Občanský průkaz
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Občanský průkaz (pronounced /ɔbʧʌnskiː pɾuːkʌz/; Czech for civic certificate) is the national identification card used in the Czech Republic (and formerly in Czechoslovakia), in addition to the Czech passport. It is issued to all citizens above 14 years of age. It is illegal not to carry one if one is over 14 and permanently living in the Czech Republic, in practice this is rarely enforced.
Since the 1st January 2006, it is possible to travel anywhere within the European Union using only this card.
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[edit] History
The first mandatory identity document was introduced during the German occupation, on March 17, 1939 in decree by Reichsprotektor Konstantin von Neurath. This document was designed after similar one used in the Third Reich and contained photography. Named legitimace, it was often nicknamed kennkarta.
During the communist regime (1948–89) the simple card grew up to booklet with dozens of pages. It contained personal details as employment history or vaccination records.
[edit] Requirements
To acquire the card, one must present:
- a filled out application
- one photograph if the průkaz is of the machine readable type
- two photographs, if it isn't 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.
[edit] 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.
