Citizenship

How to become a Czech citizen?

Getting Czech citizenship is usually only possible for direct descendants of Czech nationals. Being born in the Czech Republic is not necessarily a guarantee for acquiring citizenship.

Citizenship law is quite complicated. As a rule of thumb, you need to have at least one parent who is a Czech citizen or who holds a Residency Permit to become a Czech citizen yourself.

If this is not the case, you may apply for naturalisation, under the following conditions. You must

• have held a Residency Permit for at least five years and have spent most of that time in the Czech Republic
• prove that you are going to give up your current citizenship
• prove that you are proficient in the Czech language (this is done by an interview at the local application office)
• provide a criminal history record stating that there has not been a sentence for any criminal act within the last five years

The application has to be filed at a local office of the Ministry of the Interior.

Exceptions:

Special rules apply for the cases listed below. They will also have to lose their current citizenship, prove their proficiency of Czech and provide a clean criminal history. However, they don't need to have a Residency Permit. These cases include people

• born in the Czech Republic
• who have lived in the Czech Republic for at least 10 years, without interruption
• adopted by a Czech national
• who have been a Czech citizen before
• who have Czech children
• who have at least one Czech parent
• officially acknowledged as refugees in the Czech Republic

When you are granted Czech citizenship you will get a Certificate of Czech Citizenship.

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Also in this section

• Visas: Who needs a visa for the Czech Republic?
• Short-stay visas: Visas for up to 90 day stays
• Long-stay visas: Employees, students and spouses
• Registration: Who needs to register?
• Residency Permits: How to obtain a Residency Permit
• Citizenship: How to become a Czech citizen?
• Driving Licence: Who needs a driving licence for the Czech Republic?
• Certification of documents: Which documents are accepted?