How to Bring a Non-EU Family Member to the Czech Republic
Moving a family member to the Czech Republic can be challenging and confusing, but we are here to help and shine some light on this process! Today we’ll be covering two different ways a family member can move to the Czech Republic with the intent of family reunification.
Who qualifies as family according to Czech immigration?
Czech immigration generally recognizes a spouse and children as family members.
In some limited circumstances, a parent would qualify as family if they meet specific criteria, such as age limits and proof of dependency on others to live. This is especially challenging if the parent applies to move after your arrival to the Czech Republic, because only one parent is eligible to move to the Czech Republic under those conditions.
Extended relatives–such as siblings, aunts, or uncles–do not qualify as family under standard family reunification rules. However, unmarried or romantic partners may apply to come to the Czech Republic together through a process that is slightly more complicated.
Now that the definition of “family” is clear, let’s jump into explaining the process for how to bring a family member into the Czech Republic!
Family Reunification via Long-Term Visa
Family reunification visa is the basic option that can be used in almost every scenario and every situation. There are some limitations of the visa as well though, so let’s look into that in more details now.
Advantages of Family Reunification Visa in the Czech Republic
- no waiting times – your family members can apply for the family reunification visa anytime. You can all potentially even apply together at the same time,
- you do not need to prove income, only bank balance – this is especially useful for student and/or someone whose income in the Czech Republic is not high enough yet to support the whole family,
- shorter official approval time – the official approval time for a family reunification visa is 60 – 90 days.
Disadvantages of Family Reunification Visa in the Czech Republic
- shorter validity – maximum validity of the family reunification visa is 1 year but it can be shortened based on many conditions such as the validity of the main applicant’s visa or residence permit, or proof of accommodation,
- no ability to work – unless your family members have free access to Czech Labor market due to their nationality, their ability to work is limited to freelancing under a trade license.
Read more about the Family Reunification Visa here.
Family Reunification via Long-Term Residence Permit
There are more rules you should be aware of when applying for the Family reunification residence permit compared to the family reunification visa. The rules could be seen as disadvantages in some case but there are also advantages for the family reunification residence permit.
Let’s discover these now.
Advantages of Family Reunification Residence Permit in the Czech Republic
- harder to get denied – different rules apply for visas and residence permits and it is generally harder to get a residence permit application denied than a visa,
- longer validity – the minimum validity of a family reunification residence permit is 1 year, the maximum depends on the validity of the main applicant’s visa or residence permit (up to 3 years),
- ability to work – if you apply for the residence permit correctly (meaning you apply for family reunification purpose of stay, not family purpose of stay), you get free access to Czech Labor market which basically means you can work freely.
Disadvantages of Family Reunification Residence Permit in the Czech Republic
- waiting time – depending on the main applicant’s visa or residence permit, you can only apply for family reunification residence permit after some amount of time – 0 months for Blue Card holders, 6 months for Employee Card holders and 15 months for most other types (business, student, digital nomad etc.),
- need to prove high enough income – you generally must prove that your monthly income is high enough for the whole family, depending on your actual net salary, your accommodation cost and other factors, this sometimes proves challenging to do for some people,
- longer approval time – officially the MOI has 270 days to make the decision (180 for Blue Card holder’s family members), even though it usually takes similar times to get approved as the family reunification visa, if the MOI wants to take 270 days, they legally can.
Read more about the family reunification residence permit here.
There are some more difference (i.e. health insurance related) between the family reunification visa and family reunification residence permit but those are generally case specific. Contact us if you have questions about your specific case 🙂
Immigration Options for Unmarried Couples in the Czech Republic
For unmarried couples, it is possible to bring your significant other to the Czech Republic – but the process depends on your citizenship. If one partner is an EU citizen, then you can apply for a partnership visa program.
If neither partner is an EU citizen, then you must apply under “other purpose of stay” category. This category applies to anyone whose situation does not fall under specific titles or visa types. Although we have seen unmarried non-EU couples get the “other visa”, it is certainly recommended to get married and apply for the family reunification visa or residence permit.
If you want to apply as an unmarried couple, you should be together for several years, live together in the country of origin (including having lease agreements or owning a property there together), have plenty of photos of you, travels together, joint bank accounts, joint assets (i.e. owning the house), potentially having kids together etc.
The thing is that you must convince the MOI that you are really in a serious long-term relationship similar to a marriage to have a change to get the “other visa”. If you have not lived together (and/or can not prove that you did), if you do not share any assets, bank accounts etc., your chances decrease significantly.
As we have done hundreds of successful family reunification applications, get in touch with us and let us help you bring your loved ones to the Czech Republic as well 🙂
Move To Prague relocation experts
