slovak Citizenship by Descent: The Complete Guide.
- Browse every article in Czech & Slovak Citizenship by Descent.
- Learn how to trace the family chain in the starter guide.
Sources include the Czech consulate in Ottawa, the Czech embassy in Singapore, Wikipedia on Czech nationality law and Wikipedia on Slovak nationality law.
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