A Family History Spread Between Czechia and North Macedonia
Our client, a citizen of the Republic of North Macedonia, reached out to us with a request to help him acquire Czech citizenship. He was born in Skopje, as were both of his parents. However, his mother holds both Czech and Macedonian citizenship, as her mother, the client’s grandmother, was a Czech citizen born in Prague, while her father was a Macedonian citizen from Skopje.
The first important step was to determine whether our client actually needed to apply for Czech citizenship at all.
After reviewing his family circumstances, we concluded that he had already acquired Czech citizenship at birth through his mother. Therefore, he needed to have his existing Czech citizenship formally confirmed and his foreign birth registered with the Czech authorities.
This distinction was crucial. Correctly identifying the appropriate legal procedure from the outset meant that the case could follow the right path without unnecessary applications or additional steps.
When a 1964 Treaty Still Matters
Once we had established the correct procedure, we prepared a personalised document checklist for the client. An important part of our work was determining not only which documents were required, but also in what form and with what type of authentication the Czech authorities would accept them. The type of authentication depends mainly on the documents’ state of origin.
Because the relevant civil status documents had been issued in North Macedonia, the obvious assumption was that they would need to be authenticated with an apostille.
However, we have also reviewed bilateral international treaties applicable between the Czech Republic and North Macedonia. That research revealed an important exception. A bilateral treaty concluded in 1964 between the former Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia remains valid and applicable between their successor states. Under this treaty, the relevant public documents issued in North Macedonia shall be accepted by the Czech authorities without an apostille or further legalisation.
As a result, no apostilles or any other form of legalisation were necessary on the client’s documents issued in North Macedonia for his citizenship confirmation procedure.
This is a good example of why citizenship cases often require more than simply following a standard document checklist. Even very old international treaties concluded between no longer existing states can still have a very practical impact today, and can make the entire process considerably simpler and save costs.
Czech Citizenship Confirmed Within Two Days
Since the client’s citizenship confirmation application was properly prepared and all the documents were in order, the outcome came remarkably quickly upon the application submission.
The Czech citizenship certificate for the client was issued within just two days of submission. The fact that the client’s mother had already registered her own birth and marriage in the Czech Republic also helped simplify the process.
While we wish every application could be processed this quickly, this was an exceptionally positive outcome. It was a pleasant surprise for us and a very good outcome for our client.
Now our client has the citizenship status he held from his birth officially confirmed and a much simpler connection between his life in Skopje and his family in Prague.
