Does Slovakia Allow Dual Citizenship? Rules and Exceptions

Slovakia does allow dual citizenship, but only in defined situations. Under Act No. 40/1993 on Nationality of the Slovak Republic, the default rule is that a Slovak citizen who voluntarily acquires another country’s citizenship loses Slovak citizenship on the same day.¹ Amendments in 2010 and 2022 carved out several exceptions, including one that covers most Slovaks living abroad: five continuous years of legal residence in the country where you naturalize. If your situation fits an exception, you keep both. If it doesn’t, the loss is automatic.

The Default Rule Is Loss

Any voluntary step to acquire foreign citizenship, such as filing a naturalization application or signing a declaration of allegiance, ends your Slovak citizenship by operation of law. No official has to revoke anything. The loss takes effect on the date the foreign citizenship is granted, which in practice is the date on your naturalization certificate.¹

That default has been the framework since 2010, when Slovakia tightened its law significantly. For more than a decade it was one of the strictest dual citizenship regimes in the EU, and even after the 2022 amendments, dual status remains the exception rather than the norm.

When You Can Hold Both

The law recognizes several situations where taking on a foreign nationality does not end your Slovak citizenship. If your facts fit one of these categories, dual citizenship is permitted:

You received the foreign citizenship at birth, for example by being born in a country that grants citizenship by birthplace to a child of a Slovak parent.
You acquired your spouse’s citizenship during a marriage that was still in effect at the time.
You acquired foreign citizenship as a minor or through adoption.
You naturalized in a country where you had permitted or registered residence for at least five continuous years and actually lived there during that period.
You obtained the foreign citizenship before July 17, 2010, when the stricter rules took effect.

The five-year residence exception, added by the 2022 amendment, is the one most people abroad will rely on. A Slovak citizen who has lived in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, or another country for at least five years on legal residence can naturalize there and keep Slovak citizenship. Both elements matter: you need registered legal status, and you need actual physical presence during that time.²

The 90-Day Notification You Can’t Skip

Fitting an exception is not the end of the process. Every Slovak citizen who acquires a foreign nationality must notify the Slovak Ministry of Interior in writing within 90 days. The notification has to include proof of the foreign citizenship along with documentation supporting the exception you’re relying on: birth certificate, marriage certificate, adoption decision, or evidence of five years of registered residence abroad.²

This is not a request for permission. You don’t need Slovak approval before naturalizing. But the notification is how the government confirms your case fits an exception, and skipping it or missing the 90-day window exposes you to administrative penalties and to uncertainty about your status. Foreign-language documents typically need certified translation into Slovak, and public documents like foreign birth or marriage certificates may need an apostille.

A separate obligation applies if no exception covers you and your Slovak citizenship actually ends. In that case you must report the loss to your district office without delay, a tighter timeline than the 90 days that applies to exception cases. Failure to report can result in an administrative fine.¹

What You Lose If No Exception Applies

Because Slovakia is an EU member state, Slovak citizenship is also EU citizenship. Losing it means losing the right to live, work, and study freely across the EU and EEA. For many people that consequence is larger than anything specific to Slovakia itself.

On the date your Slovak citizenship ends, several things happen at once:

Your Slovak passport is no longer valid, and using it at a border can create legal problems.
You lose the right to vote in Slovak elections, including European Parliament elections as a Slovak citizen.
You lose the automatic right to live in Slovakia. Any future stay requires a residence permit under the rules that apply to other foreign nationals.
Any job, public office, or professional role conditioned on Slovak citizenship terminates that day.¹
Any authorization to access classified information ends automatically.

There is no grace period. Employment, residency, and travel rights all cut off on the date of foreign naturalization.

Citizenship by Descent Is a Separate Path

Since April 1, 2022, people with Slovak or Czechoslovak ancestry can apply for Slovak citizenship by descent. A person who obtains citizenship this way is not required to give up any existing citizenship, so this route to dual status sits outside the loss rules discussed above.

The practical hurdle is the chain of citizenship. If a parent or grandparent naturalized elsewhere before your birth during a period when that triggered automatic loss of Slovak or Czechoslovak citizenship, the link may have been broken, and proof of ancestry alone won’t be enough. Trace the citizenship history of each generation in the chain before spending money on an application.³

Getting Slovak Citizenship Back After Losing It

Former Slovak citizens can apply for restoration, but it is not automatic. A dedicated pathway exists for people who lost citizenship between July 17, 2010 and March 31, 2022 while they had at least five years of legal residence in the foreign country. Those applicants can seek restoration without meeting the standard Slovak residency requirement.

Everyone else needs to obtain residence in Slovakia first: permanent residence through the local Alien Police, then a citizenship application at the competent Regional Office. The file includes a valid passport, birth certificate, proof of marital status, criminal record checks from every country of citizenship or residence over the past 15 years, and proof of former Slovak citizenship.⁴ The Minister of Interior has discretion, and multi-country background checks can take months to assemble. If dual citizenship isn’t available to you now under an exception, treat re-acquisition later as a possibility, not a plan.

1
National Council of the Slovak Republic. Act No. 40/1993 Coll. – On Nationality of the Slovak Republic
2
IOM Migration Information Centre. Loss of Slovak Citizenship
3
Embassy of the Slovak Republic in Washington. Slovak Citizenship
4
Embassy of the Slovak Republic in Washington. Nadobudnutie Statneho Obcianstva