June 21 (CTK) – The Interior Ministry has registered an evident rise in the number of Britons’ applications for Czech citizenship this year, compared with the previous years, and the number of successful applicants has risen as well, according to documents it released to CTK.
Since the beginning of the year, the ministry has granted Czech citizenship to 14 British nationals, which is several times more than in the past two years.
The number of applications has risen from several in the previous years to dozens this year.
In mid-2016, a British referendum decided on Britain’s departure from the EU whose member countries guarantee a free movement of people, capital, goods and services to each other’s citizens.
It is not yet known how this guarantee will change after Britain’s departure.
In 2015, the Czech Interior Ministry registered five applications for Czech citizenship lodged by Britons. It complied with two of them.
In 2016, the number of applications rose to 19 and five people were granted Czech citizenship.
This year, the ministry has received 16 applications from Britons so far and granted citizenship to 14 applicants.
The conditions for granting Czech citizenship have not changed in connection with Brexit. They are the same for Britons and people from other EU countries, Switzerland and the European Economic Area countries, whose applications Prague handles in a simplified regime.
For an application to be met, the applicants must prove their integration in Czech society. The ministry assesses their family, social and work links to the Czech Republic.
Besides, the applicants must have stayed in the Czech Republic for at least a minimum period set by law, show their Czech language proficiency, basic knowledge of the country’s history, culture and life and present the height and source of their income.
The Czech Republic is the home of thousands of Britons who do not have Czech citizenship but have a permanent residence permit. Their number has been steadily rising, with the Brexit referendum meaning no special milestone in this respect.
In late April their number reached 4,522, compared with 4,070 in 2014. Most of them live in Prague.
rtj/dr/kva
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