What are your rights and obligations in different fields (traveling, work, business etc.) when moving to the Czech Republic as an EU citizen? Find out in this article.
EU Citizen Moving to the Czech Republic – your rights
Generally speaking, EU citizens moving to the Czech Republic have the same rights as Czech citizens. It does not apply in all aspects of your life here (such as voting rights) but it does in the most important ones.
EU citizens and employment in the Czech Republic
You, as an EU citizens, have the same employment rights as Czech citizens. It means that you do not need any special permission or visa to work in the Czech Republic. You do not need to get registered anywhere, you do not have to report the job anywhere.
If you find a job, you can start working the same day if wanted. There are no limitations in this matter. You also get all the same labour rights as Czech citizens in terms of minimum wage, minimum holiday day etc.
Your employer must take one additional steps when employing you (compared to employing Czech citizens) – they have to report the start of your employment to the Czech Labour Office latest on the day when you start your job. This is a pretty simple thing to do though so it should not be a reason to not hire you.
EU citizens and starting a business in the Czech Republic
Similar as in the area of employment – there are not really any significant complications for your to get a Czech Trade License or set up an s.r.o. (limited liability company).
The taxes also apply the same way to you as to Czech citizens. It might just get a bit more complicated if you want to combine your Czech business income and your foreign income. This might be best to discuss with an accountant/tax advisor (get in touch if you need a recommendation, we’ll be happy to share a contact).
EU citizens and education
Again, your access to Czech education is very similar to Czech citizens. One thing you have to keep in mind though is that the general teaching language in CZE is Czech so you or your child might not be able to enroll into some schools/programs. Not because you are a foreigner though, just because you do not speak Czech.
EU Citizen Moving to the Czech Republic – your obligations
You have plenty of right as an EU citizen moving to the Czech Republic. You have a few obligations as well though. Let’s go through them now.
EU citizen moving to the Czech Republic – Mandatory Foreign Police Registration
The only thing that is 100% mandatory to every EU citizen moving (actually even visiting) to the Czech Republic is to get registered with the Foreign Police within 30 days after your arrival.
If you are just visiting for a few days and you are staying in a hotel, hostel or an AirBnb, you do not need to worry about this registration since the accommodation provider should get your registered (that is why you fill in the white paper when checking in).
If you are staying in private accommodation though (i.e. with a friend or a family member), you should go get registered with the Foreign Police yourself. This also applies if you have already been living here but have not got the Registration Certificate yet (see below) – you should officially get registered every time you leave the Czech Republic and come back.
We describe the Foreign Police Registration process in this article.
EU Citizen Moving to the Czech Republic – (so far not mandatory) Registration Certificate
As mentioned above, EU citizens do not need any visa or residence permit to live in the Czech Republic. You can just come here and start living here.
On the other hand, if you really plan on staying for some time (officially above 3 months, real life perspective at least a year), it might be beneficial for your to get so called Registration Certificate. Obtaining the Registration Certificate is not mandatory at this point (4/2024) but it might be good to get it anyway for multiple reasons.
The first one is that the government will most likely make it mandatory pretty soon anyway, so you’ll have a head start and will not need to wait that long for the decision when tens of thousands of other EU citizens living in the Czech Republic will be forced to apply at the same time.
Another thing is that even though it is not mandatory in general, it might mandatory to have the Registration Certificate in some specific cases such as registering your car in the Czech Republic, proving your tax residence or getting your child into a local school. Not having the Certificate can get you into pretty stressful situations – i.e. you bought a car here so you can travel to your new job but now you have to wait 30 days to get the Certificate so you can get your car registered and actually use it to travel to the job.
If you plan on staying here for a year or longer, simply get the Registration Certificate done and avoid any troubles down the road.
Last but not least, when you get the Registration Certificate, you do not have to go to the Foreign Police to get registered every time you leave the Czech Republic and come back 🙂
We describe the Registration Certificate for EU citizens in more details in this article.
If you have any questions or would like some help with anything described above, fill in the form below and we’ll get back to you shortly!
