It is issued to all citizens, and every person above 15 years of age permanently living in the Czech Republic is required by law to hold a valid identity card.

[2] It is possible to use the ID card instead of a passport for travel within European Union or Schengen Area and to some other states (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Georgia, North Macedonia, Moldova, Serbia) and organized tours to Tunisia,[3] but not to Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine.

The first mandatory identity document was introduced during the German occupation on 17 March 1939, in a decree made by Reichsprotektor Konstantin von Neurath.

To acquire the non-machine-readable version, a citizen must present a filled out application, two photographs, and either a currently valid card (in case of renewals) or a birth certificate and proof of citizenship.

The photograph must be 35 by 45 millimetres (1.4 by 1.8 in), depict the current appearance of the individual in civilian clothes, show the person looking forwards with the distance from the eyes to the chin at least 13 millimetres (0.51 in), without dark glasses (except the blind), without any head cover (except for health or religious reasons, which may not cover the face in a way that makes the person difficult to distinguish).