Amendment to the Czech Immigrant Act - important changes

From the 15^th of August, there are going to be a few major changes in the Immigration law. The changes mainly apply for holders / applicants of long-term visas, business visas, and holders/applicants of long-term residence permits in the Czech Republic, as well as family members of EU citizens. Please, read the article, where we summarised and simplified the new changes, and see if any of this applies to you!

GENERAL

• Administration fees

For applications filed by third country nationals in the territory of the Czech Republic, administrative fees have been introduced for reception of the application. It means, you newly are required to pay the fee already when filing in the application, and also after receiving the card.

• New types of permit

New types of long-term residence permits have been introduced, specifically a card of an intra company transferred employee (for foreign nationals who are transferred within a company from a state, which is not an EU member state, to the Czech Republic) and a card of an intra company transferred employee from another member state of the European Union (for foreign nationals who have already been transferred within a company to an EU state and wish to be transferred from that state to the Czech Republic now).

• Filing an application

An application for a long-term visa and an application for a long-term residence permit or a permanent residence permit is inadmissible, if the foreign national did not make a prior appointment at the embassy for filing the application.

It is mandatory to submit the originals of the travel document, documents from the vital statistics office and the document on the purpose of residence in the territory of the Czech Republic.

• Submission of the application

Failure to submit the required attachments to an application for issue or for renewal of the period of validity or residence with a long-term visa when such an application is filed will result in such an application being inadmissible and the proceedings on such an application will not be commenced. If a foreign national files such an application, he or she will not even acquire the authorisation to stay defined in Section 60(4) of the Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals (referred to as the “fiction of the validity of a long-term visa”).

BUSINESS VISA

• Transition to a business residence

If you`re in the Czech Republic with a long-term residence for less than 5 years, and you decide that you want to change the purpose of your stay here for a business residence, you must submit your application as soon as possible. How it used to be: you had to stay at least 2 years in order to change the purpose of your stay to business, now it is 5 years. Foreign nationals who are staying in the country with a long-term residence permit for the purpose of family unification are exempt from this rule.

• Long-term residence permit

An application for renewal of all long-term residence permits (including employee cards) is to be filed 120 days – 0 days before the expiry date of the existing permit. The extention of the long-term visas is 90 days in this case.    If the time limit for filing an application for renewal of a long-term residence permit ends on a Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday, the application can still be filed on the following workday.

• Long-term residence permit for the purpose of business

Newly, you are also required to present Absence of outstanding payments is to be proved by certificates from the authorities of the Customs Administration of the Czech Republic.

EMPLOYEE CARDS

• Employee card for shareholders and managing directors of companies who also work for their company

If you have an employment card based on the fact that you`re a shareholder or a managing director for this company, you may want to ask for a change of your residence permit to a business one or change your employer. After the change to the Immigrant Act takes place, you will no longer be able to be an executive and a shareholder in a company based on your employment card, basically you will be no longer be able to employ yourself. And more important, after the Amendment will become active, you will no longer be able to apply for a change to the business residence, unless you`re in the Czech Republic for more than 5 years.

• Change of employer

If you own an employee card for Czech Republic, and you decide to change jobs while you`re also applying for a new card (permission to change your employer), you must do it now. After the Immigrant Act becomes active, the process will get more complicated, a new change may be that you will need a document from your employer that the original job lasts. So, if you wish to avoid more paperwork, try to do it before the Immigrant act becomes active.

An applicant for renewal of an employee card has an opportunity to find a new employment within 60 days of the termination of his or her employment, for which the employee card was issued to him or her, and to apply for an approval of the change of his or her employer no later than within this time limit.

EU CITIZENS AND THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS

• Family members without a residence permit

If you are in the Czech Republic based on having a family member here, without a residence permit or based on an exit order or exit visa, you must submit your application as soon as possible. After the amendment to the Immigrant Act becomes active, you will have to leave Czech Republic and apply for a short-stay visa through your embassy. (now, you still can apply for temporary residency even if you have non or are here on the basis of exit order).

OTHER

• Permanent stay for an adult dependent child
According to this change, it will no longer be possible for a dependent child to receive a permanent residence permit for unification with the parents. This change will only apply to minors (up to 18 years old). If you have permanent residence and you`re planning to apply for a residence permit for your child who studies in Czech Republic, you may want to do it before the amendment becomes active.

The full text of changes made by the Amendment to the Act on the Residence can be found and downloaded here:  List_of_Changes_of_the_Amendment_to_the_Act_on_the_RFN_-_from_August-15th-2017

If you found yourself in one of the situations above, and you are not quite sure what your rights are, don't panic! Give us a call or write us an email at info@movetoprague.com, or directly to our Immigrations Specialists Jan, Daria, Mari or Michaela (see all the necessary contacts here ), and ask about your case! We will be very happy to advise you, and will not leave you in the dark!