NGOs criticise draft legislation on citizenship

Prague, Oct 2 (CTK) - NGOs dealing with migration say the bill on Czech state citizenship, which has been drafted by the Interior Ministry and will be discussed by the cabinet on Wednesday, is too tough, and they have asked the cabinet to delete certain provisions from the bill.

In their open letter addressed to ministers, the consortium of NGOs working with migrants admits that the draft, if passed, would bring the Czech law closer to modern standards.

At the same time, however, they call for the deletion of the articles that provide the Interior Ministry officials with "excessive power in relation to foreigners and, on the contrary, provides nothing but duties and uncertainty to foreigners."

The bill raises the number of conditions a foreigner must meet to acquire Czech citizenship. For example, he/she must know the Czech constitution and must not receive any welfare benefits, the NGOs point out critically.

They also mind the vague formulation saying that citizenship "can be granted if the applicant has been integrated in Czech society, mainly from the family, work and social points of view," and the proposal that some children from mixed families gain citizenship only after a DNA test proving their father's identity.

Another flaw in the bill, the NGOs say, is the new provision saying that certain cases, in which intelligence services co-decided on granting the citizenship, would not be eligible to a court check.

The maximum length of handling a citizenship application, now 90 days, is to be doubled. Along with the appeal, the whole procedure would take almost a year, the critics say.

On the other hand, the bill brings some significant improvements. It enables dual citizenship and settles the situation of the second generation of immigrants and also of those who in the past lost Czech citizenship by acquiring foreign one, the NGOs write.