Why don’t we live here?

My daughter’s question during a trip to Slovakia forced me to think differently about identity, belonging, and the citizenship my family once lost.

Sona Simo at age 6 in St. Petersburg, Florida. (source: Courtesy, Sona Simo)

Sona Simo is a Slovak American born in Slovakia who lost her citizenship as a child after her parents emigrated to the United States from then-communist Czechoslovakia. As an adult, she successfully reclaimed her Slovak citizenship.

“Why don’t we live here?”

My daughter asked me this during one of our trips to Slovakia. She was eight years old and had fallen in love with the castles, mountains, family visits, and — perhaps most importantly — the ice cream.

I remember realizing in that moment how differently Slovakia existed for the two of us.

For her, it was a place she was discovering for the first time. For me, it was something I had spent most of my life trying not to lose.

My family left what was then communist Czechoslovakia in the late 1980s. Like many families at the time, my parents made the difficult decision to leave behind their home and relatives and begin again in the United States. They eventually became American citizens and built a life for us in sunny Florida.

At the time, dual citizenship was not permitted in the way it is today. By becoming US citizens, we automatically lost our citizenship. Back then, I did not fully understand the long-term significance of that loss. We were focused on building a new life, and citizenship felt secondary to the opportunities America offered us.

Still, Slovakia remained a constant presence in my life.

I returned many times growing up. I spent time with relatives in the villages where my parents grew up, revisited Piešťany, where I was born, and explored the castles and mountains that fascinated me from an early age. Some of the friendships I formed during those visits have lasted more than 30 years. Hiking to the ruins of Čachtice Castle became part of nearly every trip back.

Even without citizenship, Slovakia never stopped feeling familiar to me.

Sona Simo and her brother, Steve, during a visit to Slovakia in 1997. (source: Courtesy, Sona Simo)

Years later, Slovakia introduced a Citizenship by Descent law, creating a path for former citizens and descendants to reclaim citizenship. For the first time, regaining what my family had lost seemed possible.

The idea was deeply meaningful to me, but the process itself felt intimidating. There were forms, legal requirements, official records, embassy appointments, and long periods of waiting. Although I was born in Slovakia, reclaiming citizenship was not automatic.

We made several trips to the Slovak embassy in Washington, D.C. Over time, I gathered birth records, family documents, and proof of origin — paperwork that connected different parts of my life across decades and countries.

Sona Simo with her daughter outside the Slovak embassy in the USA. (source: Courtesy, Sona Simo)

One of the most helpful resources during the process was an online group of people going through the same experience. Others were asking the same questions, dealing with the same frustrations, and celebrating the same milestones. What initially felt overwhelming gradually became more manageable.

After nearly two years, the approval email finally arrived.

Both my daughter and I had officially regained Slovak citizenship.

I cried when I read it.

Not because I believed a passport could define identity, but because the moment carried emotional weight I had not fully anticipated. Soon afterward, our Slovak passports arrived in the mail — tangible reminders of a connection that had remained important to me for most of my life.

For my daughter, citizenship means possibilities I never had. One day, she will have the option to live, study, or work not only in Slovakia, but throughout the European Union. But what matters most to me is something less practical.

Growing up in the United States, our Slovak family often felt far away. It was mostly my parents, my brother, and me. But when we first brought my daughter to Slovakia, she discovered a much larger world of relatives, family friends, and connections that became real to her in a way they had never fully been for me growing up abroad.

Now she proudly talks about her “new best friend”, the daughter of one of my close childhood friends. Watching her form those relationships so naturally has made me appreciate how much of our connection to Slovakia remained within our family, even after decades abroad.

Sona Simo and her family during a visit to Piešťany. (source: Courtesy, Sona Simo)

My parents became American citizens to build a future in the United States. Decades later, I chose to reclaim the citizenship we had lost and pass it on to my daughter.

Regaining citizenship has also reopened the possibility of one day living in Slovakia again — not as a visitor, but as someone returning home. Thankfully, my American husband shares that vision.

For most of my life, Slovakia was the place I came from. Now, when I look at my daughter, I also see it as part of her future.

In many ways, reclaiming my Slovak citizenship was a way of coming home.

Read more: https://spectator.sme.sk/opinion/c/why-dont-we-live-here