Eligibility of former Czechoslovak citizens (especially persons from Transcarpathian Ruthenia and Slovakia) and their descendants to acquire Czech citizenship
According to Sections 31 – 36, Czech citizenship Act No. 186/2013 Coll., the following categories of foreign nationals are entitled to Czech citizenship by Declaration:
- Persons who lost their Czech or Czechoslovak citizenship before January, 1st, 2014 (except for Transcarpathian Ruthenia, the Sudeten Germans and citizens of Slovakia). For example, those who emigrated from Czechoslovakia in the past or those who, after 1993, acquired citizenship of another country, and consequently lost their citizenship.
- Citizens of the former Czech and Slovak Federal Republic (ČSFR), who were neither nationals of the Czech Republic, nor nationals of the Slovak Republic (ie. a number of emigrants from the pre-1969 period).
- Persons who wrongly obtained proof of citizenship of the Czech Republic, for example an identity card, passport, if it was obtained in a good faith.
- Second-generation migrants, i.e. foreign nationals, who are aged 18 to 21 years (older foreign nationals were allowed to make a declaration only during the year 2014), they need to be in possession of permanent residence status, reside in the territory of the Czech Republic from at least the age of 10 years (two-thirds of the period between the entry in the territory and the date of submitting the declaration), and have a clean criminal record.
Declaration on the Czech citizenship cannot be accepted if the applicant or the parent(s) or grandparent(s):
- lost Czechoslovak citizenship on the basis of Presidential Decree No. 33/1945 Coll. on German and Hungarian Nationals;
- lost Czechoslovak citizenship on the basis of a Treaty No. 186/1946 Coll. on Subcarpathian Ruthenia;
- became (or would become) citizen(s) of Slovak Socialist Republic on January 1, 1969;
- acquired Slovak citizenship after January 1, 1969, or is/are currently citizen(s) of Slovakia;
Czechoslovak citizens (born on the Czech side of the territorry) who retained Cs. citizenship, and their descendants, are entitled to acquire their Czech citizenship certificate according to Section 42 and subsequently (Act No. 186/2013 Coll..
Czechoslovakian state citizenship first appears with the founding of the Czechoslovak Republic on October 28, 1918. Citizenship was governed by Act No. 236/1920 Coll., on Czechoslovakian state citizenship (in force until September 30, 1949 – regulations for acquiring Czechoslovakian state citizenship described in this Act were thus applicable only until that date, as of October 1, 1949, new legislative act governing citizenship came into force, which drew on laws from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and on post-First World War international agreements).
Former Austro-Hungarian citizens, who had a right of domicile in municipalities that became part of the Czechoslovak territory after the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, acquired Czechoslovak citizenship. The basic rule was modified by peace treaties and constitutional laws which regulated the issue of citizenship in order to protect ethno-national minorities and provided options to choose the citizenship of an ethnic in state.
With the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic, the following persons became Czechoslovakian citizens on October 28, 1918:
a) as of October 28, 1918, persons who at the latest as of January 1, 1910 held a continuous (1910 – 1918) domiciliary right on that part of the territory of former Austro-Hungarian Empire, which subsequently became Czechoslovakia (domiciliary right was confined to a particular municipality and was acquired by birth, marriage, acceptatnce, or assumption of public service). Domicile (‘domovské právo’, ‘Heimatrecht’) referred to membership in a municipal community. In the Czech lands (Bohemia and Moravia) as parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, domicile was regulated by Act No. 105/1863 Coll. of Acts of the Empire, as amended by International Treaties.
b) former German citizens who resided on the territory which formerly was part of German Empire and became Czechoslovakia (Hlučínsko region);
c) former German, Austrian, and Hungarian citizens who were born on the territory of Czechoslovakia as children of German citizens with residency on this territory or as children of Austrian and Hungarian citizens with domiciliary right on this territory;
d) as of October 28, 1918, persons who formerly held a domiciliary right in a municipality in that part of the territory of former Austro-Hungarian Empire which later did not become Czechoslovakia and who became public officials or employees of a state company in Czechoslovakia;
Between 1918 and 1949, Czechoslovakian citizenship was obtained by birth if a child was born into a marriage and the father was Czechoslovakian citizen or if a child was born outside of marriage and the mother was a Czechoslovakian citizen.
Czechoslovakian citizenship could have been acquired as well according to the post-First World War peace agreements. Persons from the Volyně region – Soviet citizens of Czech or Slovak nationality living on the territory of the former Volyně governorate had a right to opt for Czechoslovakian citizenship until May 15, 1947 and to resettle in Czechoslovakia.
Persons from Transcarpathian Ukraine – hitherto Czechoslovakian citizens residing in Transcarpathian Ukraine when its territory became part of the USSR on June 29, 1945, had the possibility to opt for Czechoslovakian citizenship until April 1, 1946; in case they didn´t opt for Czechoslovak citizenship, they lost it automatically. According to current Czech law, neither such persons nor their descendants are eligible to acquire Czech citizenship.
Army personnel of Russian or Ukrainian nationality joining the Czechoslovak Army during the Second World War and their family members had the option to become Czechoslovakian citizens.Czechoslovakian citizens from Transcarpathian Ukraine who resettled in Czechoslovakia remained Czechoslovakian citizens, as well as persons who between June 29, 1945 and September 1945 (i.e. when the border agreement between Czechoslovakia and the USSR came into force) moved from Transcarpathian Ukraine to Czechoslovakia.
If the parents married after the birth of a child and the father, with the consent of his wife and before two witnesses, declared his fatherhood, then the child acquired Cs.citizenship by such Declaration.
The end of the Second World War led to the adoption of ad hoc laws that introduced the criterion of ethnicity into citizenship legislation. The new legislation was linked to post-war migration which was both voluntary and forced in character. Under the President’s Constitutional Decree No. 33/1945 Coll. concerning Czechoslovak Citizenship of Persons of German and Hungarian Ethnicity (one of the socalled ‘Beneš decrees’), Czechoslovak citizens of German and Hungarian ethnic origin were deprived of Czechoslovak citizenship. The decree provided an internal legal basis for the expulsion of the German population from the Czech lands. On the other hand, Constitutional Act No. 74/1946 Coll. on the Naturalisation of Compatriots Returning to the Homeland and its implementing regulations provided for facilitated naturalisation of ethnic Czechs, Slovaks and members of other Slavonic nations who settled or resettled in Czechoslovakia.
Until 1968, when the Czechoslovak Federation was established, Czechoslovakia was a unitary state with a single Czechoslovak citizenship. The establishment of a federation also resulted in the creation of Czech and Slovak citizenships. Constitutional Law No. 143/1968 Coll. on the Czechoslovak Federation, which came into force on 1 January 1969, was based on the principle of individual preference when determining the citizenship of the two constituent republics.
Citizenship was regulated by the Constitutional Act of the National Council of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic No. 165/1968 Coll. on the Principles of Acquisition and Loss of Czech and Slovak Citizenship, followed by the Act No. 206/1968 Coll. of the Slovak National Council on Acquisition and Loss of Citizenship of the Slovak Socialist Republic. Normally citizenship at the level of the two republics was determined by the place of birth or by the citizenship of the parents, if that could be identified. Czech or Slovak citizens could, however, choose a different citizenship until 31 December 1969. The Act precluded dual citizenship, one had to choose one or the other.
Citizenship was regulated by the Constitutional Act of the National Council of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic No. 165/1968 Coll. on the Principles of Acquisition and Loss of Czech and Slovak Citizenship, followed by the Act No. 206/1968 Coll. of the Slovak National Council on Acquisition and Loss of Citizenship of the Slovak Socialist Republic. Normally citizenship at the level of the two republics was determined by the place of birth or by the citizenship of the parents, if that could be identified. Czech or Slovak citizens could, however, choose a different citizenship until 31 December 1969. The Act precluded dual citizenship, one had to choose one or the other.
Therefore, descendants of Slovak ancestors (people born on the Slovak territorry – place of birth as a determinant) are not eligible to acquire Czech citizenship, because those born on the Slovak side and left the Cs.territorry before 1969 (and after 1969 of course, as Slovak citizens) would have become Slovak citizens to the effect of the Act No. 206/1968 Coll.
Unfortunately, former Czechoslovak citizens born on the Slovak side who emigrated to the US (and their descendants) and lost their Cs. citizenship by naturalization aren´t eligible to acquire Slovak citizenship either, because the actual Slovak legislation doesn´t allow it on the basis of the loss of Cs. citizenship by US naturalization.
Contact for more information
JUDr. Monika Rutland, partner
rutland & partners, law firm
tel: +420 226 226 026
email: monika.rutland@rutlands.cz
