Slovak passport. (source: TASR)
A total of 526 people asked for their Slovak citizenship to be returned based on an exemption between February 1, 2015 and February 22, 2018. From that, 410 applicants received their passports and other applications are being processed by the Interior Ministry.
Out of the total figure of people with returned citizenship, 172 had Czech as their second citizenship, 81 German, 51 British, 35 American, 26 Australian, 14 Swiss, 6 Canadian, 5 Italian and Hungarian each, 3 Dutch and Luxembourgian each, 2 French and Israeli each, and one Belgian, Finnish, Polish, Austrian and Romanian.
People who lost their Slovak citizenship (and thus also passport) due to the current law that bans dual citizenship, may ask the Interior Ministry to return it through an exemption based on special reasons, the Interior Ministry informed the TASR newswire.
How to get Slovak citizenship back
People have to apply for the return in written form – and the application has to be handed out in person, at the district office in a regional city, at an embassy or a consular office. The applicants have to be registered with the Foreigners’ Police first, i.e. a stay permit for Slovakia. Also, it is advisable to argue – to describe the reasons why Slovak citizenship was stripped from them, and how they acquired foreign citizenship.
Based on the law from 2010, by Robert Fico's first cabinet (2006-2010), which bans dual citizenship and takes the Slovak one from people who acquire foreign citizenship, 2,183 have lost their Slovak passport so far.
Since 2011, there have been several attempts to moderate the law but all of them have failed. Even the Constitutional Court scrutinised it but failed to decide whether it violates the Slovak Constitution.
The Interior Ministry announced that it would try to change the legislation but has not filed any draft bill and neither is it planning to propose any amendment.
