Your Czech birth number (rodné číslo)

✓ Checked against the law · 12 October 2026

The rodné číslo is a 10-digit personal number. Schools, banks, insurers and doctors ask for it, and some contracts and mortgages aren’t possible without one. If you have a residence permit, the Ministry of the Interior assigns it automatically; you don’t apply. People without residence can apply, for CZK 1,000.

Sources: Act 133/2000 (§§13–17e), the ministry's page for foreigners and its application page.

What it looks like

It’s written as YYMMDD/XXXX: your date of birth, then four digits.

• For women, 50 is added to the month. Someone born on 3 May 1990 starts with 900503 if male, or 905503 if female.
• People born before 1954 have only three digits after the slash.

Only you can decide who uses it. Authorities may use it when the law allows, and companies only with your consent or where they genuinely need it, for example to enforce a contract (§13c). Misusing someone’s number is an offence.

Who gets one automatically

The ministry assigns a number by itself to:

• non-EU citizens with a residence permit (temporary residence over 90 days, or permanent residence)
• EU citizens with a registration certificate or permanent residence
• people granted asylum or subsidiary protection

(§16 and §13a)

Staff usually request it at your first visit to a ministry office: biometrics for your residence card, or your registration certificate application. Have these details ready, as they’ll ask for them:

• your full name and any previous names
• your exact place of birth: the town, not just the region
• both parents’ names, including their surnames at birth

It’s normally assigned within 30 days. Older birth years can take longer, because the paper records aren’t fully digitised.

Where to find it

On your residence card, registration certificate or permanent residence document. A card issued before the number was assigned won’t show it, and a visa never does. In that case, a ministry office can give you a separate certificate of your birth number.

The ministry doesn’t tell you when the number is assigned. You can ask at any ministry office, or call the information line for foreigners on +420 974 801 801. They confirm whether you have one, but only tell you the number itself in person.

Waited more than 6 months? Go to a ministry office and ask. It sometimes gets missed.

When it isn’t assigned automatically

• Long-term visa holders register with the Foreign Police, who don’t request a birth number.
• EU citizens without a registration certificate have no ministry visit at which it would be requested.

In both cases, book a visit at a Ministry of the Interior office and ask for one.

Applying without residence

You can apply if you have no residence permit, or residence of under 90 days, and you need the number for something the law requires, such as studying or working (application page).

1. Fill in the application: the ministry’s form, or a written request with the same details. It must be in Czech, or come with an official translation; Slovak is also accepted.
2. Attach copies of a document showing your date and place of birth (such as a birth certificate) and one showing your citizenship (such as your passport), with an official Czech translation. Plain copies are enough; they don’t need to be certified.
3. Sign it. Your signature must be officially verified, unless you sign in front of ministry staff.
4. Pay CZK 1,000. It’s free for EU, EEA and Swiss citizens and their family members.
5. Submit it in person or by post to: Ministerstvo vnitra, odbor správních činností, oddělení rodných čísel, náměstí Hrdinů 1634/3, 140 21 Praha 4. You can also use a data box (6BNAAWP), or email eorc@mv.gov.cz with a qualified electronic signature.

The certificate with your number is delivered to you personally, and can be sent abroad.

Payment details

• Account: 3711-8920071/0710 (IBAN CZ47 0710 0037 1100 0892 0071)
• Variable symbol: 1111 followed by your date of birth as DDMMYY
• Specific symbol: 43300

Not getting one at all

Under the Ukraine-related law, people with temporary protection, a Ukraine-related tolerated-stay visa, or the new special long-term residence are not assigned a birth number (Act 65/2022, §6(14) and §7v).

Without a birth number, you still have other numbers

• Social security (ČSSZ): if you start a job before you have a birth number, ČSSZ gives you a temporary insurance number (evidenční číslo pojištěnce). It’s based on your employer’s report, so you don’t apply. Once you have a birth number, tell ČSSZ (ČSSZ).
• Health insurance: your card shows an insured person’s number. For foreigners, that isn’t necessarily a birth number.
• From 2026, employers’ monthly reports also use a separate personal number for every employee (OIČ). You don’t need to do anything about it.