Last year, 1877 foreigners received Czech citizenship, which is the lowest figure in the past seven years. Foreigners who have been living in the Czech Republic for at least Czech, US experts close talks on industrial cooperation agreement ...
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Police initiate charges against Czech-Afghan chamber head ... five years can apply for Czech citizenship on condition they have not been convicted of crime in the past few years and command the Czech language. After the split of Czechoslovakia in 1993 Slovaks had the right to opt for Czech citizenship. Other rules also apply to former Czechoslovak citizens who were stripped of citizenship by the communist regime. Czech citizenship is most frequently granted to foreigners from Central and East Europe. The highest number of foreigners became Czech citizens in 2001 (over 6300).
In the following two years the figure dropped to about one-half and in 2004 it rose again to 5020. Since then the number has annually decreased. According to the statisticians, the high number of people who received Czech citizenship four years ago was caused by the then legislation. Under the original foreigner law from 1999, people who lost citizenship under the previous regime could apply for it within five years on condition the Czech Republic had an agreement with their new homeland. The deadline expired exactly in 2004. In 2007, 625 Slovaks received Czech citizenship, making up two-fifths of all new Czech citizens. Another 225 former Czechoslovak citizens were granted Czech citizenship last year. Moreover, 424 Ukrainians got Czech citizenship, which was one-fourth of all new citizens, followed by Russians (102) and some 40 Vietnamese. Asylum seekers can also apply for Czech citizenship. Last year, 32 of them became Czech citizens about 10 of whom came from Belarus. Since 2002, 221 asylum seekers have been granted Czech citizenship. According to the foreigner police's data, 392,100 foreigners lived in the Czech Republic as of the end of 2007, 158,000 of whom had permanent residence and the rest had a residence permit for over 90 says. As of May, 2008, 410,100 foreigners legally stayed on Czech soil, 165,200 of whom on the basis of a permanent residence permit. The foreigners who have already Czech citizenship are not included in these statistics.
(Ceske Noviny)
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