Thousands of Slovaks emigrated from Austro-Hungarian Empire before 1910. When do their ancestors qualify for Slovak citizenship by descent? This article provides answers. In short, legal situation in pre-1910 cases is more complex, but increasingly optimistic. Zip Citizenship encourages and helps applicants to apply even with pre-1910 cases, as some of such cases clearly had success in the past. However, unlike in post-1910 cases, there are several caveats that we always convey to our clients to avoid any surprises down the line.
Author: Doc. Martin Husovec, attorney at law
Context
According to Slovak Citizenship Act, Slovak citizenship by descent (CBD) is granted if at least one of an applicant’s parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents was a Czechoslovak citizen born in the territory of the Slovak Republic.
The key requirement that limits pre-1910 applicants relate to their ability to prove “Czechoslovak citizenship”. Czechoslovakia succeeded Austro-Hungarian Empire as of 28 of October 1918. But it took until 1920 for the country to adopt its citizenship law due to the post-war turmoil and international peace treaties.
The Citizenship Act of 1920 adopted rules that govern until today who was considered to be a Czechoslovak citizen. The Slovak Citizenship Act of 1993 is indifferent to whether Czechoslovak citizenship was later lost, for instance, by means of naturalisation. However, it must be proven to have existed at some point in time.
In Slovak part of Czechoslovakia, the Czechoslovak Citizenship Act of 1920 connected the acquisition of citizenship with the so-called domicile rights under the Austro-Hungarian Act of 1879. The domicile rights vested with specific villages and would usually automatically expire if a person left the Empire for more than 10 years. The Act of 1920 entered into force once the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919) became effective as of 16 of July 1920.
Post-1910 as a rule of thumb
Thus, the year of 1910 created a simple rule of thumb for legally straightforward cases. For applicants whose ancestors emigrated from Slovakia after July 1910, the main challenge they face is getting the right evidence to prove the circumstances crucial for the Czechoslovak citizenship of their ancestors. Zip Citizenship is finding new ways how to acquire evidence, which are increasingly very effective.
Pre-1910 emigration cases are more complex. It does not mean that they are not possible, however, any applicant should be aware of several considerations. Zip Citizenship closely monitors the practice and always advices clients to use all new flexible interpretations. However, we prefer that our clients are aware of the caveats too.
Pre-1910 as more complex cases
So why are pre-1910 cases more complex?
Firstly, some colleagues interpret the old case-law of Czechoslovak courts in a way that 1908 is the decisive date. To explain. The Czechoslovak Supreme Court issued a number of decisions in 1920s and 1930s. Many of them were restrictive. However, in one of the decisions (NSS ČSR from 19.5.1925), it held that if a person died between 28.10.1918 and 1920 (when the Czechoslovak Citizenship Act was adopted), it should be presumed that they became Czechoslovak citizens despite their death. More explicitly, the Court stated:
Pursuant to Section 1(1) of Act No. 236/1920 Coll., the question of citizenship of those persons who fulfilled the requirements set forth in this regulation on October 28, 1918, but who did not live to see July 16, 1920, should be assessed in a similar manner.
This was to alleviate the consequences for family members, such as widows, whose citizenship status was affected by such deaths.
Some colleagues infer from this ruling that Czechoslovak citizenship is thus generally conferred upon those whose domicile rights did not expire on day 1 of the Czechoslovak republic, that is 28.10.1918. Thus, everyone who left after 28.10.1908 should also be presumed to have become the Czechoslovak citizen. This interpretation pushes the cut-off date of simpler cases to 1908. This reading goes beyond the strict wording of the original ruling, and is not self-evident, but might get adopted by the Slovak courts and authorities.
Secondly, there is an ongoing debate about how to interpret the basic provisions about acquisition of citizenship according to Czechoslovak Citizenship Act of 1920. The Act provided several ways how to qualify for citizenship. Due to complicated history of the region, the Act is fairly complicated itself. It does not help that today; Slovak judges and authorities are asked to interpret 100 years-old statute in a completely different context. This means that sometimes authorities can make surprising decisions that go beyond commonly accepted reading of the rules that are presented in the academic and practitioners’ literature of 1930s.
According to the Czechoslovak Citizenship Act of 1920, there are two basic rules. Either the applicant qualifies based on his or her domicile rights (Section 1), and, or based on the presumption triggered by the place of birth (Section 2). According to the literature of 1930s, Section 2 has limited application. However, recently this reading was put entirely into doubt by the recent practice of the Ministry of Interior.
In summer 2025, the Slovak Minister of Interior in its decision on appeal (Case No. SL-OLVS-2025/006324-002) decided to recognise Czechoslovak citizenship in a pre-1910 case, and thus grant Slovak citizenship by descent with the following arguments:
I take the view that the intention and objective of the legislator, when formulating the relevant obligation from the cited treaty as well as the wording of § 2 of the Constitutional Act [on Citizenship of 1920] itself, was to ensure that all persons born on the territory of Czechoslovakia, without distinction, would acquire Czechoslovak state citizenship as a permanent legal bond with the new state system that was created on 28 October 1918. The only exception were persons who, by birth, acquired another state citizenship. This follows also from the relevant case law of the then Supreme Administrative Court, cited by the legal representative in the legal analysis.
The Constitutional Act [on Citizenship of 1920], in the provision at issue, in no way links the acquisition of Czechoslovak state citizenship to the previous existing Hungarian citizenship of the person concerned. I agree with the argumentation of the applicant’s legal representative that, for the acquisition of Czechoslovak state citizenship under § 2 of the Constitutional Act, it is not relevant whether the applicant was or was not a Hungarian citizen at the time of the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic.
The provision in question instead formulates in fact only two conditions under which a person acquired Czechoslovak citizenship. First, birth on the territory of the Czechoslovak Republic, which has been proven in the case of the applicant’s ancestor. As also follows from the relevant case law, referred to by the legal representative in the submitted legal analysis, the provision does not concern only persons born on the territory of the Czechoslovak Republic after its establishment. By “birth on the territory of the Czechoslovak Republic,” one must understand the geographically defined territory which, until 1918 – that is, until the creation of the Czechoslovak Republic – was under the preceding state system, namely Austria-Hungary.
The second condition is that by birth the person did not acquire another state citizenship. The file contains no document that would indicate that by birth he acquired another state citizenship.
In view of the above, it can be concluded that the prior loss of Hungarian citizenship as a result of naturalization in the United States of America before the creation of the Czechoslovak Republic could not constitute an obstacle to the acquisition of Czechoslovak citizenship under § 2 of the Constitutional Act.
In other words, the decision argues that Section 2 of the Citizenship act confers Czechoslovak citizenship upon everyone who was born in the territory of Czechoslovakia, regardless of their domicile rights, or consequent citizenship. This would mean that all pre-1910 cases in which applicant’s parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents were born in Czechoslovakia, even prior to its existence, would become Czechoslovak citizens, and thus eligible for Slovak citizenship by descent, if the place of their birth was in today’s Slovak territory and they did not die before 28th of October 1918.
Putting aside that the interpretation clearly does not follow from the cited case law of the Czechoslovak Supreme Court, or academic literature of 1930s, if the Ministry adopts this reading also in all future cases, it will fundamentally change how everyone needs to assess eligibility. So far, however, the Ministry has not confirmed officially that this is the new interpretation line. Every applicant who is affected by this, is well advised to point to this specific decision of the Ministry of Interior.
Thirdly, the Citizenship Act of 1920 includes other very narrow exemptions that could potentially grant citizenship even to those who left prior to 1910.
And finally, there is a fourth factor. Because the Slovak Citizenship Act requires administrative pro forma residence, the Slovak Foreign Police has been de facto carrying out their own assessment of applicants in order to decide whether to grant them residence to be able to apply for citizenship by descent. If such residency is rejected, this obviously complicates the ability of applicants to apply. To be sure, there are solutions to the problem in most cases. From what we have seen, the Slovak Foreign Police tends to reject cases with pre-1918 emigration unless they see clear evidence of Czechoslovak citizenship. However, because the police forces are organised regionally, there can be differences in practice.
Conclusions
Thus, for all of the above reasons, Zip Citizenship encourages applicants to apply even with pre-1910 cases. However, unlike in post-1910 cases, there are several caveats that we always convey to our clients to avoid any surprises down the line.