Country guide · Czech Republic

Czech citizenship for great-grandchildren: what the law allows now, and what happened to the proposed change

Michael Soucek·Last reviewed October 2026

Educational information only — not legal advice. Always verify with the relevant authority, consulate or registry office.

As of October 2026, great-grandchildren of former Czech or Czechoslovak citizens cannot get Czech citizenship by declaration. The law covers only children and grandchildren. A 2023 bill that would have added some great-grandchildren had government support, but it never finished its first reading and lapsed when the Chamber of Deputies’ term ended in October 2025. Nothing has replaced it yet.

That doesn’t always end the story. Some “great-grandchildren” turn out to be grandchildren of a former citizen once the records are checked, and there are residence and Slovak routes that reach further back. This page explains each one.

What the law says today

The declaration route is Section 31 of the Citizenship Act (Act No. 186/2013 Coll.). Section 31(3), added by Act No. 207/2019 Coll. with effect from 6 September 2019, lets a person declare if at least one parent or grandparent is or was a former Czech or Czechoslovak citizen, meaning someone who lost that citizenship before 1 January 2014. The person declaring must not be a Slovak citizen on the day they declare. The consolidated text in force since 1 October 2025 has no wider wording.

So the generations covered are the former citizen, their children and their grandchildren. A great-grandchild is the fourth generation and falls outside it. The full rules, documents and fees for those who do qualify are in our Czech citizenship by declaration guide.

Can a great-grandchild be added to a parent’s declaration?

This is the most common misunderstanding, so it’s worth being exact. Section 31(5) lets parents make a separate declaration for a minor child, but it is a declaration “under paragraph 3”. The child therefore has to meet paragraph 3 personally: their own parent or grandparent must be a former citizen.

  • Your grandparent was the former citizen and you are under 18: your parent (the former citizen’s child) can declare, and a separate Section 31(5) declaration can be made for you.
  • Your great-grandparent was the former citizen: your parent, as the grandchild, can declare. But you are the great-grandchild, so no Section 31 declaration is available to you, whatever your age. Your parent becoming Czech later does not make your parent a “former citizen”, and it does not reach back to you.
  • Children born after your parent becomes Czech are Czech by birth under Section 4 of the Act, because a parent was a Czech citizen on the day they were born. Their birth is then registered with the Special Registry in Brno.

The deputies who drafted the 2023 bill described exactly this problem in their explanatory memorandum: a successful declarant cannot pass the citizenship on to descendants born in the meantime, because those descendants are beyond the third generation.

Check whether you are really a great-grandchild in law

The law counts generations from the former citizen, not from the immigrant. Those are not always the same person.

  • A grandparent born before the family naturalised. The Washington embassy explains that Section 31(3) is for children and grandchildren born after their parents lost citizenship. A child born while the immigrant was still Czechoslovak may have been a Czechoslovak citizen at birth, and if that child later lost it, they are a former citizen themselves. In that case you are a grandchild of a former citizen and can declare. Whether your grandparent actually held citizenship depends on the law at the time of their birth, which the Czech authorities check through archive research.
  • An ancestor who may never have lost citizenship. The Washington embassy says Czechoslovak and Czech citizens who naturalised in the US between 14 November 1929 and 31 December 2013 as a rule lost their citizenship automatically. People who naturalised in other years, or never took another citizenship, “and their descendants” do not use the declaration at all, but apply for a certificate of Czech citizenship (osvědčení o státním občanství). The embassy doesn’t say how many generations that can reach, and each generation is assessed under the law in force when they were born, so treat this as a question to put to the embassy, not a promise. It takes up to 180 days where archive research is needed.

One limit applies to both: Czechoslovakia only existed from 28 October 1918. An ancestor who emigrated and naturalised before then was an Austro-Hungarian subject and never held Czechoslovak citizenship.

The 2023 bill for great-grandchildren (Chamber print 585)

On 15 November 2023, seven deputies (Roman Bělor, Vladimír Balaš, Ondřej Benešík, Eva Decroix, Jakub Michálek, Martina Ochodnická and Hayato Okamura) filed a bill amending the Citizenship Act. It was circulated as Chamber print 585 of the 9th electoral term. The explanatory memorandum says its aim was to extend the declaration from three generations to the fourth, so that great-grandchildren of former citizens could declare too.

What the bill would actually have changed

  • A new Section 31(4) for great-grandchildren, with conditions. A person who is not a Slovak citizen could declare if at least one great-grandparent (a) lost Czechoslovak or Czech citizenship between 25 February 1948 and 28 March 1990, either by release from citizenship or in connection with acquiring the citizenship of a state that had a treaty with Czechoslovakia on avoiding dual citizenship, and (b) did not become a citizen of the Slovak Socialist Republic on 1 January 1969 or acquire Slovak citizenship afterwards. The memorandum names the 1928 Czechoslovak–US naturalisation convention as one such treaty.
  • Section 33 revived. Section 33 gave people born abroad between 1 October 1949 and 7 May 1969 to a Czechoslovak parent a one-year window to declare, which closed at the end of 2014. The bill would have removed the one-year limit and let the children and grandchildren of those people declare too.
  • Section 32 aligned to the same generations, and matching document lists added (birth and marriage certificates of grandparents and great-grandparents).
  • Proposed start date: 1 July 2024.

That first condition matters. The memorandum talks about great-grandchildren in general, but the text as filed only reached great-grandchildren whose great-grandparent lost citizenship in the communist period, 1948 to 1990. Many Czech-American families descend from immigrants who naturalised in the 1920s, 1930s or 1940s. Under the text as filed, those great-grandchildren would still not have qualified. Any future bill could be drafted differently.

What happened to it

  • 16 November 2023: circulated to deputies as print 585/0.
  • 13 December 2023: the government discussed it and adopted a supportive opinion (souhlasné stanovisko), circulated as print 585/1 on 18 December 2023.
  • 4 January 2024: the Chamber’s organisational committee recommended it for debate, named a rapporteur and proposed the Security Committee as the lead committee.
  • After that: the Chamber’s record shows no completed first reading. The Chamber lists its status as “1st reading”, and the Zákony pro lidi legislative monitor records that consideration ended with the end of the electoral term (entry dated 9 October 2025).

So the bill is no longer before Parliament. For the idea to go anywhere, someone would have to file a bill again in the new Chamber and start the process from the beginning.

Is there a new bill in 2026?

Not as of 24 October 2026. We checked the Chamber’s list of all prints proposing changes to Act No. 186/2013, which ends with the 9th term, and the full list of prints of the 10th term (from 2025): none of them amends the Citizenship Act. A new bill could be filed at any time, and it might look different from print 585. There is no date and no draft to point to, so don’t plan around one. If you see a website or forum post saying the great-grandchild law “passed” or is “coming in 2026”, it is wrong.

What a great-grandchild can do now

  1. Map every line. Work out which ancestor actually lost citizenship, and when. If a grandparent was born before the family naturalised, you may be a grandchild of a former citizen. Our guide to USCIS genealogy and naturalisation records helps you pin down naturalisation dates.
  2. Get the eligible generation to declare. If your parent or grandparent qualifies and is alive, they can declare. It won’t make you Czech if you were already born, but it covers that generation and any of their children born afterwards. It also puts the family documents in order if a future law ever adds great-grandchildren. It does not matter for their eligibility whether the former citizen is still alive.
  3. Permanent residence for people of Czech origin. This route has no generation limit, but it is a residence permit, decided case by case, not citizenship. Citizenship would come later through naturalisation, after years of residence and Czech language and civics exams. See Czech permanent residence for people of Czech origin.
  4. Slovak options, if the ancestor came from present-day Slovakia. Slovakia can grant citizenship to a person whose parent, grandparent or great-grandparent was a Czechoslovak citizen born in Slovakia. It is a grant, not an entitlement. See Slovak citizenship by descent and the Slovak living abroad certificate. Note that the Czech declaration is closed to anyone who holds Slovak citizenship, so choose before you file.

How other countries handle great-grandchildren, several of them more generously, is covered in citizenship through great-grandparents. The wider Czech picture is in the Czech citizenship by descent guide.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get Czech citizenship by descent through a great-grandparent?

Not by declaration. Section 31(3) of Act No. 186/2013 Coll. covers people whose parent or grandparent is or was a former Czech or Czechoslovak citizen, and nothing further back. The exception is a family where one of the generations in between was itself a Czechoslovak citizen and lost it, or where the great-grandparent never lost citizenship at all. Both depend on archive research, so check them before giving up.

Is there a new Czech law for great-grandchildren?

No. A group of deputies filed a bill (Chamber print 585) in November 2023 that would have added great-grandchildren in some cases. The government supported it, but it never finished its first reading, and consideration ended with the end of the Chamber's term in October 2025. As of 24 October 2026 no new bill amending the Citizenship Act has been filed in the new Chamber. It could be reintroduced, but there is no bill and no date.

My parent is the grandchild. If my parent declares, can I be included?

Not if you are already born. A separate declaration for a child under Section 31(5) is a declaration 'under paragraph 3', so the child must themselves be the child or grandchild of a former citizen. A great-grandchild is neither, at any age. The bill's own explanatory memorandum lists this as a gap in the current law. Children born after your parent becomes Czech are Czech by birth under Section 4.

Would the 2023 bill have covered every great-grandchild?

No. The proposed Section 31(4) covered a great-grandchild only if the great-grandparent lost Czechoslovak citizenship between 25 February 1948 and 28 March 1990, either by release from citizenship or by acquiring the citizenship of a country that had a treaty with Czechoslovakia on avoiding dual citizenship, and was not on the Slovak side. A great-grandparent who naturalised in the US before 1948 would not have qualified under the text as filed.

What can a great-grandchild do instead?

Three things. Check whether a grandparent was born a Czechoslovak citizen before the family naturalised, which would make you a grandchild of a former citizen. Look at permanent residence for people of Czech origin, which has no generation limit but is a residence permit, not citizenship. And if the ancestor was born in present-day Slovakia, look at the Slovak route, which reaches great-grandchildren.

What do people on Reddit get wrong about this?

Mostly two things: posts saying the great-grandchild law passed (it did not), and the belief that a parent's declaration automatically covers their adult or already-born children (it does not). Forums are useful for embassy appointment tips, but check eligibility against the law and your embassy's own page.

Official sources

Checked against these sources on 24 October 2026. Laws and bills change; if you are reading this later, check the Chamber of Deputies’ list of prints for a new amendment, and confirm your case with your Czech embassy or consulate.