Over 3,200 people lost Slovak Passport due to Citizenship Act

A total of 3,217 people have lost their Slovak passports under the State Citizenship Act, reported TASR on Sunday. In the almost ten years since it took effect on July 17, 2010, Slovaks most often lost their Slovak citizenship by acquiring that of Germany (746). Next came people who obtained the citizenship of the Czech Republic (740), Austria (494), the United Kingdom (364), the USA (159) and Hungary (124). 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. 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 to people who lost it after accepting foreign citizenship based on having permanent residence in the country in question. So far, citizenship has been returned to 896 people. Slovak citizenship is restored by virtue of exemptions.