CYIL vol. 9 (2018)

CYIL 9 ȍ2018Ȏ CITIZENSHIP IN THE FIRST CZECHOSLOVAK REPUBLIC … by 1938. Those who were looking for a new home in Czechoslovakia did not have a simple situation at the beginning of their stay, as the Czechoslovak law lacked any legislation on political asylum. Interestingly, the situation with these political migrants was not the first experience of Czechoslovakia in the 1930s, since migrants from Ukraine, Belarus, or Soviet Russia had been arriving since the establishment of the First Republic especially in the 1920s, but they naturally integrated into the existing society. Here, however, these were people who could be a benefit to the Republic by engaging in work responsibilities, and they were not people without funds, unlike the political migrants of the 1930s who were very difficult to integrate. It should also be pointed out that Czechoslovakia, as a former territory of Austria- Hungary, with the official German language, now had to face German-speaking migrants who had had the problem of communicating with their mother tongue for more than a decade. If political migrants were to become citizens of Czechoslovakia according to the current rules, they would have to meet, for example, the condition of a 10-year stay in the territory that was a part of the Czechoslovak Republic, and this was practically impossible due to the current legislation, it was problematic for them to obtain the right of domicile. The legislature tried to rectify the situation in 1935, by adopting Act No. 53/1935 Coll., on the Residence of Aliens, which was followed by the Decree of the Ministry of the Interior No. 144/1935 Coll. on the Alleviation in accordance to § 12 of Act of 28 March 1938, and Act No. 52 on the Residence of Foreigners. According to Act No. 53/1935 Coll. in its § 1, a foreigner who intends to reside for more than two months in the Czechoslovak Republic or is already staying for 2 months is obliged to apply for a residence permit 35 . Given the hectic time and the increasing number of incoming foreigners, the situation gradually became rather unclear, foreigners were required to apply for a residence permit, and those who wanted to work in the territory of the Czechoslovak Republic had to have a residence permit regardless of the time frame they intended to stay in the territory of the Czechoslovak Republic 36 . It is also necessary to take into account the fact that in the law on cancellation of naturalization and loss of German citizenship of 1933 that came into power in the German Empire stating that foreigners who left the German Empire were actually left without any citizenship and the Czechoslovak legislation on citizenship was still governed by Act No. 236/1920 Coll. and § 29 and 30 of the General Civil Code 37 , which provided for a period of 10 years for the granting of citizenship when residing in the territory. The issue of double citizenship The legal regulations on the acquisition of citizenship is based on different legal designations in domestic national legal systems. As for the acquisition of citizenship by birth, some states come from the principle of blood ( ius sanguinis ), others from the territorial principle ( ius soli ). This diversity of national legislation can lead to the same person being a national of two or more states (dual citizenship). The emergence of multiple citizenships may also be related to a later acquisition of citizenship. A person has one citizenship, but through naturalization becomes citizen of another state. The reason for naturalization can be granting the citizenship at the request, or in some states a marriage may also be a reason for 4.

35 Act No. 53/1935 Sb., on the Residence of Foreigners, § 1 paragraph 1. 36 Act No. 53/1935 Sb., on the Residence of Foreigners, § 1 paragraph 2. 37 EMMERT, F.: Citizenship in the Czech Republic in the past and present. First issue. Prague: Leges, 2016. p. 45.

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