Nearly 3000 Slovaks have lost their citizenship

A total of 2,933 people have lost their Slovak passports since the State Citizenship Act was passed on 17 July 2010, according to statistics released by the Interior Ministry. In most cases Slovaks lost their Slovak citizenship by acquiring that of the Czech Republic (681 people), followed by Germany (675), Austria (456), and the United Kingdom (329), as well as 27 other countries in lesser numbers. The State Citizenship Act was adopted by the first government of Robert Fico (2006-10) in response to Hungarian legislation that made it possible for ethnic Hungarians living outside Hungary to gain dual citizenship. Of the nearly 3000 cases, however, only 117 people lost their Slovak citizenship due to acquiring it in Hungary. There have been several attempts to mitigate the law since its adoption, but all have failed. As of February 2015, the Interior Ministry began returning Slovak citizenship by granting exemptions to people who lost it after accepting foreign citizenship based on having permanent residence in the country in question.