The Act on Residence of Foreign Nationals in the Czech Republic was updated in July 2019 again. It brings a lot of changes of which will apply to all foreigners living in the Czech Republic. What has been changed? Read further to find out.
ADMINISTRATIVE FEES
The total amounts of administrative fees have not really changed, but the times at which they are paid often do. For example, when you were applying for a long-term residence permit in the Czech Republic, in the past, you paid 1,500 CZK when submitting the application and then 1,000 CZK when collecting the approved residence card. From July 31 on, the total amount will be paid upfront.
EMPLOYEE CARDS
Unfortunately, this is the type of residence where a lot of things have changed.
CHANGE OF EMPLOYER
+ There is no need to apply for an approval of the change of employer! From July 31 on, you only have to inform the MOI about the change (they can still deny it later on though – for example if you do not provide all the required documents).
– The information about the change of an employer must come to the MOI at least 30 days before it actually happens
– In general, you cannot change your employer earlier than 6 months after you received your first employee card (there are a few exceptions though)
– You can only start working in the new job after receiving a letter from the MOI confirming that you submitted all the required documents in the required form
RESIDENCE PERMIT – STUDY PURPOSE
Some studies in high schools, conservatories and some other types of schools will no longer be considered “studies” and applicants will not be able to get a student visa or residence permit. They will be able to get the “other” type visa.
CHANGE PURPOSE OF STAY TO STUDIES
From July 31 on, changing your purpose of stay to studies will be possible basically from all other types of visas or residence permits. For example, if you are residing here on the “Business Visa”, you can switch to a “Student Visa” anytime. This was not possible before.
VISA-FREE STAY
If you have a “student” residence permit from another EU country, you can stay in the Czech Republic for up to one year with no need to apply for a Czech visa or residence permit. Conditions can apply.
PROOF OF FUNDS
If you are renewing your student residence permit, you can either submit a bank letter showing that you have the required amount on your account as your proof of funds, or now you can also prove a sufficient monthly income (from employment, self-employment, etc.).
RESIDENCE PERMIT – SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
CHANGE PURPOSE OF STAY TO SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
From July 31 on, changing your purpose of stay to scientific research will be possible from all other types of visas or residence permits. For example, if you are residing here on the “Business Visa”, you can switch to a “Scientific Research Visa” anytime. This was not possible before.
VISA-FREE STAY
If you have a “scientific research” residence permit from another EU country, you can stay in the Czech Republic for up to one year with no need of applying for a Czech visa or residence permit. Conditions can apply.
“JOB SEARCH” RESIDENCE, “START OF BUSINESS” RESIDENCE
If you have just finished your studies in the Czech Republic or your scientific research in the Czech Republic (and you still have a valid visa/residence permit) you can apply for a new type of residence permit that will allow you to stay for up to 9 months to look for a job or to start your business.
SPECIAL WORK VISA
The Government of the Czech Republic can determine that special work visas will be issued. Those will only be valid for one year with no possibility to extend them so they will only apply in special cases.
CHANGE OF ADDRESS
The address will no longer be printed on residence cards, which means that you still need to report the change of address, but you will not have to change the card.
VALIDITY OF A TEMPORARY RESIDENCE CERTIFICATE FOR EU CITIZENS
The validity of the Certificate of Temporary Residence of EU citizens will be limited to 10 years. People who received their residence certificate before January 1st, 2010 will have to renew it before the end of 2019. People who got it after that date will renew ten years from when they got the certificate.
INTEGRATION COURSES
From January 1st 2021, every foreigner holding a long-term residence permit or permanent residence permit will have to go through an “integration course”. We’ll bring more details about this part soon.
We hope this article gives you a good idea about the recent changes but if you have any questions or want to discuss your situation in more detail, please fill in the form on the right or use some other Contacts to get in touch with us.
On behalf of the whole team – Jan & Daria
Thank you guys!
You are welcome, Claudia! 🙂
Jan on behalf of the whole team 🙂
What about tourist visa holders , what if the want to switch to study or work visa being on tourist visa in Czech Republic?
Hi Kashif,
Unfortunately this has never been possible and the new law has not changed it.
Jan on behalf of the whole team 🙂
Regarding the visa-free stay for student permits of other EU countries, would this also apply to non-EU nationals? I assume the student visa must be valid?
Hi AM,
Thank you for your comment.
Actually, this option is only meant for non-EU citizens since EU citizens can live in the Czech Republic freely as they wish.
And the student residence permit from other EU country will have o be valid for sure 🙂
Hope this is helpful 🙂
Jan on behalf of the whole team
Thank you for posting this.
Regarding the validity of the Certificate of Temporary Residence of EU citizens, does it mean that the EU citizens who are working in the Czech Rep. have to register to the Immigration office, too? I was told before that it is not necessary.
Hi Ratna,
Thank you for your comment.
Well, all EU citizens must report their stay to the Foreign Police within 30 days after their arrival. That has been always mandatory. Please read more about it in our article here: https://movetoprague.com/foreign-police-prague/.
As for the Temporary Residence, it is still not mandatory, EU citizens can live here freely even without holding one. If you have one though, it will have a limited validity.
I hope this explains but if not, please feel free to get in touch with us using the form on the right 🙂
Jan on behalf of the whole team 🙂
How about having a working visa and changing it to business visa? Do they still have same laws and documents needed?
Hi Anna,
Thank you for the comment.
Yes, nothing changes there. If you want to switch to the business purpose of stay, you must be here for at least 5 years. The only exception with be the “starting business visa” from which you can switch to the business purpose even sooner than that.
Have a great day!
Move To Prague relocation experts
I have a Czech Diploma and have recently applied for Employee card with a contract from the company I have been working at for 1 and half years now.
The application is in progress but I got a new job and I have resigned from this company effective August 15th.
In my case would submitting the new contract from the new company be ok for the process? Would that be a problem since this new changes are effective July 31st?
Hi Dzissah,
Thank you for your comment.
It is hard to give you a proper advice if we only know three sentences about your case. In general though, it is better to keep everything simple with the MOI.
The thing is let’s say that the MOI is close to the decision about your current change of employer. If you send them new documents showing another employer, the can get confused and even look for reasons to deny your new application (saying for example that the first change of employer was a fake application just to buy you some time so that the latest application was already submitted late, etc).
So, if you wanna/have to do it, do it. Make sure that you explain everything to the MOI properly in a separate letter though, so they do not get confused.
Good luck!
Jan on behalf of the whole team
What about the order type visa, do you give them up to 9months to look for job after studying too?
Hi Pascal,
Thank you for the comment.
Unfortunately, according to the MOI, only people with the “real” student visa will get this opportunity.
Have a great day!
Jan on behalf of the whole team
Hey! Jan and team… you’ve been doing a great job – like always! haha! Thanks for sharing the updated info. Much appreciated! Could you please share the source of the info? Like… MoI’s website etc…
Thank you very much.
Hi Narasimha,
Thank you for the comment.
Yes, sure, the summary is to be downloaded from the MOI website here:
https://www.mvcr.cz/mvcren/article/immigration.aspx.
As for the whole new law, it is only in Czech in the Czech code of law.
We hope this helps,
Move To Prague team 🙂
What about appointment for an employee card they did some changes or not because I were tried from last 7months from India. I am not getting appointment for an employeecard.
Hi Harpal,
Thank you for your comment.
Unfortunately no change there. The problem is that there is only one Czech Embassy for the whole India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka if I am not mistaken so the capacity of the Embassy is way below the needs of applicants. Nothing is gonna change anytime soon though so you will either have to keep trying or just forget about the idea of moving to the Czech Republic 🙁
Sorry for not having better news!
Jan on behalf of the whole team
Hello, thank you for the update! Unfortunately, I cannot see any link referring to the these changes. Can you show me where we can find the official information? Also, I have another question: I am working in CZ recently for more than 6 months already. They told me that to change the employer, MOI wants a job number from Urad Prace. In this new system, is it still valid or it’s enough to go with the contract? And to start working they give the confirmation on the spot directly or it will take time? Cheers.
Hi Oleg,
Thank you for your comment.
Please check the comments below, we have already shared the link to the MOI website where you can download the official information.
As for the vacancy, the need for the vacancy number should still be there. It is there to protect the local Labour Market so I do not think that this part will disappear from the law anytime soon.
As for starting working, you need to report the change of employer at least 30 days in advance and you will still need to wait for the MOI to send you an official letter saying that you submitted everything and that you can change the employer. Hard to estimate how long this letter will take to arrive. Can be days, can be months, you never know with the MOI.
Hope this helps 🙂
Have a great day!
Jan on behalf of the whole team
Hello, I finished my master’s and going to get my diploma at the end of August. (My residence permit ends at the end of August with study purposes). Could I apply for the ‘job search’ type of visa in August, would it be applicable for me?
This type of visa not seen on the website of MOI, should it be for ‘other’ purposes and same documents under that section?
Thank you in advance!
Hi Ozgun,
Thank you very much for your comment.
The new law is not reflected on the MOI website since it is not effective yet. It will become effective on July 31 so we think they will update the website at/after that day.
We will also be doing a free webinar about the changes in the law, please join us here:
https://www.facebook.com/movetoprague/photos/a.459102820793860/2354701687900621/?type=3&theater.
Have a lovely day!
Jan