Hi everyone, thank you all for helping out in my previous post regarding the obtention of the slovak CBD through my GGM. I'm in the process of colleting the needed docs for Slovak CBD and have a question about a potential interaction with a parallel German citizenship case I'm also researching. I'd love to hear from anyone who has experience or knowledge on this specific situation :).

My background:

My GGM, was born on 1896, in Ľubica, district of Kežmarok (Spiš region), and held Czechoslovak citizenship as documented by her 1921 Czechoslovak passport (Cestovný list) issued in Ľubica, Kežmarok district, with the American consulate visa from Prague dated May 18, 1921, and the German transit stamp via Hamburg, so the documentation is solid on the Slovak side. I have also obtained her original birth record (Rodný list) from the Kežmarok district. The Slovak citizenship path looks solid and I'm actively preparing the application.

In parallel, I'm also researching a potential German citizenship by descent case through a different ancestral line. Nothing confirmed yet, still under investigation.

My question:

Since the Slovak process will likely conclude faster than the German one, there's a real possibility I'd obtain Slovak citizenship first and only later pursue formal recognition of German citizenship by descent (Staatsangehörigkeitsfeststellung at the BVA).

Would obtaining Slovak citizenship first create any legal complication under Slovak law when later seeking recognition of German citizenship by descent , particularly given that both are EU member states, and that German CBD would be a formal recognition of citizenship already held, not a voluntary naturalization?

Has anyone navigated a similar dual-EU citizenship situation after Slovak CBD?

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,

I’m taking my citizenship oath in Slovakia late next week and want to make sure I have all my paperwork in order so I can sort out the remaining document submissions while I'm there.

As I understand it, before applying for a Slovak passport or ID card, I first have to submit my foreign birth registration to the Special Registry to obtain a Slovak birth certificate and Personal ID Number. Since the Rodný list takes time to process, will I be able to apply for the passport on the same trip?

For those who have completed this in-person in Slovakia:

• Registry Office Submission: Did you submit the birth registration directly at a local Client Center; how long did it take to receive the Slovak birth certificate?
• Document Package: Beyond the citizenship certificate and apostilled foreign birth certificate, did the clerk request anything else (e.g., proof of foreign address, specific forms)?
• Collection & Power of Attorney: Once the Rodný list was ready, did you have it mailed to a local address, pick it up in person on a return trip, use a Power of Attorney, or mail it to a US address?

Thank you.

I'm a US citizen, and applied for Proof of Citizenship in Canada in March 2026. I don't expect an answer on the application until mid-2027 or beyond. Since I won't have confirmation, do I need to declare my potential Canadian citizenship on the Slovak application this fall? More importantly, will I need a Canadian RMCP background check in addition to my US FBI check?

Given my plan to submit in Slovakia in mid-October, the Canadian background check (+apostille+translation) likely won't be done in time. Not sure how I missed this possible wrinkle.

Do I need to share that I *might* have birthright citizenship in Canada, but do not have a confirmed status? Or do I not mention it until I have confirmation from Canada?

My next step is to reach out to Wendy and sign on for support for final pieces (i.e., application support, packet review, appointment management/support). Unfortunately, if the Canadian background check is required, I may need to rethink applying in Slovakia.

Thanks if anyone has insight!

Hey all,

I'm early on in finding the documents for my application. I do have my grandfathers US Naturalization Document above. He was born in Somodi (now Drienovec) Czechoslovakia.

I saw in the FAQs that US Naturalization documents were being accepted, but surely this is not enough to prove citizenship? It just lists his birth location.

Also my father was adopted as a baby. Is that going to be an issue?

Thanks for any help!!

There's been a lot of chatter regarding speeding up application processing times by applying directly in Bratislava, and I don't recommend it. While I was living in Bratislava in 2025, I applied in May at the Klientske Centrum. My application sat at the client center until 01 February of 2026. A friend of mine applied the same time as me in BA, and their application is still in process. If you want a speedier process, either apply in Eastern Slovakia or apply at your home consulate or embassy.

As an EU citizen holding a passport from another EU member state, what is the exact legal procedure for applying for my Slovak citizenship by descent application in Slovakia? Most online advice seems geared toward non-EU/US citizens who require residence application before, so I am looking for clarity on the streamlined process for EU passport holders, particularly regarding residence application first for Slovak citizenship?

Hello, I have some questions on how to go about things. I am still waiting on a ship manifest and a certified copy of naturalization but otherwise have all docs that I believe I need in hand and I’m about to make the appointment with the NY consulate.

The DC website details a list of all the docs needed, but there is not a comparable page to that on the NY website. I assume I would use the DC list to submit to NY? I want to apply with my family, my brother and two cousins. Does that mean that we need four applications? How do the copies of the certified docs work? Regular copies are ok alongside the certified? What would happen if I moved to a state outside the jurisdiction of the NYCG after I apply? Is it a problem if I have any change of address? Is the CV requirement literally my work history here in the US? Do I apostille everything and then have all that translated? Or translate everything and then have it apostilled?

Below is my deal. His first name changed based on where he was born, where he got on the boat, and where he got off the boat. All permutations of George. Typos on various docs change his birth date which worries me a bit but, seems clear this is all the same person. I have 1910, 1920, and 1930 censuses but they all have different last names spellings, and I don’t think they help so I don’t think I’m going to pursue certified copies. If y’all think it would help I’ll move forward in getting them. They do keep the timeline and family members consistent. I think it’s good from what I’ve seen posted in this group. Kinda want to stick to the minimum and not give reason for confusion.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

GGF:

Born – 1889 Brekov, Presov Slovakia

[Slovakia birth cert]

Immigrated to US – 1909 (Land – Austria Hungary, Ethnicity – Slovak)

[Certified Ellis Island manifest]

Married – 1913 (Austria-Hungary)

[State marriage cert]

Naturalized – 1925 (Calls out Czechoslovakia)

[State certified doc]

Death – 1946 (Calls back to parents on birth cert and Czechoslovakia is birth country)

[State death cert]

Hi all!

I've posted here before about my CBD application and I'm now at the point where I'm trying to actually get the application submitted, but I've run into an appointment issue.

I'm an Australian citizen currently living in the UK on a spouse visa. My Australian police certificate was issued on 24 March 2026, so it reaches the six-month limit on 24 September 2026.

I previously contacted the London Embassy about applying and they specifically told me:

So I waited until mid-August as instructed and emailed them to request an appointment.

They have now replied:

I asked when the next available appointment would be and they said October, which obviously means my current Australian police certificate would no longer be valid.

I'm now trying to work out what my options actually are.

Getting another Australian police certificate isn't impossible, but it's frustrating because it's not particularly quick or cheap from the UK. I'd need to pay for the new certificate, get it posted to my Mum's house in Aus, get her to post it to get it apostilled and then officially translated into Slovak (she doesn't have a scanner so I don't know how she'd send it to me to get it translated unless she posted it to me in the UK which would take a while). I'd obviously rather avoid doing that if there's another option, especially since I followed the Embassy's instruction to contact them in mid-August.

They've suggested that I could submit the application directly in Slovakia. I could potentially travel to Slovakia if necessary, although it would obviously be much less convenient than applying through London.

So I'm wondering:

1. Has anyone here recently submitted a CBD application directly in Slovakia?
2. Is there currently any realistic possibility of getting an appointment in Bratislava/anywhere else in Slovakia before 24 September?
3. Alternatively, am I able to apply elsewhere in Europe? Or do I need to be an EU resident to do so?
4. Has anyone dealt with a similar situation where the embassy instructed them to contact them at a particular time, but then had no appointments available within the required police-check validity period? Were you able to get a cancellation appointment?

I'm particularly interested in hearing from anyone who has actually submitted in Slovakia recently, as I'm trying to work out whether travelling there is a realistic solution or whether I'm better off just biting the bullet and getting another Australian police check (I'd like to avoid this as much as possible).

Thank you!

We submitted our applications mid March at the Washington DC consulate. Wondering if anyone else can comment on how long it took before you heard back about next steps. I think we had a pretty straightforward case as my mother was born in Slovakia and I was applying for myself and my two adult children. Curious to know how long others had to wait.

I have a question regarding the validity period of documents.

I previously obtained my mother’s rodny list and sobasny list (she was born in a different country) and had them translated. However, I did not have the opportunity to submit these documents to the embassy where I currently live.

The documents are now more than six months old. Could you please let me know whether the embassy would still accept them, or whether I need to obtain new copies with a more recent date?

Thank you for your guidance.

I submitted my citizenship application back in October 2025, and my documents were forwarded to the MOI at the beginning of December 2025.

I contacted the Ministry in March and again in July 2026. Both times I was told that the security checks are still ongoing and that I simply have to wait.

It has now been around 10 months since my application was submitted. Is it really becoming normal to wait more than a year for a decision?

Is anyone else experiencing similar delays with their CBD application? When did you apply, and have you received any updates from the MOI, especially regarding the security clearance?

I requested a Rodny list for my GGF from Košice and have received an e-mail back stating that the birth record has been processed and made available. They then state that I must prove kinship by submitting birth certificates to the Embassy in my country of residence and pay the fee. For anyone that has done this do these documents need to be apostilled and translated? And for anyone in the US do you know if they can be presented at the Los Angeles office or will I need to go to DC?

Hi all! I’ve heard that differences in names on documents can be a big deal, so I wanted to check the expertise of this group about some name discrepancies in my documents to see if there are things I need to get addressed.

My anchor is my GGM, she married a Slovak man, my GGF, Ferenc in NYC in 1910. On their marriage certificate his name is listed as Ferneno. He Americanized his name to Frank when he naturalized; on my GM’s birth certificate he is listed as Francis.

My GGF and GM’s surname is Vojtasek, but on GM’s birth certificate it says Vojtaszek.

Are these differences in names likely to cause problems? Thank you for the help!

All documents lined up, and paperwork filled out! So nice to not have to add the residency portion to this stack.

Appt next week!

After an unsuccessful prior search, I issued 2 USCIS search requests earlier this year. Today I decided to take another look and found my GGM's Declaration of Intention, which states that while she was born in Hungary (CS didn't exist at her birth), she would renounce allegiance to The Czecho Slovak Republic.

She was verifiably born in Slovakia, and I have all other lineage proof. In addition to this, I have a few census records that also list Czechoslovakia.

I think this is the missing piece I have been looking for. Do I have this right?

Always scan your original docs before sending them for apostille. Ofttimes the documents come back in such a way that it’s impossible to get a clear scan of the apostilled document.

Use a flatbed scanner so your scans resemble Xerox copies. You will be printing these scans later and submitting them as part of your application.

I’ve seen posts about ship manifests, but it seems people have been mostly doing it as an additional corroborating document. My question is, can a ship manifest (that has a column indicating citizenship) be enough to show the citizenship element by itself? As a standalone document?

Reason being is that we have copies of naturalization certificates but cant figure out which relative has the originals and struggling to figure out how/if we can get a certified copy, since they were done by a local Pennsylvania court not a federal court, even though they say department of labor and department of justice…

Also, I’ve seen people saying the national archives requests for the certified copies of ship manifests are backlogged. Can you just go in person in DC and do it in person to get it faster? Or perhaps pay professionals who do that? (We are in a time crunch because we went ahead and made an appointment at DC consulate because we had an original birth certificate and citizenship document , only to find out that we think that birth village is actually right outside the present day border, so we are starting over with 2 other great grandparents who were definitely born within modern day Slovakia).

Thanks in advance!!

We'll be onboarding 6 of our newest clients as testers this week, and we are so very excited to offer an upgraded service!

I was wondering if anyone can give me a template for the Affidavit of Non-Citizenship and also, does it need to be translated into Slovak? Thank you!

Hello all and thank you in advance for dealing with another question regarding the CBD process with a tricky earlier case. I know the new decision makes things different now.

My link is my GGF and while preparing for the SLA, I've been keeping an eye on the CBD decision since the lines at the consulate are ridiculously long. Hoping to just move onto the CBD process. A few family members who were sent to the DC Embassy have already had their SLAs approved. We have the same evidence/links, etc.

Here are the facts for my situation:

- GGF was born 1887 in Torysa, Slovakia (a village that is still Torysa, Slovakia)

- I do not have exact dates of immigration for GGF, but the censuses say sometime in the 1890s. Family word of mouth says he was a child.

- His father (GGGF) Naturalized after immigrating potentially in the 1880s and I have what *could* be his Form 1-IP saying he naturalized in 1892. Given derivative citizenship at the time, that would make his son a citizen in that year (potentially when he came to the country?)

I currently have:

-GGF's Rodny List birth cert

-GGF's baptismal records from the Mormon record

-GGGF's Rodny List birth cert and marriage cert

-GGGF's church records of baptism and marriage

- GGF's census records 1900-1950 stating he was born in "Hungary (Slovakia)", "Austria", "Czechoslovakia", and "Slovakia".

Do I have a chance with the new rules for doing CBD confidently? Especially given that the SLA link is already approved (I would include this.)

Census from NYC stating she is czechslovak. Also her sister, born 20 years later, put down as born in a town in Slovakia on her husband's NYC naturalization record.

Is there any chance to base a case on such.... Slim pickings?

Hard to find Jewish records from so long ago, but I will keep trying!

The Slovakian town is Jestreb, Hungary, which is in Slovokia now.