If you are from Australia, you do not need to get a visa for stays shorter than 90 days (in each 180). If you wanna stay longer than that, you will have to decide about the purpose of your stay (business, employment, studies, etc.) and apply for a long-term visa or long-term residence permit accordingly. We are covering all the options, in simple words, below so read on and find out everything about visas for Prague from Asutralia!
First of all, if we are talking about Prague, we are talking about the Capital of the Czech Republic, the city of hundred spikes and thousand of English teachers 🙂 The city is magical, so many Australians come visit or even move to Prague every year. Let’s now discover when you need a visa for Prague coming from Australia and when you do not need it.
Short-term visa for Prague from Australia – stays below 90 days
If you want to stay in Prague for shorter than 90 days, you might not need a visa at all. There is an agreement between the Czech Republic and Australia which says that Australians coming to Prague as tourists, do not need a visa for stays up to 90 days in the last 180 days (i.e. if you stay for full 90 days, you will have to leave for another 90 days, on the other hand, if you for example only stay for 30 days and then leave, you can still come back for another 60 days).
Those 90 days are officially only meant for tourist stays though. If your reason to visit Prague is to come for business or work or to study a TEFL course for example, you should get a standard short-term visa. Of course, in real life, no one really cares about the real purpose of your stay on the border and if you have Australian passport you can just come and go as you wish (within the 90/180 time frame). The only time when you should be really careful is if you want to get employed for up to 90 days. Illegal employment (meaning that you are here under your “tourist days” but work for a Czech company) is a pretty serious thing in the Czech Republic and if someone found out, you might get even banned from coming back for some time.
Long-Term visa for Prague from Australia – stays above 90 days
If you plan on staying longer than 90 days, you will have to get a long-term visa or long-term residence permit to live legally in Prague. Let’s go through the most common options listed from the most popular ones to the least popular ones.
The Youth Work and Holiday visa for Prague from Australia
This visa for Prague has one great advantage – it is super easy to get. You have to apply for it through the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Sydney. You will get the visa before you leave for Prague and the visa allows you to travel (and work) in the whole Czech Republic for up to one year. Consulates are usually also pretty helpful in this regard. If you meet the conditions (being an Australian citizen, being between 18 and 26, etc.) this is definitelly the best visa for Prague for you. If you wanna read more, please visit the website of the Consulate General in Sydney.
Business (freelance, self-employed) visa for Prague
If you do not meet the requirements for the Work and Holiday visa for Prague, this might be the second best option for you. Since Australians are native speakers of English and there is a huge demand for English teachers in Prague, many Australians come to Prague to teach English. Honestly speaking, teachers are not really well paid here (at least not during the first year) but teaching English is a relatively easy way to get a visa as an Australian and experience the culture of Prague and the whole Europe.
The standard (and easiest way) of getting the business visa for Prague is coming here using your 90 “tourist” days, finding some teaching jobs and applying for the business visa in Europe. It can be applied for from Australia as well but it makes it a bit more complicated (unlike the Work and Holiday visa).
We are describing the business visa proces in details in our article here: https://movetoprague.com/behind-scenes-of-acquiring-the-long-term-visa-for-the-czech-republic-part-ii/.
Student visa for Prague
Another, relatively simple way of getting a visa for Prague is to come as a student. We have couple of good Universities which are for sure way cheaper to study at than Universities in Australia. If you speak Czech, you can even study for free at most of them. This might apply to some programs studied in English from 2020 on as well.
The process of getting a study visa is something between the Work and Holiday visa and the business visa. Many people decide to apply for it in Australia (since most of the required documents will be provided by the University), some people decide to apply in Europe (which might be the best if you want to travel a bit before your school starts).
Other types of visa for Prague from Australia
The above mentioned visa types are the most common ones used by Australians moving to Prague. There are some other options as well though – such as an employee card, family reunification visa, “partnership visa” and many others. If you wanna know more about those options, if you want to hire us to help you get a visa for Prague or even if you just have some questions, please get in touch with us using the contact form on the right or the general Contacts. We’ll be happy to hear from you! 🙂
Move To Prague relocation services – your experts in Visa for Prague from Australia 🙂
