How to get a Slovak passport after citizenship by descent: Three filings after the oath

A Slovak passport is the practical reason all of our clients apply for citizenship by descent. The oath and the Deed of Granting Slovak Citizenship make you a citizen, but the passport application draws its data from the Slovak registers, so the passport is the last of three filings made in a fixed order. This guide sets out each of them, where you can apply, what the passport costs, how long it is valid, and how the Slovak identity card fits in.

Getting a Slovak passport at a glance

Three filings after the oath

You become a Slovak citizen on the day you take the oath and receive the Deed of Granting Slovak Citizenship. A Slovak passport cannot be issued from the Deed alone. Under Section 5(1)(c) of Act No. 647/2007 Coll. on Travel Documents, every Slovak passport contains the holder’s Slovak birth number, and a Slovak citizen born abroad receives a birth number only once the birth is entered in the Slovak special registry [Section 5(3)(a) of Act No. 301/1995 Coll. on Birth Number]. The order is therefore fixed: registration of your birth and marriage, proof of citizenship, and then the passport.

Registering your birth with the Special Registry Office

The Special Registry Office in Bratislava enters births, marriages, and deaths of Slovak citizens that took place abroad into the Slovak registers [Section 23(1) of Act No. 154/1994 Coll. on Registers]. The registration is made from your U.S. birth certificate and, if you are married, your U.S. marriage certificate, each with an apostille and an official Slovak translation.

The Special Registry Office has up to three months from receiving the application to make the entry, and up to three more months in justified cases [Section 23(5)]. The fee is EUR 15 when the application is filed in Slovakia and EUR 35 when it is filed through a Slovak embassy or consulate. The registration also fixes the form of your name in Slovak records, and the passport copies that form exactly (see the name section below).

Proof of Slovak citizenship when you apply for a Slovak passport

Since July 15, 2026, the Deed of Granting Slovak Citizenship proves your citizenship for only 90 days from the day it is handed to you [Section 9a(1)(e) of Act No. 40/1993 Coll. on Citizenship of the Slovak Republic]. Because registering your birth alone can take up to three months, the Deed often expires before you can apply for a passport.

The Citizenship Certificate fills that gap. The Ministry of the Interior usually issues it within 30 days, and it is valid for six months [Section 9a(6) of Act No. 40/1993 Coll.]. Since July 15, 2026, you can also request it electronically or by post through a Slovak embassy or consulate, instead of lodging the request in person; the certificate is then sent to that embassy or consulate electronically [Section 9a(2) and (13)]. The fee is EUR 15.

Applying for a Slovak passport

In Slovakia, you can apply at any police document office, the department of the Slovak police that issues passports and identity cards, regardless of where you live or whether you have ever lived in Slovakia [Section 8(1) of Act No. 647/2007 Coll. on Travel Documents].

In the United States, you apply at the Slovak Embassy in Washington, D.C., or the Slovak Consulate General in New York, depending on your state [Section 16(2) of Act No. 647/2007 Coll. on Travel Documents]. Both offices work by appointment. Our guide to where to file a Slovak citizenship application in the United States lists which office covers your state. Outside the United States, you apply at the Slovak embassy or consulate that serves your country.

You apply for a passport in person because the office takes your photograph, signature, and, from age 12, fingerprints at the counter [Section 17(8)]. No printed photographs are needed. The office takes your data from the extract from the special registry and from your proof of Slovak citizenship, and retrieves what it can from public registers itself [Section 16(4) and (5)].

A passport applied for at a Slovak embassy or consulate is produced in Slovakia and sent to the office where you applied [Section 18(4)]. In our clients’ experience, a passport applied for at the Slovak Embassy in Washington, D.C., or the Slovak Consulate General in New York arrives there six to eight weeks after the application. You can collect it in person, or have it mailed to you if you left a prepaid return envelope when you applied.

Fees, validity, and processing times

A Slovak citizen can hold two valid passports at the same time. If your first passport is valid for 10 years, the second is issued for five years [Section 4(3) and Section 8(3) of Act No. 647/2007 Coll. on Travel Documents]. Slovak embassies and consulates offer standard processing only; in the United States, they collect the fee in U.S. dollars at the current exchange rate.

Slovak passports for children

For a child under 15, a parent applies, and the child comes to the office as well, because the photograph is taken there [Section 17(1) and (3) of Act No. 647/2007 Coll. on Travel Documents]. Fingerprints are not taken from children under 12. A child aged 15 to 17 applies in person, with the written consent of a parent [Section 17(2)]. A passport for a child under 15 must be collected in person by the parent who applied for it [Section 18(1)].

You must register a child’s birth with the Special Registry Office before applying for the child’s passport, just as you did for yours. How children become Slovak citizens with you, and how to register a child born later, is covered in our guide to Slovak citizenship for your spouse and children.

The name in your Slovak passport

A Slovak citizen uses the name in the form and order recorded in the register of births [Section 3 of Act No. 300/1993 Coll. on Name and Surname], so the name in your passport is the name the Special Registry Office entered from your U.S. birth certificate. Up to three given names can be recorded.

When the Slovak entry differs from your U.S. documents, for example after a later change of name, the law gives a dual citizen the right to have the name changed to the form used by the other country [Section 6(2) and (6) of Act No. 300/1993 Coll.]. A woman can also use her surname without the Slovak ending -ová. Both are best settled before the passport application, because the passport copies the register.

A Slovak identity card

A Slovak citizen who does not live in Slovakia can also obtain a Slovak identity card [Section 2(3) of Act No. 395/2019 Coll. on Identity Cards]. The application is made in person at any police document office in Slovakia or at a Slovak embassy or consulate. The fee is EUR 7 in Slovakia and EUR 25 at an embassy or consulate. The identity card is valid for 10 years from age 15, five years from age six to 15, and two years under age six [Section 2(4)].

Traveling with two passports

U.S. law requires U.S. citizens, including dual citizens, to enter and leave the United States on a U.S. passport [8 U.S.C. § 1185(b); U.S. Department of State, Dual Nationality]. For travel to and from Europe, you enter and leave the Schengen area as a Slovak citizen on your Slovak passport.

EU citizens are not registered in the EU Entry/Exit System, which has operated at the Schengen external borders since April 10, 2026. Under the European Commission’s guidance on ETIAS, the upcoming travel authorization, an EU citizen who also holds another citizenship is expected to travel with the passport of the EU country.

Planning your Slovak passport

The three filings take months, not days, so they are worth planning together with the oath. If you engage us, we register your birth and marriage in Bratislava and apply for your Citizenship Certificate, which removes the round trips between the Slovak authorities and the embassy or consulate. You then apply for the passport in person, in Slovakia or at a Slovak embassy or consulate. When you apply in Bratislava, we go with you, and with your power of attorney we can collect the issued passport for you, so you do not need to stay in Slovakia until it is ready [Section 18(2) of Act No. 647/2007 Coll. on Travel Documents]. Only a passport for a child under 15 has to be collected by the parent in person.

The complimentary case review is confidential. You can expect to hear from us within three business days.

General information on Slovak passports and identity cards for Slovak citizens living abroad, current as of publication. Fees change from time to time.