The act stipulates that “former citizens” are persons who held Czechoslovak citizenship in the past (i.e. citizens of the Czechoslovak Republic before 1960 and citizens of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic before 1990; however, the situation is rather complicated as with the founding of the federation of Czechs and Slovaks in 1968-1969, all Czechoslovak citizens were to obtain citizenship of one of the two republics in the new federation: the Czech Socialist Republic or the Slovak Socialist Republic). Former Czechoslovak citizens may have lost their citizenship under the then-valid laws (Act on the Acquisition and Loss of Czechoslovak Citizenship [No. 194/1949] or Act on the Acquisition and Loss of Citizenship of the Czech Socialist Republic [No. 39/1969]) either by way of release (based on own request in order for the given individual to be able to obtain citizenship of a different country, e.g. Germany) or by way of retraction (used a sanction against emigrants who had illegally left the country or engaged in “damaging” activities in exile). The third way of losing one’s Czechoslovak citizenship was directly through being granted citizenship of a different country and in particular the United States, with whom Czechoslovakia had signed a Treaty of Naturalization (No. 169/1929) aimed at preventing dual citizenship between Czechoslovakia and the Untied States. It is interesting to note in this respect that the United States did not comply with the Treaty, meaning that while citizens of Czechoslovakia who had been granted US citizenship automatically lost their Czechoslovak citizenship, citizens of the United States kept their US citizenship even after being granted citizenship of Czechoslovakia. For these reasons, the Czech Republic withdrew from the Treaty in 1997. In 1969, Czech and Slovak citizenship had been added to Czechoslovak citizenship without any implications for people’s everyday lives and as a result, many of them did not even notice automatically becoming Czech or Slovak citizens. After the 1989 Velvet Revolution, the Federal Assembly passed the Act No. 88/1990 in order to lay down provisions enabling to view all retractions of citizenship under the Communist regime as invalid and to regard all persons affected in such a way as persons merely released from Czechoslovak citizenship. If any such person proclaimed the desire to retain his or her Czechoslovak citizenship, he or she would be considered as never having lost the citizenship in the first place.
Persons released from citizenship consequently had the opportunity to apply for Czechoslovak citizenship before 1993. However, it was impossible to grant citizenship to such persons if it would be contrary to the obligations of Czechoslovakia under international law including the Treaty of Naturalization. It is for this reason that Czech Americans were not able to obtain citizenship as they had lost Czechoslovak citizenship by way of release or based on the prohibitive Treaty of Naturalization. After the creation of an independent Czech Republic, there was therefore a group of former citizens-emigrants with citizenship of another country and without citizenship of the Czech Republic because:

a) They were prevented from obtaining Czech citizenship based on the Treaty of Naturalization;
b) They were prevented from applying for Czech citizenship based on the valid legal regulations of their adopted countries proscribing the possibility of dual citizenship – naturally, such persons were not willing to relinquish their newly adopted citizenship (e.g. in Germany); or
c) They missed the legal deadline which expired on 31 December 1993.

Due to their status as non-citizens, all such persons were excluded from the restitution of property appropriated by the Communists. It is for these persons that following loud protests from organizations of Czech compatriots especially in the United States as well as heated political debates in the Czech Republic, the Act on the Acquisition of Czech Citizenship by Former Citizens of Czechoslovakia (No 194/1999) was passed. This act was passed along with a wide-ranging amendment to the Citizenship Act, which granted Czech citizenship to all persons living on the territory of the Czech Republic at the time of the breakup of Czechoslovakia.

The new act set a five-year limit for all former citizens to obtain Czech citizenship by way of declaration for them and their minor children. However, this right was not granted to Slovaks, i.e. persons with no ties on the territory of the Czech Republic and persons holding Slovak citizenship as of 1999 (without having held citizenship of the Czech Socialist Republic in the past).Persons who had become citizens or who would have become citizens (had they not emigrated) of the Slovak Socialist Republic in 1969 fall under the provisions of the act only if 1) their parents acquired or were to acquire citizenship of the Czech Socialist Republic, or 2) they enjoyed at the time of their emigration a permanent residency status on the territory of today’s Czech Republic. The act stipulates that a person acquires Czech citizenship on the day when a certificate is issued by the relevant authority indicating that the person in question made a declaration of his or her citizenship as required under the law.

The five-year limit will expire in 2004.
(by Pavel Čižinský)