Having a baby in Czechia triggers four mandatory processes for foreign parents: obtaining the rodný list birth certificate at the matrika, registering the child with a health insurer within 8 days, filing the child's residence permit application within 60 days, and arranging citizenship and a passport through your home country's embassy. The deadlines are tight, but everything is manageable if you go step by step — below is a full walkthrough with the documents, fees and deadlines that apply in 2026.
One key point to understand: a child born in Czechia to foreign parents does not automatically acquire Czech citizenship — that's reserved for children with at least one Czech (ČR) citizen parent. This means legalizing your baby's status is entirely up to the parents, and the clock starts ticking from the day of birth. For details on childbirth and pregnancy care itself, see our guide to pregnancy and childbirth in Czechia.
| What to arrange | Deadline | Where to go |
|---|---|---|
| Rodný list (birth certificate) | The maternity hospital submits the data itself; registration takes up to 30 days, usually 1–2 weeks | Matrika (civil registry office) covering the hospital's location |
| Child's health insurance | 8 days from the date of birth | The mother's insurance company (VZP, etc.) |
| Child's residence permit | 60 days from the date of birth | OAMP branch (Ministry of Interior) at the parent's registered address |
| Child's citizenship and passport | As early as possible — the passport is required for the residence permit | Embassy or consulate of the parents' country |
| Apostille on the rodný list for use abroad | As needed | Krajský úřad or the Prague magistrát + Ministerstvo zahraničních věcí |
The maternity hospital sends the birth notification (hlášení o narození) to the matrika — the civil registry office for the district where the hospital is located — within three working days of the birth. Parents don't need to rush anywhere on day one: the matrika registers the birth and issues the rodný list. By law this can take up to 30 days from receiving all the documents, but in practice, in major cities, the certificate is usually ready within 1–2 weeks. The first copy is free, and the child's rodné číslo (birth number) is entered on it right away.
You must notify the insurance company where the mother was insured on the day of birth within 8 days. Since August 2021, children of foreign nationals born in Czechia fall under the public insurance system: if the mother holds long-term residence (dlouhodobý pobyt), the child is publicly insured from birth until the end of the calendar month in which they turn 60 days old.
What happens next depends on whether you managed to file the child's residence permit application. If you filed within 60 days of birth, public insurance continues to cover the child for the entire time the application is under review, and once long-term residence is approved, it continues until age 18. Parents with long-term residence pay the child's contributions themselves: 13.5% of the minimum wage, which in 2026 comes to CZK 3,024 a month (the minimum wage rose to CZK 22,400), due by the 8th of the following month. If a parent holds permanent residence (trvalý pobyt) and the child is also applying for permanent residence, the state covers the contributions — the family pays nothing. Confirm the exact amount and payment procedure with your insurer.
Don't put off choosing a pediatrician either: for how to find a doctor and what your baby's insurance covers, see our guide to pediatricians and child insurance, and for a general overview of the insurance system, see our article on health insurance for foreigners. You'll find vetted pediatricians in our directory of doctors.
For the first 60 days of life, the child stays in Czechia legally on an automatic basis, tied to the legal stay of their legal representative. But within those 60 days, the parent must file an application for the child at the OAMP branch (Ministry of Interior) where the parent themselves is registered. The type of permit mirrors the parent's status — if the mother and father hold different statuses, apply based on the stronger one:
The application requires a form, the child's travel document (passport) and the rodný list; visa applications also need proof of insurance. The administrative fee for a child is CZK 1,000, payable by card at OAMP offices — confirm the exact amount for your application type when filing. Processing takes up to 60 days, and the clock pauses if additional documents are requested. If the family plans to leave Czechia before the child turns 60 days old, no application is needed. Parents with temporary protection (dočasná ochrana) follow a different procedure — temporary protection is arranged for the child instead; check the process with OAMP.
Missing the 60-day deadline is a serious problem: it's only extended for circumstances beyond your control, which you must report to the ministry right away. If time is running out or your situation is non-standard (parents with different statuses, an unlisted father, a delayed passport for the child), bring in a migration lawyer.
Citizenship passes to the child from the parents, under their country's laws. To arrange this, the birth must be registered with the embassy or consulate: you'll usually need the rodný list (often translated, and apostilled for some countries), the parents' passports, and an application form. Once citizenship is confirmed, the child's passport can be issued.
Book your consulate appointment as soon as you receive the rodný list: the child's passport is a mandatory document for the residence permit card, and embassy queues can run weeks ahead. If the passport isn't ready in time for the residence permit filing, submit the application on time with the documents you have and let the OAMP officer know — check locally whether you can submit the passport later. Some countries allow a child to be added to a parent's passport instead — check this option with your consulate too.
For a Czech birth certificate to be recognized abroad, it needs an apostille: first the document is certified by the matrika's superior authority — the krajský úřad (in Prague, the magistrát) — then the apostille stamp is added by the consular department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministerstvo zahraničních věcí) in Prague. Each certification requires a separate visit or postal submission, so allow one to two weeks for the whole process. Czechia has bilateral legal assistance treaties with several countries that waive the apostille requirement entirely — check this with your country's consulate before paying for any services. For EU countries it's even simpler: instead of a translation, you can ask the matrika for a multilingual standard form. For all other countries, the final step is a certified translation into your home language — we can help you find translators.
By law, registration takes up to 30 days after all the hospital's documents arrive, but in practice it's 1–2 weeks. If you need it faster — say, for a consulate appointment — call the matrika and explain your situation; they sometimes accommodate urgent requests. A replacement copy (duplikát) if the original is lost costs CZK 100.
No. Czechia doesn't grant citizenship by place of birth — the child inherits the parents' citizenship. Czech citizenship by birth generally applies only if at least one parent is a ČR citizen, in which case it's granted automatically, with no application needed.
The child will end up in Czechia without legal status, and public insurance will end at the close of the month they turn 60 days old. The deadline is extended only for objective reasons that you must report immediately. If this happens to you, don't wait — see a migration lawyer right away.
Don't wait for the passport if the 60-day deadline is approaching: file the application on time with the rodný list and the parent's documents, and explain to the officer that the passport is being processed. The missing document can usually be submitted later upon official request, but confirm the exact procedure with your specific OAMP branch.
With long-term residence, parents pay a contribution of CZK 3,024 a month (13.5% of the CZK 22,400 minimum wage). If a parent has permanent residence and the child is also getting permanent residence, the state covers the contributions. These figures change every year along with the minimum wage — check your insurer's website for updates.
Once the residence permit card is issued, the child will have their own document listing an address — there's no need to register separately for a place of residence, as the address comes straight from the application. It's worth thinking ahead, though: nursery and kindergarten waitlists in major cities can be long — for how it all works, see our guide to enrolling a child in kindergarten in Czechia.
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