Hello there

I am looking for anyone who would be able to tell me what documents I need and how to fill them out.

Backstory: I was born in Prague as a Czech citizen. My great-grandmother was born in Slovakia in 1914 and moved to Czechia in around 1928-1929. Needless to say she was born on the territory of modern-day Slovakia and was given the Czechoslovak citizenship while still being in Slovakia as the law states.

My main question is, what kinds of documents do I need in order to apply for Slovak citizenship? Also how do I fill out the application form? Do the documents have to be translated to Slovak or is Czech enough? Do I need marriage certificates of my ancestors when our birth certificates include surnames before and after marriages (in the place where the mother is on the birth certificate)?

Also can Slovak registry offices (where I'll probably be searching for some of the documents) ship the documents via post office to Czechia, or do I have to go get them to Slovakia?

Thank you for answers!

Both grandparents were born in today’s Slovakia. So My mother is a citizen by birth and so am I, Supposedly an easy and straightforward case.
BUT, in addition to my actual birth country, I also hold American citizenship that I obtained by marrying a US citizen - which is the exception to loss of Slovak citizenship.
My question is, what kind of evidence would they ask for in the application, that I satisfy the exception to loss of citizenship?
Do I just need to show that I naturalized while
married to an American? My marriage certificate plus certificate of naturalization would do that.
Or would they want evidence that the citizenship was granted based on marriage, which would require a different set of documents from my old application file and those are not easy to obtain as certified copies that can be apostiled.
Anyone been in this situation or can shed some light?

Hi everyone, I’m working on my Slovak citizenship by descent application and have hit a roadblock finding the Slovak birth record for my great-grandfather. I’m hoping someone here may have suggestions for where to look next.
He was born April 24, 1910, and the evidence I have consistently points to Domaňovce, Slovakia. Multiple U.S. records list Domaňovce as his birthplace/place of origin, including records where he himself supplied the information. He immigrated to the U.S. as a child in 1920 with his mother and siblings.

I hired a genealogist in Slovakia to locate the official birth record. So far:
He successfully found the 1909 marriage record for my great-grandfather’s parents.
He contacted/searched through the State Archive in Levoča, State Archive in Svidník, and the registry office in Marhaň regarding the 1910 birth.
So far, they have not located the civil birth record.
I also previously found what appears to be a 1910 church/baptism record in the Štefurov/Giraltovce records that seems like it could be him, and I sent that information to the genealogist
.
What confuses me is that I have quite a bit of evidence tying the family to this area, and the parents’ 1909 marriage record exists, yet his birth record seems to be missing.
For anyone familiar with Slovak genealogy or who has gone through CBD, where would you search next? Are there other civil registers, parish registers, archives, neighboring villages/parishes, duplicate registers, or Hungarian-era records that might contain a 1910 birth from Domaňovce?

Also, if an official civil birth record genuinely cannot be located, has anyone dealt with this for a Slovak CBD application?

I’m mainly trying to make sure I exhaust every possible place before concluding that the record no longer exists.

Hi everyone,

I’m from Slovakia and I’ve built a small free tool that might be useful to people here researching Slovak ancestors:

nezistenivlastnici.sk

The site is available in English and Slovak and makes the Slovak database of unidentified / unknown land owners much easier to search.

You can search by surname or full name, municipality, cadastral area, or land registry/title number (list vlastníctva – LV).

This can sometimes help when you already know the approximate village or surname of an ancestor but are trying to narrow down the exact location, spelling, cadastral area, or a land record worth researching further.

It’s especially useful as an additional clue when combined with birth, marriage, census, church, or archive records.

Just to be clear: this is not a citizenship database and a result is not proof of ancestry or citizenship. It’s simply another research source that can sometimes help connect a name to a specific place in Slovakia.

If you’re stuck on a Slovak ancestor, feel free to try it:

https://nezistenivlastnici.sk

I’d also be interested to hear what the hardest part of researching Slovak ancestors is for people here. If there’s something useful I can add to the site, I’m happy to look into it.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a Hungarian to Slovak translator?

I'm trying to determine whether I qualify for Slovak citizenship by descent under the June 2025 Ministry of Interior interpretation and the current 2026 requirements.

My great-grandfather was born in 1898 in what is now Slovakia. I obtained his official Slovak birth certificate (rodný list).

He emigrated to the United States as a young child with his parents before Czechoslovakia was created in 1918. He was still alive when Czechoslovakia was established.

Because the entire family had already emigrated, I don't have a Czechoslovak passport, Czechoslovak census record, citizenship certificate, or similar document explicitly stating that he was a Czechoslovak citizen.

I do have later U.S. government/vital records, including U.S. census records and a D.S.S. Form 1 registration card, death certificate identifying his birthplace as Czechoslovakia (sometimes with town name, but the town name is in Hungarian still, while the country says Czechoslovakia) and/or his language as Slovak. However, these records state place of birth/language, not explicitly citizenship/nationality. Could these still be useful as supporting evidence?

The Washington Embassy's current requirements say applicants must provide documentary evidence that the qualifying ancestor was a Czechoslovak citizen. At the moment, it doesn't seem like I have direct proof of that, only supporting evidence of his birthplace and language.

Under the June 2025 MOI interpretation, does someone in this situation qualify for Slovak CBD?

If so, what is currently being accepted as proof of Czechoslovak citizenship when the qualifying ancestor emigrated before Czechoslovakia existed?

I'm especially interested in anyone familiar with or who has gone through a pre-1918/pre-1908 case under the newer interpretation.

Hi all - i'm gathering my documents and my ggf and ggm's records have a variety of spelling changes between all the documents as they "Americanized" their names, and then there are spelling changes between my grandmother's birth certificate, which was submitted by a midwife who probably sounded things out and how her name appears on her marriage certificate etc. Is there an affidavit or other way to explain the differences? I'm sure this is common.

Hello! Unfortunately, my mother’s birth certificate is very grainy. Outside of her and her parents’ names, her birthdate, and a few other pieces of information, it is largely illegible. It’s honestly shocking that New York even issued it as a certified copy. Has anyone had success with grainy documents being translated/accepted?

Hi all, I'm working on preparing my application + questionaire and affidavit. Have a few dumb questions to ask about it.

For the application + questionaire, could I use Claude to translate it to english, fill it out in english, then have Claude translate both the questions and my answers to Slovak (asking it to match the questions word for word from the original document)? Do others have a better way they've navigated the application being in slovak (and needing to be submitted in slovak)?

The affidavit I found on the consulate website has placeholder words in bold (e.g. it has "Name and Surname" in bold, I'm assuming they want me to replace that with my name). Should I type my name over the placeholder text (replacing it), or handwrite my name above/on top of the bolded placeholder?

Lastly, the questionaire asks about both citizenship and nationality (národnosť). How should I answer nationality on the nationality question. I'm american but a quarter slovak (and obviously applying for slovak citizenship). Should I say american or slovak?

On my GGF's US death certificate it says he was born in Hungary rather than Czecho-slovakia. Other docs say Czecho-slovakia. Problem if I use this death certificate in my evidence collection given the contradiction?

I’m a Slovak citizen living in Scotland and I need to renew my passport. I don’t speak Slovak very well, so I’m a bit anxious about the process and would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has been in a similar situation.

Has anyone here renewed their passport at the Slovak Embassy in London or at a passport office in Bratislava without speaking Slovak?

Did you manage the appointment/application in English, or did you need to bring an interpreter?

If you used an interpreter, did they have to be an official?

How was the actual appointment? Did you have any problems because you didn’t speak Slovak?

If you went to Bratislava, was it relatively straightforward despite not speaking the language?

I’m also struggling with the London embassy appointment system. It seems that I have to fill in the electronic form again every single time I want to check whether an appointment has become available, which takes quite a while. Has anyone found a better way of getting an appointment, or figured out when new appointments are usually released?

I’m considering travelling to Bratislava instead, but I’m quite nervous about doing it because I don’t speak the language. Staff are quite blunt and often times rude once they realise the limit of my Slovak language skills. I’m worried I’ll struggle if they refuse to speak English or get frustrated with me.

So if anyone has actually been through this recently, I’d really appreciate hearing what you did, what you needed to bring and how it went.

thanks!

My GGF and GGM were both born in towns that are in Slovokia, however, their birth certificates show Austria for citizenship. I have a 1930 US census showing that they have not naturalized and birth place is Czechoslovakia. Is that going to be sufficient to check the box for the documents listed in "G" on the updated requirements? I'm getting the Slovak birth certificate which satisfies "H", but "G" is what has me scratching my head as they came over around the time the country was becoming Czechoslovakia. They were still citizens when the country was officially formed, but it's hard to find anything that will state that specifically anywhere.

Does it sound like the 1930s census record will be strong enough that I don't have to dig further?

I have apostilled and officially translated documents showing my entire family link to my Slovak-born GGF, his original birth certificate from 1885 in Polhora and his death certificate in 1979 in New Jersey.

In the middle of the process of getting it all translated, I received certified copies of New Jersey census from 1940 showing that he is Slovak and his original certified ship manifest. The problem is that I don’t have the ship manifest or the census documents apostilled, and I won’t have time to do it before my appointment. I will be able to get them translated in time if I rush.

Should I go ahead and proceed with my appointment anyway or should I get the census and manifest apostilled?. Based on the current interpretation, I think the documents that I have are sufficient, but obviously it’s better to have more evidence. The problem is that I’m up against a clock because my daughter will turn 14 in October, and so I’d like to have everything filed before that looming deadline.

I have two Slovak great-grandparents (I have two great grandparents on the other side too, but opted for this route). I have both of their birth certificates.

My great-grandfather left in 1902 and my great-grandmother in 1904, so neither appears in the 1930 Slovak census. In US records, however, the 1930 census lists them as from Czechoslovak, and my great-grandfather’s naturalization records shift from Austria-Hungary/Hungary in the earlier filings to Czechoslovakia in the final part of the petition for naturalization. They identify his origin as Czechoslovakia, but do not explicitly say he was a Czechoslovak citizen.

I also ordered his Alien File, which identifies him as from Czechoslovakia and gives his Slovak town of origin.

As extra supporting evidence, I ordered my great-great-grandfather’s Slovak birth and death certificates and his 1930 Czechoslovak census entry, which shows he was Slovak. I know he is one generation too far back to qualify, but thought it might help establish the family’s continuing Slovak connection.

Has anyone had a similar case where the qualifying great-grandparents emigrated before Czechoslovakia existed, but later U.S. records consistently identified them as Czechoslovak? Does this seem solid?

These are some of the docs I gathered:

• Slovak birth certificates for both great-grandparent anchor ancestors
• Their U.S. marriage certificate
• Great-grandfather’s Declaration of Intention
• Great-grandfather’s Petition for Naturalization
• Great-grandfather’s Oath/naturalization packet
• 1920 U.S. census, showing Slovak language/but listing Hungary as place of origin
• 1930 U.S. census, listing the great-grandparents as from Czechoslovakia, but oddly German as their language. They were not Germans, and did not speak German, it's an error.
• Great-grandmother’s passenger manifest, showing Austria-Hungary origin
• Great-grandmother’s death certificate, listing Czechoslovakia as birthplace
• Great-grandfather’s Alien File, identifying Czechoslovakia and his Slovak town of origin
• Complete direct-line birth and marriage certificates from the great-grandparents down to the applicant
• Apostilles of all U.S. records

Additional/supporting documents ordered: great-great-grandfather’s Slovak birth certificate, death certificate, and 1930 Czechoslovak census record showing Slovak ethnicity.

Still pending/being pursued: great-grandfather’s USCIS naturalization certificate and any stronger archival evidence specifically establishing Czechoslovak citizenship/domicile.

I will add the 1920, 1930 census and certificate of naturalization itself later because it will take months to apostille and translate them and my appointment is in DC in early October.

Hi everyone! I am currently arranging official paperwork in Slovakia and need to submit a package of Hungarian documents to the authorities. The documents include:

• 2x Birth certificates
• 2x Marriage certificates
• 1x Clean criminal record

According to EU Regulation 2016/1191, I can request a multilingual standard form (translation aid) for the birth, marriage, and criminal records directly from the Hungarian government registry for a very low fee. This theoretically exempts me from needing a translation or an Apostille within the EU.

Has anyone recently used these EU multilingual forms at Slovak offices (e.g., matrika, ministries)? Do Slovak authorities accept them smoothly without any pushback, or do they still cause trouble and demand a full, certified translation?

I would highly appreciate any recent experiences or advice on this! Thank you in advance.

Hi there — I have a pretty simple application going (my father born in Slovakia in 1926). I’ve been doing the whole application thus far by myself, lurking on this subreddit for help. Obviously I’ll use the official translators when the time comes, but in the meantime I’ve been working through the documents with the help of ai for translation and advice (my Slovak is very poor). What’s the view here on using ai in this way? Does anyone have experience doing so?

Any suggestions on which document is better to “prove” Czechoslovakia citizenship?

My GGF was born in Švábovce in 1874, immigrated to US in 1902 & started the naturalization process in 1917. Therefore ships manifest & naturalization docs all say Austria Hungary.

The 1930 US Census states nationality as Czechoslovakian. His death certificate states his place of birth as Spis, Czechoslovakia. If having both is better then I’ll do that. To my untrained eye, the death cert seems to be easier to read and understand. However, the 1930 census includes my GM which could help. Just trying to understand if more is better or if less is more. Happy to include both as extra trips to the embassy would outweigh any additional translation costs.

Hey all,

I'm a bit confused on the evidence I need. It seems like most are saying I need proof my GF was born in present day Slovakia, but also proof of citizenship.

Is that true under the new interpretation? I'm pulling this from here:

https://jamiesonconsultingfirmllc.com/cbd-am-i-eligible%3F

"Under the new interpretation, if the ancestor was born within the present-day borders of Slovakia (a legal requirement for CBD), and they were still alive at the creation of Czechoslovakia on October 28, 1918, it is now presumed that they would have become citizens of Czechoslovakia."

My GF was born in present day Slovakia on June 20th 1919. Do all I need to prove is his birth in present day Slovakia?

Thanks!

Hi! I am cross-eyed after reading and preparing so many papers for my application for citizenship by descent. My grandmother is my anchor- she was born in Hermanovce, Czechoslovakia in 1945. I have requested to get her birth certificate (rodny list). However, I have her U.S. certificate of naturalization that states her country of former nationality is Slovakia.

1. I read somewhere (that I can no longer find) that I can submit a clear 8x11 photocopy of the certificate of naturalization and bring the original to my application appointment. Does anyone know if this would work? I have the original document and I could order a new one but its $505...

2. Here is my list of documents for supporting proof of birth and citizenship and lineage...is this sufficient? I guess I am unsure how to prove my grandma's citizenship.

-Grandma's rodny list

-Grandma's marriage certificate

-my mom's birth certificate

-my birth certificate

-my marriage license

I have a letter from the social security administration stating my grandmas name and listing place of birth as "Hermanovce, CZ" but this is simply a letter that as mailed I assume with her social security card.

I have her German passport from when they escaped and were living in displaced persons camps, which lists her birthplace as Hermanovce. I am not sure if this is needed either.

I also have various documents that I found online (Arolsen Archives, 1930 census, application for IRO assistance) that show my great grandparents were also from CSR. Maybe this is redundant but I just want to make sure I have enough proof.

Thanks for the help!

Hi everyone, I was wondering what your experience was like using the NYC consulate to apply? I was also just curious about what is everyone's plans/reason for obtaining Slovak CBD? This Sub has been extremely useful and I am very grateful for everyone's feedback!! 🙏

I am applying for Slovak citizenship by descent through my grandmother. She was born in Vrbové in 1932, when the town was part of Czechoslovakia. Would her official birth certificate be sufficient to prove that she was a Czechoslovak citizen, or does the certificate need to explicitly state her citizenship?
The Slovak Embassy says a birth certificate or civil-registry record may be used if it explicitly indicates Czechoslovak citizenship. I am unsure whether being born in Czechoslovakia in 1932 establishes citizenship by itself or whether I need a separate citizenship, domicile, census, or immigration record. Has anyone applied through an ancestor born in Czechoslovakia during this period? I am just wondering if it is necessary to get a certified copy of the passenger list of the ship she arrived on.

For a Slovak CBD application, do I have to use one of the official translators listed by the Slovak Embassy, or can I use a certified English-to-Slovak translator who is not on that list?
I live in San Antonio and would prefer to bring my documents to a local translator in person. Has anyone successfully submitted translations completed by someone not on the Embassy’s list? Thank you!

Does anyone have any experience applying for CBD in Ottawa recently. Just curious what are the wait times for getting a appointment and what have the processing times been like lately.