Czech citizenship by descent

Who qualifies, generation by generation

The dates that matter

1. 2014
   1 January 2014

   Children of former Czech or Czechoslovak citizens who lost citizenship before 1 January 2014 may acquire it by declaration. Act No. 186/2013 on Citizenship of the Czech Republic, §31 (declaration by former citizens and their descendants) and §4, §31(1) and (3) ↗

2. 2014
   1 January 2014

   The declaration is open to former Czechoslovak or Czech citizens who lost citizenship before 1 January 2014, and to their children and grandchildren. Act No. 186/2013 on Citizenship of the Czech Republic, §31 (declaration by former citizens and their descendants) and §4, §31 ↗

3. 2014
   1 January 2014

   Any loss before 1 January 2014 qualifies (release, naturalization abroad, emigration), except loss under the 1945 decree on persons of German and Hungarian nationality or the Subcarpathian Ukraine treaty; a declarant who is currently a Slovak citizen is excluded. Act No. 186/2013 on Citizenship of the Czech Republic, §31 (declaration by former citizens and their descendants) and §4, §31(1) and (3) ↗

4. 2014

   Since 2014 Czech law permits holding another citizenship. Act No. 186/2013 on Citizenship of the Czech Republic, §31 (declaration by former citizens and their descendants) and §4 ↗

5. 2015

   A grandparent who never lost citizenship is not a former citizen, so the declaration is not open through them; the Prague Municipal Court dismissed such a claim where the grandfather kept Czechoslovak citizenship and the father became Czech only in 2015. Municipal Court in Prague, judgment 18 A 53/2021 ↗

Claiming through your mother or grandmother

Czechia’s rule gives the same answer whether the line runs through a mother or a father. Where its reasons speak of mothers or fathers, they say:

• A grandparent who never lost citizenship is not a former citizen, so the declaration is not open through them; the Prague Municipal Court dismissed such a claim where the grandfather kept Czechoslovak citizenship and the father became Czech only in 2015. Municipal Court in Prague, judgment 18 A 53/2021 ↗

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.

• Since 2014 Czech law permits holding another citizenship. Act No. 186/2013 on Citizenship of the Czech Republic, §31 (declaration by former citizens and their descendants) and §4 ↗

Every way to apply, and the law behind it

The documents, as the rule lists them

Most countries also want proof that your ancestor didn’t become a citizen somewhere else before their child was born: the naturalization record with its date, or a letter saying there isn’t one.

What it takes: time, cost, the hard part, who decides

Fees are each office’s published fee, converted to U.S. dollars.

Where each record lives, and how to ask for it

• birth1926–2026

  The matriční úřad (registry office) of the municipality: birth registers protected and kept 100 years, marriages 75, deaths 30

  The registry office for the town of birth; the consulate can request a duplicate Czech certificate (birth, marriage, death) from Czechia for you.

  Ask

  By post, in Czech

  Fee

  600 CZK (about $28)

  Takes

  4–17 weeks

  Good to know (3)›

  • Order by letter to the registry office, or through the consulate: a copy of a Czech birth, marriage or death certificate is item 153a, 600 CZK ($28 at the August 2026 rate).
  • Direct from the registry office the fee is 300 CZK ($14) per certificate, 100 CZK more for the EU multilingual form; the office has 30 days to issue it.
  • The person, their spouse, parents, grandparents, siblings, children or grandchildren may ask; a proxy needs a power of attorney with an officially verified signature.

  source ↗

• birth1784–1925

  The State Regional Archives (Státní oblastní archiv, SOA) for the region: parish registers (which served as the civil register in the Czech lands until 1950) and civil registers older than the protection periods

  Identify the parish for the village, then the SOA for today’s region (Prague, Třeboň, Plzeň, Litoměřice, Zámrsk/Hradec Králové, Opava, Brno). Most SOAs publish scanned registers free in their own online viewers.

  Ask

  By post, in Czech

  Takes

  4–17 weeks

  Good to know (3)›

  • Archives do not research family trees or read old registers for you; they issue copies and extracts under their price lists once you give the exact register.
  • Copies are sent after an invoice is paid; SOA Hradec Králové warns this is slower than an online shop.
  • Registers are in Latin, German or Czech depending on era and parish.

  source ↗

• marriage1951–2026

  The registry office of the place of marriage (marriage registers kept 75 years)

  Ask

  By post, in Czech

  Fee

  600 CZK (about $28)

  Takes

  4–17 weeks

  source ↗

• citizenship

  Evidence of how and when the parent or grandparent lost Czechoslovak citizenship: usually the U.S. naturalisation certificate, or a Czechoslovak release document (listina / osvědčení o propuštění ze státního svazku)

  Ask

  By post, in English · request page ↗

  Takes

  2–12 months

  Good to know (1)›

  • The consulate asks for the original U.S. naturalisation certificate; no apostille or translation is needed for it. If lost, apply to USCIS for a replacement or use the Genealogy Program.

  source ↗

Places on old papers that lead to Czechia

If your family’s records name one of these, Czechia’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

• Bohemia · also Moravia

  Bohemia and Moravia are Czechia.

• Silesia · also Schlesien

  Mostly Poland today; the town decides.

  Today: Poland, Czechia, Germany

• Sudetenland

  Czechia today; Germany has an option for some families.

  Today: Czechia, Germany

• Czech Republic

Recent and pending changes

• LAPSED
  The bill to reach great-grandchildren died with the last Parliament4 October 2025

  A bill (Chamber print 585) to extend the §31 declaration from the second to the fourth generation was debated from November 2023 but never reached a final vote. It lapsed when the Chamber’s term ended with the October 2025 elections, and no new bill had been filed by September 2026. Great-grandchildren cannot use the declaration.

  Chamber of Deputies, print 585 (9th term), legislative history ↗zakonyprolidi.cz bill monitor: proceedings concluded with the end of the term ↗

We re-read the official pages behind this guide every day. When one changes, a person checks the rule before we update anything here.

If descent doesn’t reach you

2 residence programs lead to Czechia without an ancestor, each with its own law and road to citizenship.

• BusinessLong-term business visa (živno / trade licence option)

  The Czech Republic has no separate digital-nomad visa; freelancers instead take out a trade licence (živnostenský list) and apply for a long-term business visa, in practice the country’s remote-worker option.

• Job offerEU Blue Card for highly qualified employment

  A non-EU national with a qualifying offer for highly qualified work in Czechia may apply for a residence and work permit. The salary and qualification tests are country-specific.

Every source on this page

3 laws and official pages behind the answers, then the offices and pages behind the records and filing, then the bills and rulings we follow.

1. LawAct No. 186/2013 on Citizenship of the Czech Republic, §31 (declaration by former citizens and their descendants) and §4 · §4; §31(1) and (3); §31
2. LawAct No. 207/2019, extending the §31 declaration to descendants
3. LawMunicipal Court in Prague, judgment 18 A 53/2021
4. RecordsThe matriční úřad (registry office) of their birthplace: Your parent’s Czech birth record
5. RecordsHow to file: Citizen by descent or declaration
6. RecordsParent still Czech at your birth: application for a Czech citizenship certificate (osvědčení o státním občanství). Parent lost Czechoslovak/Czech citizenship: declaration under §31(3) (Prohlášení), plus the personal data form (Osobní údaje)
7. RecordsBirth records, 1926–2026: The matriční úřad
8. RecordsBirth records, 1784–1925: The State Regional Archives
9. RecordsMarriage records, 1951–2026: The registry office of the place of marriage
10. RecordsTranslations into Czech
11. WatchChamber of Deputies, print 585 (9th term), legislative history
12. Watchzakonyprolidi.cz bill monitor: proceedings concluded with the end of the term

Not legal advice. Every answer comes from the country’s own laws and is tested against real cases. Where the law isn’t clear, we say “possible” rather than guess.