Your first 30 days in Czechia, step by step

Your first month in Czechia has a few deadlines set by law and many errands that only feel urgent. The deadlines depend on your citizenship, so this page takes them in the order you'll meet them, says which apply to you, and links to the page that covers each step in full.

What has to be done before you arrive?

Two things: your right to stay, and a place to live that an immigration office will accept.

If you're not an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen and you'll stay longer than 90 days, you need a long-term visa or residence permit for one purpose, such as a job, studies or family. Most first applications are made in person at a Czech embassy, and the law gives the office between 60 and 270 days to decide, depending on the route.¹ Start early. Visas and residence permits explains which route fits and what to bring.

Every application asks for proof of accommodation (doklad o zajištění ubytování). A signed lease is enough; a letter from the owner instead needs an officially verified signature.² So many people find their first flat, or at least a first place to stay, before the permit. Renting a flat in Czechia as a foreigner covers what landlords ask for, and the proof of accommodation page prepares the owner's letter.

Two more things for your bag: travel health insurance for the whole stay if you're applying for a visa,³ and the originals of any documents your application used.

If you're an EU citizen, there's nothing to apply for before you come.

What do you do in the first three days?

Report your address, if you're not an EU citizen. You have three working days from entering Czechia to tell the foreign police where you live, unless your hotel, hostel or landlord had you fill in and sign the registration form.⁴ Weekends and public holidays don't count.

1. Fill in the registration form (přihlašovací tiskopis): the police registration form does it for you.
2. Take it to the residence department of the foreign police for your region, with your passport and proof of travel health insurance.
3. If you came on a visa to collect a residence permit, also go to the Ministry of the Interior within 30 days of arriving, for fingerprints and a photo for your card.⁵

Register your address has the details, including why a signed lease alone doesn't report you.

What do you set up in the first week?

A phone number, a way to get around and a bank account.

• A Czech phone number. Banks, landlords and many offices expect one, and it's the quickest of the three.
• A transport pass. Prague public transport covers the passes and tickets.
• A bank account. Rent, deposits and charges are usually paid by transfer. Opening a bank account walks you through it.

Electricity, gas and internet are usually contracts of your own: electricity, gas and internet in a Czech flat shows what to sort out on the day you move in.

What comes in the first few weeks?

Health insurance and a doctor, and the trade and tax registrations if you work for yourself.

If you're employed by a Czech employer, you're in public health insurance, and your employer reports you to the insurer within eight days of starting.³ If you're not, you need other cover for as long as you stay. Health insurance explains who's in the public system and what counts for everyone else.

Once you're insured, register with a general practitioner (praktický lékař) near home, before you need one.

If you'll work for yourself, you register a trade at a trade office (živnostenský úřad), which can also pass your notice of starting to the social security administration.⁷ You also deal with your health insurer and the tax office, so an accountant is worth finding early. On a business visa, the trade registration comes before the visa.⁸

What do EU citizens do in the first month?

Report your address within 30 days of arriving if you'll stay longer than 30 days, unless your accommodation provider had you sign the form.⁴ If you'll stay longer than three months, you can also ask the Ministry of the Interior for a registration certificate (osvědčení o registraci). It's optional, costs 200 Kč and is valid for ten years.⁹

A family member who isn't an EU citizen applies for temporary residence within three months of arriving.¹⁰

What comes after the first month?

The deadlines thin out, but a few are worth putting in your calendar now.

• Every move. Each new address has its own deadline: register your address lists them by status.
• The integration course. Most people granted a long-term residence permit must take the adaptation and integration course within a year.¹¹
• The extension. You can apply to extend a long-term residence permit from 120 days before it expires, and must apply before it does.¹²
• Permanent residence. After five years' continuous stay, with Czech at level A2. Lessons now make that exam easier later.¹³

For the move itself, the moving checklist puts the rest in order, the move-in costs calculator adds up what you pay before you get the keys, and the property glossary explains the words on listings and leases. If you're still choosing where to live, start with the Prague neighbourhoods guide or where to live in Brno.

If you drive, Driving licence says how long a foreign licence is valid here and when you have to exchange it.

Sources

1. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §169d(1) and §169t. ↩

2. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §31(1)(d) and (5); Ministry of the Interior, "Proof of accommodation", ipc.gov.cz. ↩

3. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §180j; Public Health Insurance Act (Act 48/1997 Coll.), §2(1)(b) and §10(1)(a). ↩ ↩²

4. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §93; Ministry of the Interior, "Registration after arrival", ipc.gov.cz. ↩ ↩²

5. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §44(1). ↩

6. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §98(3). ↩

7. Act on the Organisation and Implementation of Social Security (Act 582/1991 Coll.), §10a(1). ↩

8. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §31(2). ↩

9. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §87a; Administrative Fees Act (Act 634/2004 Coll.), tariff item 116(5); Ministry of the Interior, "Registration certificate", ipc.gov.cz. ↩

10. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §87b(2). ↩

11. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §155b(2) and (3). ↩

12. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §47(1) and (4). ↩

13. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §68(1) and §70(2)(h); Government Decree 31/2016 Coll., §2(1). ↩

14. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §156(1)(d) and (5)(d). ↩