Naturalisation in the Czech Republic – The Gap between the Citizen and the State

Abstract This paper describes new legislation relating to citizenship of the Czech Republic, namely Act No 186/2013 Coll, and shows how wide the gap is between the law and the applicants’ expectations. It is based on an analysis of more than 1,600 naturalisation decisions from 2013–2016. This analysis made it possible to draw the conclusion that the decisive aspects for naturalisation are different from those perceived as important by the applicants themselves. The acquisition of Czech citizenship is not, in practice, conditional to making any extraordinary contribution or to a higher level of integration. The stipulated condition for naturalisation in the Czech Republic is the absence of any obstacle defined by the law. One of these possible obstacles is the conclusion that the applicant poses a risk to state security. Recently, there seems to be a trend, where particular attention is devoted to this criterion reflecting the actual fear of society.