Becoming a Czech citizen

✓ Checked against the law · 12 October 2026

Not yet reviewed by a lawyer. Every fact here is checked against the law and official pages, but this page hasn't had a legal review yet. Always confirm your own case with the official source linked on the page.

Most people can apply after 5 years of permanent residence, or 3 years for EU citizens. You need to pass a Czech language exam at B1 and a civics test, show your income and taxes for the last 3 years, and have a clean record. You can keep your other citizenship, as far as Czech law is concerned. There’s no legal right to citizenship: the Ministry of the Interior decides.

Sources: the Citizenship Act 186/2013, Decree 433/2013 on the exams, the Ministry of the Interior's page on granting citizenship, and the official exam site cestina-pro-cizince.cz.

Who can apply

You need, on the day you apply (§14):

• Permanent residence, held continuously for:
  • 5 years, or
  • 3 years for citizens of EU or EEA countries or Switzerland, or
  • any length, if it adds up to 10 years together with the residence you had just before it.
• Physical presence: you must actually have lived here for at least half of that time. A trip abroad still counts as time here if it’s no longer than 2 months in a row, or 6 months for a serious reason such as illness, study, birth or a work posting.
• A clean record: no conviction for an intentional crime, and no prison sentence for a negligent one, here or in countries where you’ve lived. This can’t be waived.
• Income and taxes: you show where your income came from, and that you paid tax on it, for the last 3 years. There’s no minimum amount. You mustn’t have lived mainly on welfare benefits, unless there was a good reason such as illness, study, parental leave or caring for someone.
• No serious breaches in the last 3 years of your duties on residence, tax, insurance, employment, fees or child support. You’ll need certificates showing you owe nothing in tax, social security or health insurance.
• Integration into Czech society: work, family and social ties.

Exceptions

• The residence period can be waived in some cases: if you were born here, have a Czech spouse or registered partner, have a Czech parent, are under 18, or have asylum (§15). If your spouse is Czech, the physical-presence rule can be waived too.
• Time you lived here as a child counts towards the period.
• Young people up to 21 who have lived here since age 10 may get citizenship more simply, by declaration (§35).
• Russian citizens: applications are currently suspended by law, and citizenship can be granted only after giving up Russian citizenship (Act 65/2022, §7x–7y).

The exams

You need two certificates (Decree 433/2013). Both are run by Charles University’s language institute (ÚJOP) at centres around the country.

• Booking: apply online at ujop.cuni.cz. You join a waiting list, recently about 2–3 months. Changing a paid booking costs CZK 500.
• Results come out about 30 days after the exam. The certificate never expires, so you can take the exams before you’ve met the other conditions.
• The civics questions are all public: every question in the real test comes from an official bank of 300 questions, published with the answers (official question bank). Practise with our free citizenship test practice, in Czech with English translations. There’s also an official model test and a model language exam.

Who doesn’t need the exams

• people with at least 3 school years taught in Czech, at school or university
• people under 15 or over 65 on the day they apply
• people whose disability prevents them from learning
• Instead of the language exam, these also count: a Czech school-leaving exam (maturita), a state language exam, a degree taught in Czech, or another recognised exam at B1 or higher.

Applying

1. Where: in person at the regional authority (krajský úřad) for your permanent address. In Prague, it’s your district office (Praha 1–22), not the ministry (§17).
2. Bring (§§19–20):
   • your birth certificate, and marriage or divorce certificates if relevant
   • criminal record certificates from the relevant countries, no older than 6 months
   • a CV in Czech describing your life here and abroad: work, study, family, social life
   • your exam certificates, or proof that you’re exempt
   • certificates showing no tax debts (no older than 30 days), and no social security or health insurance debts
   • proof of income for the last 3 years: contracts, payslips, tax returns
   • foreign documents with an apostille or superlegalisation and an official Czech translation; Slovak documents need no translation
3. Pay the fee: CZK 2,000 for an adult, or CZK 500 for a child or a person with asylum. It isn’t refunded if you’re refused.
4. The interview: the office fills in a questionnaire with you, and the ministry may invite you for an interview.
5. The decision: the ministry has 180 days. If you’re refused, you can appeal within 15 days. Otherwise you can usually reapply after 2 years.
6. The oath: you become a citizen on the day you take the citizenship oath (státoobčanský slib) at the regional authority. You must take it within 12 months of being invited (§27).

Dual citizenship

Since 2014, Czech law doesn’t require you to give up your other citizenship (§74). The exception is Russian citizens. Check your other country’s law, though: some countries take away their citizenship when you acquire another.

What’s changing

There’s been no change to the residence periods, exams or fees since the law took effect in 2014. A new Aliens Act is going through Parliament, with a planned start in 2029, but it doesn’t change the citizenship rules. We’ll update this page if that changes.

Questions? The Ministry of the Interior’s citizenship line is +420 974 817 438 (Mondays and Wednesdays), or obcanmat@mv.gov.cz.