Background:

The Czech Republic is preparing an amendment to its legislation on the acquisition and loss of citizenship. As part of the legislative discussions, it is considering introducing a maximum annual limit on the number of applications for Czech citizenship that may be submitted.

The Czech Republic therefore requested information on whether other countries apply quotas or comparable capacity-related mechanisms to the submission or processing of citizenship and naturalisation applications. The query also asked whether such mechanisms raised legal or practical concerns, particularly in relation to Article 6(3) of the European Convention on Nationality. 

Respondents:

24 EMN Member and Observer Countries, including BE, provided public responses to the query. 

Findings:

A preliminary analysis of the results of the ad hoc query shows that:

• None of the responding countries reported a current formal quota or numerical mechanism limiting the number of citizenship or naturalisation applications that may be submitted within a given period.
   
• Similarly, no responding country reported a current formal limit on the number of applications that may be processed during a particular period.
   
• Since the responding countries did not report current capacity-limiting mechanisms, most marked the question concerning compatibility with Article 6(3) of the European Convention on Nationality as not applicable or did not provide substantive comments on this issue.
   
• CZ indicated that it is considering introducing a legislative mechanism limiting the number of citizenship applications that may be submitted each year. EL reported that no such mechanism currently exists, but that examining the feasibility of introducing one in the future has not been ruled out.
   
• BE reported that it has no mechanism to limit either the submission or the processing of citizenship or naturalisation applications and is not considering introducing one.

For more information, please consult the compilation of responses attached above.