You may qualify for Slovak citizenship through two different paths, depending on your and your ancestors’ exact circumstances.
The essential question is whether your parent was a Slovak (or Czechoslovak) citizen at the time of your birth and whether the previous “chain of citizenship” was broken at some point. As a rule of thumb, the earlier your ancestor left Slovakia, the less likely you are to qualify for a Citizenship Certificate. You may check the rules here.
If you do not qualify for a Citizenship Certificate, but you have a parent, grandparent or great-grandparent who was born in what is now Slovakia and who held (at some point) Czechoslovak citizenship, you may still qualify to apply for Slovak citizenship under the 2022 amendment to the Slovak Citizenship Act.
This is the simpler path to Slovak citizenship. Those who qualify are considered to have been Slovakitizens since birth, regardless of where they were born or where their parents or even grandparents were born. It does not make a difference whether anyone in the “chain of citizenship” has claimed theircitizenship or obtained Slovak/Czechoslovak documents.
Here are some of the rules:
All you need is 1 Slovak parent.
Those who naturalized (acquired foreign citizenship) after July 2010, lost their Slovak citizenship – this is only relevant to you, if you were born after July 2010 (but there are certain exceptions).
Again, all that is required is 1 Slovak/Czechoslovak parent. There were no provisions for automatic loss of citizenship(except for naturalizing in certain countries, most notably the United States), but citizenship could have been rescinded by an act of the Interior Ministry. This was quite rare nevertheless – the Ministry stated in response to a 2020 FOIA request that only 196 persons’ citizenship had been revoked between 1948 and 1989.
Citizenship was only passed automatically to children born abroad if they had 2 Slovak/Czechoslovak parents. Again, there were no automatic loss provisions, but the Interior Ministry had the power to rescind citizenship and certain exceptions apply, most notably naturalization in the United States. In certain circumstances, until 1958, women would lose their citizenship by marrying a foreigner.
This topic is fairly complicated and involves Hungarian laws from 1879.
Virtually anyone who emigrated before October 1939, would lose their citizenship due to absence, if they did not visit Czechoslovakia or renew their passport/report their stay within 10 years according to Slovak authorities.
There were a number of ways for emigrants to avoid losing their citizenship due to absence even if they remained overseas for over 10 years, such as by visiting a Czechoslovak consulate.
Women who married foreigners would automatically lose their citizenship before 1947.
Contrary to what you may have heard, immigrating before Czechoslovakia became a state, ie. before 1918, does not necessarily mean the emigrant wasn’t a Czechoslovak citizen.
If you have an ancestor born in Slovakia, you may be eligible to apply for Slovak citizenship by descent. Your and your ancestors' exact circumstances determine the exact path you may qualify for. If you/your ancestors fulfill the stricter conditions listed in this article, you may qualify for a simpler process.
The 2022 amendment of the Slovak Citizenship Act implies the following criteria:
The statute requires that the ancestor was a parent, grandparent or a great-grandparent.
Lineage is to be proven using birth certificates. Where a birth certificate is missing/unavailable, you may use another vital record instead (such as a death certificate, if it lists the person's parents).
The Ministry of Interior generally treats children adopted to Slovak families as if they were biological children of their adoptive parents.
The question of who was actually a Czechoslovak citizen in the early days of Czechoslovakia is fairly complex. More on that here.
Nevertheless, it is undisputed that any duly resident citizen of the Kingdom of Hungary, who left Slovakia on or after 28 October 1908, became a Czechoslovak citizen (although there are certain exceptions). Furthermore, anyone who left after 1930 would likely appear on the Czechoslovak census, which would list their citizenship.
There are no standardized guidelines on the kind of evidence. In practice, the Ministry of Interior mainly looks for Czechoslovak passports, Czechoslovak ID cards or Czechoslovak vital documents, which list the ancestor's citizenship.
The most obvious evidence of one’s birth in Slovakia is a Slovak birth certificate. Other evidence may include marriage certificates, passports, census records and the like. The ancestor must have been born in the territory that is now the Slovak Republic.
If you don't have a residence permit in Slovakia, you can obtain one in one of two ways:
Apply for a special permit for citizenship applicants.
Apply for a Slovak Living Abroad Certificate and then for the associated residence permit, which would enable you to live and work in Slovakia while your citizenship application is processed.
The special permit is not suitable for applicants who do not have explicit evidence of their ancestor's Czechoslovak citizenship (such as a Czechoslovak passport) or for those who want to reside in Slovakia while their citizenship application is being processed.
As discussed previously, Czechoslovak passports and Slovak birth certificates are the golden standard.
You will additionally need to provide a set of birth certificates linking themselves and their qualifying ancestors - or other, preferably official evidence where these are missing. All non-EU documents must be apostilled (or, in certain countries, superlegalized) and translated to Slovak by a Slovak official translator.
Letter stating the reasons for applying for Slovak citizenship. This the is applicant's chance to describe their ancestry, heritage and add a personal touch to the application, as a whole. A bit like a college application. Sample letters can be obtained at embassies or county authorities in Slovakia (okresný úrad v sídle kraja).
A detailed resume regarding education, employment history, business endeavors, language skills and interests.
Internationally recognized passport or European Union/EEA/Swiss ID card.
Original or certified copy of applicant's birth certificate. Must be apostilled (or, in certain countries, superlegalized) and translated to Slovak by a Slovak official translator.
Original or certified copy of applicant's marriage certificate, divorce decree or spouse's death certificate (if widowed). Must be apostilled (or, in certain countries, superlegalized) and translated to Slovak by a Slovak official translator.
Please note that Slovakia does not recognize same-sex marriage or civil unions. Hence, applicants with a spouse or civil partner of the same sex are considered to be single by Slovak authorities. Nevertheless, pursuant to a recent court ruling, same-sex marriage or civil unions/partnerships are recognized insofar as the spouse's right to a residence permit in Slovakia (ie. where a Slovak citizen wants to bring their spouse to Slovakia)
Any type of residence permit. As discussed above, potential applicants have the ability to apply for a special residence permit, when submitting their citizenship application at an embassy. Alternatively, they may also file this residence permit application in Slovakia, though this would involve a separate trip to the Foreigner Police (oddelenie cudzineckej polície) prior to the submission of the citizenship application.
Background check from the applicant's country of citizenship (and/or country of former citizenship), as well as from any country, where the applicant had lived in the past 15 years.
Essentially, good character means that a person has not been convicted of an intentional criminal offense. If over 5 years have elapsed since expungement, such an applicant may be eligible, although such applications are likely to be given extra scrutiny.
The background check must be apostilled (or, in certain countries, superlegalized) and translated to Slovak by a Slovak official translator.
Generally, citizenship applicants in Slovakia are required to submit the following:
confirmation from the tax office, customs office and municipality about the payment of taxes and fees,
employer's confirmation of employment and a copy of the employment contract,
confirmation from a health insurance company about the payment of premiums for public health insurance and the duration of the insurance coverage,
employer's confirmation of payment of income tax and payment of insurance premiums for public health insurance, social insurance and old-age pension savings,
confirmation of studies,
confirmation of pension,
confirmation of a source of income sufficient to finance the stay of the applicant and persons close to him in the territory of the Slovak Republic, if he/she is voluntarily unemployed.
These documents are meant to prove that applicants, who have lived in Slovakia prior to applying, have fulfilled their legal obligations towards Slovakia. The Citizenship Act explicitly states, that non-applicable documents are waived.
Hence, if you've never lived in Slovakia, then you were never subject to these obligations and it follows that these documents are waived.
Waived documents are to be replaced with an affidavit (one for multiple documents is fine), demonstrating why the given document is not applicable. For example, if you have never lived or worked in Slovakia and thus haven't been subject to Slovak income tax, then the confirmation from the tax office would not be applicable for that reason.
The affidavit described above logically applies to documents with regard to the past (prior to applying). Nevertheless, we believe that you should provide documents applicable to the future, especially that you have health insurance and sufficient income and/or funds to sustain yourself, should they live in Slovakia. We therefore suggest submitting the following (if applicable):
proof of health insurance, eg. a health insurance card,
proof of current employment, eg. a letter from an employer stating position, salary and length of contract,
proof of studies, eg. a letter from university,
proof of retirement, eg. a social security statement,
proof of self-employment - varies by jurisdiction, though in absence of a government-issued document, you
could submit an accountant's statement, etc.,
if none of the above applies (or if it may seem insufficient), proof of funds, such as a bank statement.
We believe that since these documents are supplementary/voluntary, they do not need to bear apostilles, though it is recommended that they are translated. As many of the above documents are issued by private entities, they may not be eligible for apostilles anyway.
All non-EU documents must be apostilled (or, in certain countries, superlegalized) and translated to Slovak by a Slovak official translator.
The Slovak Living Abroad Certificate (Osvedčenie Slováka žijúceho v zahraničí) is a certificate issued to members of the Slovak Diaspora and their descendants by the Bureau for Slovaks Living Abroad (Úrad pre Slovákov žijúcich v zahraničí).
The Certificate entitles you to apply for a Slovak residence permit, which allows you to live, work and/or establish a business in Slovakia for up to 5 years.
You will need to demonstrate that your ancestor was an ethnic Slovak, ie. that your ancestor’s official documents listed them as Slovak.
Any official document is eligible, but especially:
You will need to at least understand basic Slovak, although there is no formal test.
Additionally, you will need to prove that you’ve been engaged in spreading Slovak culture and customs abroad by any of the following:
You will need to prove that you have no criminal record, although negligent crimes are exempt. For a criminal record to be a definite disqualifier, any crimes committed must also be considered crimes under Slovak law.
