Amendment to the Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals Has Brought About Significant Changes

In the middle of August 2017, an amendment to the Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals came into force and it has brought about several quite significant changes to the residence permit requirements. We have prepared an overview of the most important ones for you.

 

Submission of some applications is now subject to a fee!

Third country nationals now have to pay even for submitting their application for an issuance or an extension of their residence permit (both long-term and permanent), if they submit their application in the Czech Republic. The costs are usually 1,500 CZK for submitting the application and then 1,000 CZK for the issuance of the card. The payment may be made only in the form of stamps bought at a post office, not in cash or by card. A detailed fee schedule and information on the method of payment of these fees is available in an official document of the MI CR.

 

There is a change of deadlines!

The Ministry of the Interior has unified the deadlines for submitting certain applications as follows: The application for an extension of all long-term residence permits (including employee cards) may be submitted 120 days before the expiration of the existing permit at the earliest and on the last day of its validity at the latest. If the last day of this period is a Saturday, a Sunday, or a bank holiday, you may also apply on the next business day.

 

The number of years spent in the CR required for a change of the purpose of stay to business has increased!

If you have a long-term residence permit and you want to change the purpose of your stay to business, you are now allowed to do so only after 5 years of residence in the Czech Republic. It used to be possible to apply after 2 years but the rule is now stricter. This condition does not apply to migrants who have been residing here for the purpose of family reunification.

 

Changes regarding the employee card

If for any reason you terminate your employment based on which you were issued your employee card, the protection period of 60 days during which you have to find another job and to apply for an approval with the change of your employer starts running. If you fail to do so within this period, your employee card will cease to be valid.

Together with your application for an approval of your change of employer, you now also have to submit a document certifying that the employment for which you were issued the employee card is still valid or was terminated less than 60 days ago. This document can be an employment contract, a notice document, or an agreement of termination of employment.

If you get a new job position, you now no longer have to meet the requirement of at least 15 working hours a week and a minimum wage.

It is now no longer possible to use the employee card to work in a company of which you are an executive or a member. This change also applies to members of cooperatives. If this has been your case, the Ministry of the Interior will no longer extend your card. As has been mentioned above, you may change the purpose of your stay to business only after 5 years of residence in the CR.

 

Changes in applications for permanent residence

If you have applied for an extension of your long-term residence permit and your application has not been processed yet (you are residing here based on a what is called ‘fiction residence’ which is endorsed in your passport as an interim visa) and, at the same time, you apply for permanent residence, the Ministry of the Interior will wait for you to be issued long-term residence before granting you permanent residence.

You may no longer apply for permanent residence for the purpose of reunification for your children over 18 years of age. This also applies to dependent children – children preparing for their future career on a daily basis.

 

Changes in applications for temporary residence for the family members of Czech citizens

Under the previous arrangements it was possible to apply for temporary residence even if you had no residence permit or departure order. Now you will have to leave the Czech Republic and apply for a short-term visa through a diplomatic mission of the CR.

 

 

For more information about the changes see the official document on the website of the Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic.