Acquisition of the Slovak Citizenship

Conditions for application for Slovak citizenship 

Citizenship of the Slovak Republic may be granted to an applicant who is not a citizen of the Slovak Republic and has had continuous permanent residence in Slovakia for at least eight years immediately preceding the application for citizenship.

The applicant must have a clean criminal registry and must demonstrate proficiency in the Slovak language in both written and spoken form and general knowledge of the Slovak Republic.  The applicant must prove that he fulfils the obligations arising from the provisions of the legislation governing the residence of foreigners in the territory of the Slovak Republic, public health insurance, social insurance, old-age pension saving, taxes, levies, fees, employment of foreigners and other obligations arising for foreigners from the legal order of the Slovak Republic.

There is also a number of negative conditions. Applicant must not have been sentenced by a court to expulsion, must not be the subject of a criminal prosecution, extradition proceedings, proceedings for the execution of a European arrest warrant, administrative expulsion proceedings or asylum procedure. 
 
Exceptions for rule of 8 years of permanent residence

An applicant who has a residence permit in Slovakia do not have to show 8 uninterrupted years of permanent residence:
  1. if an applicant has been married to a Slovak citizen and they have been living in the same household in Slovakia for at least five years immediately prece
    ding the application,
  2. if a person has made a significant contribution to the Slovak Republic in the economic, scientific, technical, cultural, social or sporting fields or for any other reason in the interest of the Slovak Republic,
  3. if a person has had continuous permanent residence in the territory of the Slovak Republic for at least three years before reaching the age of 18 years,
  4. if a minor child whose legal representative or guardian is a Slovak citizen and a child has had continuous residence in the territory of the Slovak Republic for at least two years immediately preceding the application; the length of residence does not apply to minor children under two years of age,
  5. if a person had been granted an asylum at least four years prior the application,
  6. if a person was born in the territory of the Slovak Republic and has been a permanent resident here for at least three years immediately preceding the submission of the application,
  7. if a person has resided continuously in the territory of the Slovak Republic for at least ten years and has already been granted a permanent residence permit at the time of the application,
  8. if a person is stateless and has resided continuously in Slovakia for at least three years immediately preceding the application,
  9. if a person has been released from Slovak citizenship after a voluntary application for citizenship of another country and has resided in Slovakia for a continuous period of at least two years immediately preceding the submission of the application,
  10. if one of the parents of an applicant was a Czechoslovak citizen at the time of his/her birth and the other was a foreigner and the parent, who was a Czechoslovak citizen, has not requested the consent of the regional national committee to acquire Czechoslovak citizenship and applicant ha
    s resided continuously in Slovakia for at least the two years immediately preceding the application,
  11. if a person with the status of foreign Slovak living has resided continuously in Slovakia for at least three years immediately preceding the application,
  12. to an applicant whose former Czechoslovak citizenship has lapsed or who has lost Czechoslovak citizenship as a result of a prolonged absence or by marriage or for other reasons as a result of the historic citizenship legislation and international treaties,
  13. to an applicant who has been released from Slovak citizenship pursuant historic citizenship legislation,
  14. to a former Slovak citizen who has been released from due to voluntary application of another citizenship, if he/she so requests and provides proof that he/she has not been granted citizenship of another state.
Documents accompanying application
  • short CV,
  • identity document,
  • birth certificate,
  • proof of marital status in the form of a marriage certificate, final judgment or certificate of divorce, death certificate of the spouse if the applicant,
  • proof of residence in Slovakia and, if the applicant is a former citizen, proof of the last permanent residence in Slovakia or an affidavit of such residence,
  • proof of clen criminal registry not older than six months, which shall be an extract from the criminal record of each State of which he/she is or has been a citizen, and an extract from the criminal record of each State in which he/she has been allowed to reside for the last 15 years prior to the application for citizenship of the Slovak Republic, or other proof issued by the competent authorities of those States,
You don't need to submit a criminal registry extract from Slovakia, only for countries of your (including past) citizenship and for countries in which you have resided in the past 15 years preceding the application for the citizenship.

  • a certificate of release from the citizenship or a naturalisation certificate or a certificate of acquisition of citizenship of another state, if the applicant is a former citizen,
  • a certificate proving the status of a foreign Slovak,
  • documents confirming the fulfilment of the obligations regarding the public health insurance, social insurance, old-age pension saving, taxes, levies, fees, employment of foreigners and other obligations arising for foreigners from the legal order of the Slovak Republic, such as
  1. a certificate from the tax office, the customs office and the municipality on the payment of taxes and fees,
  2. a confirmation of the employer's about working relationship and a copy of the employment contract,
  3. a confirmation from the health insurance company of payment of public health insurance and the duration of the insurance relationship,
  4. an employer's confirmation of payment of income tax and of payment of public health insurance, social insurance and old-age pension insurance premiums,
  5. a confirmation of studies,
  6. a confirmation of receipt of pension,
  7. a certificate of registration as a jobseeker,
  8. a confirmation of the source of income sufficient to finance the stay of the applicant and persons close to him/her on the territory of the Slovak Republic, if he/she is voluntarily unemployed.
These documents are required, but basically they may request more documents to make sure that in the preceding years of your stay in Slovakia you have been economically self reliant and that you have fulfilled the obligations arising from the provisions of the legislation regulating the residence of foreigners on the territory of the Slovak Republic, public health insurance, social insurance, old-age pension savings, taxes, levies, fees, employment of foreigners and other obligations arising for foreigners from the legal order of the Slovak Republic. For this purpose they will inspect all kinds of documents available in state registries about you, too.

Test of the command of the Slovak language

When filling in the applicant's questionnaire, the district office in the seat of the region, diplomatic mission or consular office of the Slovak Republic verifies the applicant's command of the Slovak language. Proficiency in the Slovak language shall be verified in a manner appropriate to the applicant's state of health.

The applicant's command of the Slovak language shall be verified
(a) an interview in which the applicant is asked questions,
(b) by reading aloud a randomly selected article from the press in the Slovak language (500 words),
(c) writing the content of the article read within a time limit of 30 minutes.

During interview the applicant is asked questions concerning his person and persons close to him and questions of a general nature, in particular on the history, geography and socio-political development of the Slovak Republic. 

The applicant's mastery of the Slovak language shall be verified by a three-member commission appointed by the head of the district office in the seat of the region, the ambassador or the consul.

The applicant who shall be granted Slovak citizenship for his/her significant contribution for the Slovak Republic, former citizens of the Slovak republic or children younger than 14 years of age are exempted from this obligation when applying for Slovak state citizenship.

Administrative Fee

In general, the administrative fee for granting of the Slovak citizenship is 700 EUR and is due to be paid after the Ministry has granted you the citizenship and delivered to you a document certifying your citizenship. In case of minor children younger than 15 years of age, the fee is 100 EUR and in case of children from 15 to18 years of age, 150 EUR.

Length of the procedure

The Ministry shall decide on the application for the granting of citizenship of the Slovak Republic no later than 24 months from the date of receipt of the application. If the decision requires the opinion of other State authorities and the decision depends on their opinion, the time limit for the decision shall not run from the time of requesting that opinion until it has been delivered to the Ministry.