THE RIGHT TO BE A CZECH CITIZEN
The lost ties of a citizen inheritance
Article by: Juan Carlos Matyáš Saab
Reading time: About 10 minutes
How to get the proof of Slovak non-citizenship without losing your mind. The journey of a Czech citizenship application that is taken more than a decade.
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Something that I will never understand about the current migration policies of the Czech Republic is the way in which, through the accommodation of dates, they choose who, how and when can be a citizen of the country, despite the fact that many of us have the legal descendants of relatives born within the territory, and that, by location on the map and the proof of their documents, it should be absolutely obvious and sufficient.
The reality is that for us who live abroad are practically excluded from all the benefits that, I would think, we are entitled to by right.
When Czechoslovakia was dissolved, instead of opening the doors of Czechia to its citizens and making things easier to bring back its people and their families, incredibly the opposite happened. The borders have closed and politics, bureaucracy, seem to be the ones who hold the reins, making more difficult to claim the rights that should already be granted.
This is my story. The story of many people trying to get what they rightfully deserve. The story that tells of the difficulty of being legal despite the energy, talent, knowledge and passion that identifies our family heritage.
While living abroad, my father, who is a Czech citizen (along with my deceased grandfather), notified me that it was possible to claim citizenship by inheritance and descent directly at their embassies. This excellent news would allow me to be legally part of my family, and of course, invest my professional and personal experience in my grandfather's land, which would become mine very soon. I began to collect every penny to start my process and be able to arrive at my new home with the financial cushion that would give me the opportunity to start my own business, and at the same time, work legally while learning the language.
And well, I finally went to the embassy. I submitted my father and grandfather's papers thinking that this would be enough. Big mistake: All the members of my family qualified, except me. The explanation received at the time was:
You do not qualify for Czech citizenship, according to the dates stipulated within the "Law No. 186/2013 concerning citizenship of the Czech Republic".
Wow! This for me really was a bucket of cold water...
According to this law, at the time of my birth, Czechoslovakia had already been divided. Therefore, if my grandfather was not within the territory, they could not determine which side he belonged to; Whether next to the Czech Republic or next to Slovakia.
Please note that, in my grandfather's birth register, his parents were Czech, they had lived within Czech territory, my existing relatives are located within Czech territory, my grandfather's passport is Czech; That is, everywhere you can determine that my descendants are definitely Czech.
In summary and to clarify, all the documents and evidence provided were not sufficient for the country's authorities...
My entire family received their citizenship and passport, except for me. With great pain in my heart and despite the efforts of having traveled to another city, starting a procedure, having paid and waited for it, I had to realize that it would not happen, and that I would have to leave things like this, move away and continue life with this disappointment.
After a few years I returned to my native country, and my father again convinced me to apply again through the Czech embassy located in the city, as he had been told that the laws had changed and that it was now possible for me to obtain Czech citizenship. So, we finally did it.
We went there, spoke directly to the consul and at some point, his answer was clear and forceful:
“Yes, sir. You have the right to Czech citizenship, but in order to start the process you will need to prove that you are not a Slovak citizen.
What? That was my logical response to hearing such nonsense.
Then, the consul went on to give me the instructions of the procedure:
You will need to contact the embassy of the Slovak Republic in Brazil and process through them a form of "proof of Slovak non-citizenship". Once you have this document in your possession, you can go back to this embassy and we will gladly start the process of applying for your Czech citizenship.
Wow! Incredibly, I would now need to prove that I have no connection with the Slovak Republic; But anyways, trying to be calm and focused, if that was the requirement of the embassy, we would comply with it to have the necessary legality.
I will mention that this situation was in 2018 and that a few days later I tried to contact the embassy of the Slovak Republic in Brazil by emails, since no embassy was open in my country at that date and the only one designated for the entire region was located in that country. So, I sent several messages to different emails that appeared in "Google" since I didn't know exactly which one to target and no one was provided at the moment of my appointment.
These emails were not answered, and I decided to directly contact the consul of the embassy of the Czech Republic in my country again and explain the situation. He, the consul, very kindly replied saying that he could not do anything and finally gave me an email to write to, as some people was successful in contacting the Czech embassy in Brazil in the past. So, I started sending the same emails to this new email address.
They finally answered one of my emails. Just one, telling me that I had to make an appointment and pay for the procedure in the local currency of the country.
Another information was that I had to do the procedure in person and it would take about 1 year, and that when I arrived, I would have to return to claim it in person, since they did not send anything by email or by any international transport company, due to the sensitivity of the document.
Ok. Understood. I took notice and responded to this email requesting information about the date available for the appointment schedule, the amount to pay to take the money in local currency and of course asking what documents would be needed for this procedure.
Do you know how many emails I received again in response from them? Zero. I never received even the notification that they had been reeded. Frustrating, right?
After several months of not receiving any response, I decided to leave things like that, since I did not know how to obtain that document. I wasn't going to buy flight tickets without having anything prepared, travel to another country without having an answer, an appointment, a price or a specific date.
Time passed, the pandemic came and went, and with the resilience of the case, we reinvented ourselves and started again. We continue our life, our work, our education and we adapt more in each of the steps.
At that same time and after 5 years of doing nothing about that respect, I began to wonder why it was so difficult to get this Czech citizenship, being clear that my father, my grandfather, my sister and even my niece were already citizens and had their passport...
So, in September of 2023, I wrote again to the Slovak embassy in Brazil hoping that now they would respond to me; And I tell you that, until today, October 2024, I have not had any answer. More than a year waiting for a miserable message...
I needed to find another way to solve this teaser; So, at the beginning of the year I started looking on the internet for more information about where else I could get that Slovak non-citizenship proof" or another legal way of I could apply for Czech citizenship, but nothing.
Nowhere was any mention of the need for the "Slovak non-citizenship proof" or where I could write or submit questions.
The situation was totally incredible to me and although I respected it with suspicion, I could not realize in my head the little common sense this policy had.
I exchanged messages with the consul of the Czech embassy of my country during that time, telling him about all I had done, especially about the issue with the embassy of Slovakia in Brazil, but always obtained the same answer: I needed to go to Brazil, no matter if they answer or not.
And, like this, I found a second option: I decided to start contacting immigration lawyers directly in the Czech Republic. I had analyzed in my head that, if I had to spend a fortune going to Brazil to apply for the proof document in person, wait 1 year to get a response back, bring it to my country, submit the application and wait another year for the decision, I could do the same in the Czech Republic.
I figured out that through lawyers from the same country the application would cost me the same and also the trip, but at least I would be sure that my case would be done within the Czech territory; and if I needed anything else, Slovakia would be just around the corner.
I prepared a generic message, which included the description of my situation, the legal information of my father and grandfather with attachments and images, the family tree, and of course mentioning the need for the document "proof of Slovak non-citizenship" in order to start the process.
Many of them (the lawyers) started to contact me a few days later, and others, the following week. The most incredible thing is that everyone told me that it was the first time they had heard about this “proof of Slovak non-citizenship”, which made my situation even stranger. At this point I understood that perhaps there would be a different approach to this situation, more objective and realistic.
After some time an answer arrived from one of the contacted lawyers: They explained to me that in the event that the document was needed, we could fill out another sworn form saying that I was not a Slovak citizen, and that, for the rest of the procedure, they would only need a power of attorney from me, so that they could act on my behalf; and the only thing they could not do for me was to get my passport, because the Czech government would require my fingerprints for the biometric part.
In addition, they explained that the process would be faster, since there would be no need to wait for the normal times of the embassy, and so the said procedures would be carried out directly in the country, eliminating the times of coming and going of the documents.
On a personal level, since 2012 I have found myself trapped in this situation and this new approach, probably can be a final solution. I hope that time, the lawyer's knowledge and the consistency of immigration policies will help me finally obtain the long-awaited Czech citizenship.
I know there are many people in the same situation and that perhaps don´t have the time or the financial capacity to continue trying. I will continue doing so until I finally achieve the goal that my grandfather and my father have given me by right.
