- Routes
- Citizenship for descendants of Czechoslovak citizens (2022 law)
- Dual citizenship
- Kept on every open route
- Comes with
- EU citizenship: the right to live and work in 27 countries
The stamps assume no one in the line became a citizen of another country before the next person in the line was born. What changes each answer is below.
On this page›
- 01Who qualifies
- 02Dates that matter
- 03Mothers’ lines
- 04Keeping your citizenship
- 05The routes and the law
- 06The documents
- 07What it takes
- 08Where the records live
- 09Former places
- 10Law changes
- 11Other doors
- 12Sources
01Who qualifies
Who qualifies, generation by generation
LIKELY
Can you claim Slovak citizenship through a parent?
Descendants of Czechoslovak citizens
With a parent, grandparent or great-grandparent who was a Czechoslovak citizen born in today's Slovakia, you can be granted Slovak citizenship without living there, and keep your other citizenship.
What changes the answer
- POSSIBLE
- POSSIBLE
If your ancestor left Slovakia before 1918An ancestor who left before 1918 was a Hungarian subject, not a Czechoslovak citizen. The route can still work if a relative who stayed became a Czechoslovak citizen, or through the ancestor's own later documents.
LIKELY
Can you claim Slovak citizenship through a grandparent?
Descendants of Czechoslovak citizens
With a parent, grandparent or great-grandparent who was a Czechoslovak citizen born in today's Slovakia, you can be granted Slovak citizenship without living there, and keep your other citizenship.
What changes the answer
- POSSIBLE
- POSSIBLE
If your ancestor left Slovakia before 1918An ancestor who left before 1918 was a Hungarian subject, not a Czechoslovak citizen. The route can still work if a relative who stayed became a Czechoslovak citizen, or through the ancestor's own later documents.
LIKELY
Can you claim Slovak citizenship through a great-grandparent?
Descendants of Czechoslovak citizens
With a parent, grandparent or great-grandparent who was a Czechoslovak citizen born in today's Slovakia, you can be granted Slovak citizenship without living there, and keep your other citizenship.
What changes the answer
- POSSIBLE
- POSSIBLE
If your ancestor left Slovakia before 1918An ancestor who left before 1918 was a Hungarian subject, not a Czechoslovak citizen. The route can still work if a relative who stayed became a Czechoslovak citizen, or through the ancestor's own later documents.
02Dates that matter
The dates that matter
- 1918
- 2026
03Mothers’ lines
How mothers’ lines were treated
Slovakia’s rule gives the same answer whether the line runs through a mother or a father.
04Keeping your citizenship
Dual citizenship with your home country
You keep your citizenship.
On every open route, the rule lets a citizen of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina or South Africa keep that citizenship.
05The routes
Every route, and the law behind it
The law
- Citizenship may be granted without residence to a person whose parent, grandparent or great-grandparent was a Czechoslovak citizen born in the territory of the Slovak Republic. Act No. 40/1993 on Citizenship of the Slovak Republic, §7(8) (descendants of Czechoslovak citizens), consolidated as amended by Act 128/2026 (in force 15 July 2026) ↗
- Applicants under this provision are not required to renounce their existing citizenship, and since July 2026 no longer need a Slovak residence permit first. Ministry of the Interior: acquisition of citizenship by descendants ↗
- The Slovak language test does not apply to this route. Act No. 40/1993 on Citizenship of the Slovak Republic, §7(8) (descendants of Czechoslovak citizens), consolidated as amended by Act 128/2026 (in force 15 July 2026), §7(1)(h) ↗
- The applicant must be of good character: not someone convicted of an intentional crime within five years of the conviction being expunged, and not under criminal prosecution. Act No. 40/1993 on Citizenship of the Slovak Republic, §7(8) (descendants of Czechoslovak citizens), consolidated as amended by Act 128/2026 (in force 15 July 2026), §7(1)(b) and (d) ↗
- The applicant's parent, grandparent or great-grandparent must have been a Czechoslovak citizen born in the territory of the present Slovak Republic. Act No. 40/1993 on Citizenship of the Slovak Republic, §7(8) (descendants of Czechoslovak citizens), consolidated as amended by Act 128/2026 (in force 15 July 2026) ↗
- Czechoslovak citizenship as a status dates from 1918; emigrants who left earlier acquired it only if they were treated as citizens under the 1920 laws. Ministry of the Interior: acquisition of citizenship by descendants ↗
What would settle an unsure case
- Whether the conviction was for an intentional crime and has been expunged for five years; the grant is discretionary.
- Whether your ancestor, or their parent who stayed, is recorded as a Czechoslovak citizen after 1918.
06The documents
The documents, as the rule lists them
Descendants of Czechoslovak citizens
Through a parent or grandparent or great-grandparent
- Your ancestor's birth record from today's Slovakia
- Proof of their Czechoslovak citizenship (passport, domicile certificate, census or municipal record)
- Birth and marriage records for each generation to you
- A clean criminal record certificate
Through a parent or grandparent or great-grandparent
- Your ancestor's birth record from a parish or registry in today's Slovakia
- Any document showing Czechoslovak citizenship
- Birth and marriage records for each generation to you
Most countries also want proof that no one in the line became a citizen elsewhere before the next birth: the naturalization record with its date, or a letter that none exists.
07What it takes
What it takes: time, cost, the hard part, who decides
Descendants of Czechoslovak citizens
- Time
- 6–18 months; a July 2026 reform dropped the residency-permit step and has shortened some cases.
- Cost
- About $400–800: the government fee is small (~€30); most of the cost is translations and apostilles.
- The hard part
- Proving your ancestor was a Czechoslovak citizen from the territory of today’s Slovakia: a birth record and a citizenship or domicile record.
- Who decides
- The Slovak consulate for your address.
- The first record
- Your ancestor’s birth record from a town in today’s Slovakia, from The matričný úrad (registry office) of the town. Write to the registry office; records before 1895 are church registers held by the state archives. mzv.sk ↗
How it’s filed
- Where
- In person: Embassy in Washington (AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, DE, FL, GA, HI, KS, KY, LA, MD, MS, MO, NV, NM, NC, OK, OR, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, WV, DC, U.S. territories); Consulate General New York (all other states) office list ↗
- How
- In person; you appear in person
- Fee
- About $35
- Decision
- 6–24 months
What goes in the file (13)›
- Completed application form with questionnaire (one per applicant aged 14 and over)
- Detailed CV
- Valid passport
- Family tree (genealogical overview)
- Your birth certificate, apostilled and translated into Slovak
- Marriage certificate, divorce decree or spouse's death certificate, apostilled and translated
- Proof the parent, grandparent or great-grandparent was a Czechoslovak citizen
- The ancestor's Slovak birth certificate
- Complete lineage documents linking you to the ancestor
- Written affidavit that you are not and have never been a Slovak citizen
- FBI Identity History Summary, plus criminal records from every country of citizenship or 180+ consecutive days' residence in the last 15 years (not older than 6 months, apostilled and translated)
- Certificate of Slovak Living Abroad, if held
- Tax, employment, insurance and pension documents, or an affidavit in their place
What goes wrong (5)›
- Fee is unsettled for grandchildren and great-grandchildren: the Embassy's tariff lists €30 ($35) for a person whose parent was a Czechoslovak citizen at their birth and €1,000 ($1,149) for a general adult grant; the Okresný úrad Prešov fee schedule lists €30 for a person whose parent or grandparent was Czechoslovak. Neither names great-grandparents. Budget $35 but confirm with the Embassy before filing; the fee is collected only after the grant, and over-65s are exempt.
- The Interior Ministry must decide within 24 months of receiving the application.
- If approved, you collect the citizenship certificate in person and take the citizen's oath at the mission.
- The July 2026 amendments (legislative watch) drop the Slovak residence-permit prerequisite for this route; the Embassy page updated 18.06.2026 lists no residence requirement.
- From CA/GB/AU/NZ/BR/AR/ZA: apply at the Slovak mission for your residence (e.g. Ottawa for Canada); translation and apostille rules are the same.
Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗
Estimates are honest ranges from official fee tables and what families report; where a fee or time could not be confirmed, it says so.
08Where the records live
Where each record lives, and how to ask for it
birth1895–2026
The matričný úrad (registry office) of the municipality; civil registration from 1 October 1895 (Hungarian state registration), kept by the registry and requested from abroad through the Slovak mission or the Interior Ministry's archives department
Registry office of the town as it is today. If the exact date or place is unknown and the event is over 30 years old, the Ministry of the Interior's Archives and Records Management Department (Križkova 7, Bratislava) runs genealogical research on written request.
- Fee
- 25 EUR (about $28)
- Takes
- 2–8 months
Good to know (3)›
- Through the Embassy: vital record application €25 ($29), apostille €30 ($35) per document; paid by money order for this service (no cards or checks).
- Eligible requesters include the person's children, grandchildren, siblings and their children, or a proxy with a certified signature.
- Copies ordered via the Interior Ministry's archives are sent to the Slovak mission in the U.S., which contacts you.
Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗
birth1700–1895
Church registers (Catholic, Lutheran, Greek Catholic, Reformed, Jewish), now held by the Slovak state archives (Ministry of the Interior's archives network)
Identify the parish for the village; write to the Ministry of the Interior's Archives and Records Management Department in Bratislava, which routes the search. FamilySearch has filmed most Slovak church books (free login).
- Ask
- By post, in Slovak
- Takes
- 2–8 months
Good to know (2)›
- The archive notifies you when the search is done and sends payment instructions for the administrative fee (amount not published on the page checked).
- A pre-1918 baptismal record proves birth in today's Slovakia but not Czechoslovak citizenship; pair it with a post-1918 citizenship proof.
Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗
citizenship1918–1992
Proof that the ancestor was a Czechoslovak citizen: Czechoslovak passport or citizenship certificate, a register or census entry stating Czechoslovak citizenship, a domicile certificate (domovský list), military or school records, or U.S. immigration and naturalisation records listing the nationality as 'Czechoslovak'
Start with the family's papers and U.S. records (passenger manifests after 1918, naturalisation files); then Slovak municipal or state archives for domicile and census records.
- Takes
- 2–12 months
Good to know (1)›
- The Embassy accepts U.S. records that describe the ancestor as Czechoslovak; these must be public documents with apostille and Slovak translation.
Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗
Translations
- Into
- Slovak
- Who may translate
- A translator on the consulate’s list
- About
- $30–$80 a page
Documents not in Slovak or Czech must be apostilled and officially translated into Slovak by a certified translator; the Embassy in Washington publishes a list of certified translators. Per-page prices are an estimate.
Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗
The passport
- Where
- At the Slovak Embassy or Consulate General after the grant, once your U.S. birth is entered in the Special Registry (osobitná matrika, €35 / $41 application at the Embassy)
- Fee
- About $69
- Time
- 4–17 weeks
Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗
09Former places
Places on old papers that lead to Slovakia
If your family’s records name one of these, Slovakia’s law may be the one that applies. The town decides.
- Austria-Hungary · also Austro-Hungarian Empire, Habsburg
Austria-Hungary became a dozen countries in 1918. Pick the one the town is in today.
Today: Austria, Hungary, Czechia, Slovakia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Ukraine, Poland, Italy, Serbia
- Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia became Czechia and Slovakia in 1993; both count the old citizenship.
Today: Czechia, Slovakia
10Law changes
Recent and pending changes
Already in the rule
The watch re-reads the official pages behind this guide every day. When one changes, a person re-checks the rule before anything here moves.
11Other doors
If descent doesn’t reach you
2 residence programs lead to Slovakia without an ancestor, each with its own law and road to citizenship.