Child birth

Before the birth

If you are employed or self-employed, you need to apply for maternity benefit in good time. You can get the application form from the District Social Security Administration (OSSZ), or it can be obtained from a gynaecologist who will fill it out.

The application must state how long you want to draw the maternity benefit for, i.e. 14–28 weeks, or up to 37 weeks for twins. You then hand over the application to the employer, who sends it to OSSZ, while the self-employed persons send the application themselves. If you decide to draw maternity benefit through the father of the child, it will be only for 22 weeks and the right to draw the benefit arises from the 7th week after the birth.

During the first 6 weeks after the birth of the child, the father can take paternity leave, which, however, is only 1 week long, and during the leave, the father will be paid 70% of the daily basis of assessment for each day.

After the birth

• Issuance of a birth certificate – after the child is born, the Registry Office will receive a “Report on the Birth of a Child” from the maternity hospital, on the basis of which the child will be entered in the book of births and a birth certificate will be issued. This is free and takes a maximum of 15 days. It will be issued to you during a personal visit at the Registry Office (ID card required).
• For children born out of wedlock, where paternity has been determined, father’s documents and declaration on the determination of paternity are required (it is good to arrange them before the birth – at the Registry Office).
• After you have received the birth certificate, it is necessary to report the child’s permanent residence to the Municipal Authority. Similarly, if you live in a rented flat, it is best to report an increase in the number of people in the flat to the landlord in writing.
• The child is granted the citizenship of the Czech Republic automatically if, on the day of the birth, at least one of the parents is a citizen of the Czech Republic. At the same time, the place of birth has no effect on the granting of Czech citizenship.
• Registration with the health insurance company and registration with a paediatrician – on the day of birth, the child is automatically insured with the insurance company where the mother is registered, therefore the future paediatrician should have a contract with the mother’s health insurance company.
• The child must be registered with the health insurance company at the branch of the health insurance company within eight days of receiving the birth certificate. A child’s birth certificate and a natural guardian’s ID card are required. The insurance company can be changed once a year.
• Immediately after returning from the hospital, the paediatrician, who was selected before the birth, should be contacted. The first check-up of the child can take place at home. The doctor will also fill in the registration form for the relevant health insurance company.
• Inform your employer – hand in a copy of the birth certificate at the payroll office and tell the employer which of the parents will claim a child tax credit.
• Register the child for the municipal waste fee payment (at the Municipal Authority).
• Maternity grant – you can apply for maternity grant for the first and the second child if you meet the condition that the decisive (net) income of the family in the calendar quarter before the birth or adoption of the child is less than 2.7 times the living wage of the family.
• The decisive income does not include (older) child allowance. The amount of maternity grant is set at a fixed amount of 13,000 CZK for the first child and 10,000 CZK for the second child. You submit the completed application for maternity grant with other annexes (downloadable here: https://www.mpsv.cz/-/zadost-o-porodne) to the Labour Office.