Czech national identity card

"Občanský průkaz" redirects here. For the film, see Občanský průkaz (film).

The front of a Czech identity card

The back of a Czech identity card

The Czech national identity card (Czech: Občanský průkaz, literally civic certificate; Czech pronunciation: [ˈoptʃanskiː ˈpɾuːkas]) is the identity document used in the Czech Republic (and formerly in Czechoslovakia), in addition to the Czech passport. It is issued to all citizens above 15 years of age, and every such person permanently living in the Czech Republic is required by law to hold a valid identity card.^[1]

Since 1 January 2006, it has been possible for citizens of the Czech Republic to travel anywhere within the Schengen Area and some other European countries such as Macedonia^[2] using only this card.

History

A 1991 průkaz booklet from the ČSFR.

The first mandatory identity document was introduced during the German occupation, on 17 March 1939 in a decree made by Reichsprotektor Konstantin von Neurath.^{[citation needed]} This document was based on the model of a similar document already in use in the Third Reich and included a photograph. Known as a legitimace, it was often nicknamed kennkarta.

During the communist regime (1948–89) this simple card developed into a booklet dozens of pages long. It contained such personal details as employment history and vaccination records.

Requirements

To acquire the card, one must present a filled out application, one photograph if the průkaz is of the machine readable type or two photographs if it is not of the machine readable type and if this is an application for a renewal the previous průkaz, otherwise a birth certificate and proof of citizenship.

Photograph

The photograph(s) must be 35x45 mm, correspond to the current look of the person, show the person looking forwards with the distance from the eyes to the chin at least 13 mm, in civil clothes, without dark glasses (except the blind), without any head cover (except for health/religious reasons, then it cannot cover the face in a way that makes the person difficult to distinguish). The photograph must be smooth.

Data included

Front side

• Surname
• First name
• Date of birth
• Birth number
• Nationality (Česká republika)
• Date of expiration

Back side

• Place of birth
• Permanent address
• Birth name
• Marital status
• Other data
• Academic degree
• Issuing authority and date of issue

References

1. ^ Law No. 328/1999 Coll. § 2, section 2
2. ^ [1]

External links

• The Ministersvo Vnitra page on občanský průkaz (Czech)