Acquisition and Loss of State Citizenship in the 19th – 21st Century

During the time of Austria-Hungary, a large number of regulations governing state citizenship were in force in our territory, such as the Emigration Patent, decrees of the Court Chancellery, or legal articles. The most significant of these is Statutory Article L of 1879 on the acquisition and loss of Hungarian state citizenship, which remained in effect even during Czechoslovakia until 1949. Pursuant to Sections 31 and 32 of this Statutory Article: “it was possible to lose state citizenship by so-called absence, i.e., if a citizen continuously resided abroad for 10 years, they lost their state citizenship. The loss of state citizenship did not occur if the absence was interrupted, for example, by renewing a passport, registering at a diplomatic mission abroad, or, of course, by returning to the country.” (District Office Bratislava) The 10-year period is counted from the date of departure, or if such a date is unknown, from the date the passport expired. Likewise, if a passport is not available, the date of departure from the country is decisive.

Another groundbreaking legal regulation is the Constitutional Act No. 236/1920 Coll., which supplements and amends the existing provisions on the acquisition and loss of state citizenship and the right of domicile in the Czechoslovak Republic. This law entered into force on July 16, 1920, and defines the state citizens of the Czechoslovak Republic. Section 1, paragraph 1 of this Act considers as Czechoslovak state citizens “from October 28, 1918, persons who acquired the right of domicile no later than January 1, 1910, and have continuously held it since then in the territory of the former Austro-Hungarian monarchy which now belongs to the Czechoslovak Republic.” (District Office Nitra) It follows from the above that persons who emigrated between January 1, 1910, and July 16, 1920, did not meet the condition of the right of domicile, i.e., continuous residence in the territory of Austria-Hungary and subsequently Czechoslovakia, and therefore are not citizens of the Czechoslovak Republic.

Nine years later, the Convention No. 169/1929 Coll. on Naturalization between Czechoslovakia and the United States was signed. According to this, Czechoslovak nationals who are or will be naturalized in the territory of the United States lose their original nationality. An exception is the period of war, when this provision does not apply and Czechoslovaks do not lose their nationality through naturalization.

The decisive year was 1949, when the Act on the Acquisition and Loss of Czechoslovak State Citizenship entered into force on October 13. In it, compared to the previously effective Statutory Article L of 1879, “the loss of state citizenship by absence does not exist.” (District Office Bratislava). In practice, this can be understood to mean that if someone left the territory of the Slovak Republic in December 1939, they no longer lost state citizenship due to absence, because after 10 years a new law was already in force which did not regulate the loss of state citizenship by absence. However, state citizenship could be withdrawn from a person who met the legal conditions for withdrawal, for example, illegally left the territory of the Czechoslovak Republic, or a person who also has another nationality. After 1958, state citizenship could also be withdrawn from a person who continuously resided abroad for at least 5 years without a valid Czechoslovak document authorizing residence abroad. On the other hand, this law automatically grants Czechoslovak Republic state citizenship to a child born abroad to citizens of the Czechoslovak Republic. If only one of the parents is Czechoslovak, the child acquires Czechoslovak state citizenship after the application submitted within one year of birth is approved by the regional national committee.

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Together with the establishment of the federal Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in 1969, new legal regulations were introduced, governing federal state citizenship and also the state citizenship of individual states separately. At the local level in our country, the Act of the Slovak National Council No. 206/1968 Coll. was in force, the Section 8, paragraph 4 of which reads: “A child whose one parent is a foreigner acquires state citizenship of the Slovak Socialist Republic by birth, if the other parent is a state citizen of the Slovak Socialist Republic.” No less important is the federal Act of the National Assembly of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic No. 165/1968 Coll. on the principles of acquisition and loss of state citizenship. Its essence lies mainly in the fact that state citizens of both the Slovak and Czech Socialist Republics are citizens of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. This fact is decisive today for the acquisition of Slovak state citizenship pursuant to Section 7, paragraph 2, letter j) of Act No. 40/1993 Coll. on the state citizenship of the Slovak Republic, according to which: “A natural person who has a permanent residence permit in the territory of the Slovak Republic may be granted the state citizenship of the Slovak Republic without fulfilling the condition specified in paragraph 1, letter a), unless this Act stipulates otherwise, if they were not a state citizen of the Slovak Republic and at least one of their parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents was a Czechoslovak state citizen born in the territory of the Slovak Republic.” It follows from the above that a person whose ancestor met the condition of being born in the territory of the Slovak Republic, but was a citizen of the Czech Socialist Republic, can acquire Slovak state citizenship, since this person was also a Czechoslovak state citizen and thus fulfilled the obligatory legal condition.

The fall of socialism and the establishment of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic brought with it amendments to a large number of legal regulations. However, the laws on state citizenship were not significantly affected. The only change was the abolition of the loss of state citizenship by withdrawal, as this institute served as a socialist tool for controlling inconvenient citizens in society, and this was not acceptable in the newly established democratic state.

The last significant changes in legislation on state citizenship in our territory occurred in 1993 and were associated with the establishment of the independent Slovak State. The National Council of the Slovak Republic adopted Act No. 40/1993 Coll., which is still in force today, and has, of course, been amended several times over the years.

The first comprehensive law in Czechoslovakia on state citizenship that regulated this issue was Act No. 194/1949 Coll. on the acquisition and loss of Czechoslovak state citizenship (hereinafter referred to as “Act No. 194”). Before that, state citizenship was regulated by the March laws from the time of Austria-Hungary.

State citizenship could be lost at that time by 1. marriage, 2. release from the state union, or 3. withdrawal.

Section 7 of Act No. 194 was repealed on March 29, 1990. Likewise, the provision of Section 15 of Act No. 206/1968 Coll. on the acquisition and loss of state citizenship of the Slovak Socialist Republic, which was effective at the local level, lost its validity, according to which: “The existing legal regulations apply to the loss of state citizenship of the Slovak Socialist Republic by withdrawal.” In the same way, the method of losing state citizenship by withdrawal was also abolished from the law valid in the Czech Socialist Republic, Act No. 39/1969 Coll.

In 1990, the situation changed, and it was no longer possible to withdraw state citizenship. After the Velvet Revolution and the fall of communism, it was in the interest of Czechoslovakia to correct the mistakes of the previous regime. Therefore, Act No. 88/1990 Coll. was adopted, which amends and supplements the regulations on the acquisition and loss of Czechoslovak state citizenship (hereinafter referred to as “Act No. 88”).

Based on this provision, all decisions on the withdrawal of state citizenship issued according to previous legal regulations governing state citizenship were annulled.

Persons whose state citizenship was withdrawn began to be regarded as persons who were released from the state union according to Article II, paragraph 1, letter b) of Act No. 88: “Persons whose state citizenship was withdrawn shall be considered, from the date this Act enters into force, as persons released from the state union.“

According to Article II, paragraph 2, letter a) of Act No. 88: “If the person concerned by the decision referred to in point 1, letter a) wishes to remain a Czechoslovak state citizen, they may notify this in writing no later than December 31, 1993, directly or through a diplomatic mission or consular office of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic abroad to the competent central state administration body, according to the territory of which republic they had their last permanent residence. If they do so, it will be assumed that they have not ceased to be a Czechoslovak state citizen; they must not suffer any harm as a result.” According to the said provision, if a person’s state citizenship was withdrawn and they notified the authority within the specified period that they wished to remain a Czechoslovak state citizen, they are regarded as if they had never lost this citizenship.

The effects of the decision that state citizenship was never lost take effect on the day the citizen’s notification reached the competent central state administration body, which will issue a certificate to them confirming this.

If a person was released from the state union, according to Article II, paragraph 3, letter a) of Act No. 88: “Persons who were released from the state union between October 1, 1949, and December 31, 1989, will be granted state citizenship if they apply for it no later than December 31, 1993, directly or through a diplomatic mission or consular office of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic abroad to the competent central state administration body.”

State citizenship cannot be granted if it would be contrary to international treaties that the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic undertook.

Persons who were released from the state union may apply for the granting of state citizenship, but they only become citizens again at the moment the decision on its granting is issued. In contrast to the withdrawal and subsequent notification of retaining state citizenship, this creates a vacuum where persons released from the state union were not citizens of Czechoslovakia until its re-granting.