Permanent residence in Czechia

Permanent residence (trvalý pobyt) is a permit to live in Czechia with no end date.¹ This page covers who qualifies, what you need and what the permit gives you. It isn't legal advice, and the last section says when to get some.

Who can get permanent residence, and after how long?

Anyone who has lived in Czechia continuously for at least five years on the day they apply.² You apply to the Ministry of the Interior in person, while you're here on a long-term permit, with asylum, subsidiary or temporary protection, or in the period you were given to leave after an EU family member's residence ended.³¹ Children under 15 apply through a parent.¹

Visas and residence permits covers the permits that get you to five years. EU citizens and their families follow other rules, set out below.

Which years count towards the five?

Long-term visas and permits count in full, and so do years with asylum or subsidiary protection, once the Asylum Act no longer applies to you.² Some count half: years on a study visa or permit, and the time an asylum case took, which counts in full if it took longer than 18 months.²

Some time doesn't count at all:²

• a posting here by a foreign employer;
• au pair stays;
• seasonal-work and extraordinary work visas;
• a toleration visa, unless a long-term toleration permit followed it;
• time in prison, which also breaks your continuous stay.

The law counts time on temporary protection granted in Czechia at half, and you can apply while you hold it.⁴³ On its own, though, it can't add up to five years before protection ends, so the way to permanent residence is through another permit, such as the special long-term residence, whose time counts in full (Temporary protection explains it). Ask the Ministry of the Interior how it counts your time.⁴

Your stay remains continuous if no single absence was longer than six months in a row and all absences add up to no more than 310 days. One absence of up to 12 months for a serious reason, such as pregnancy, serious illness or studies, keeps the stay continuous, but that time doesn't count.² Postings abroad by your own employer are allowed up to 10 months each and 560 days in all.²

A Blue Card holder can count five years across the EU, if at least the last two were in Czechia on a Blue Card.²

What Czech do you need, and where do you take the exam?

Level A2, shown by a certificate from the official Czech exam for permanent residence.⁵⁶ You're exempt if you're under 15 or 60 and over, if you spent at least a full school year at a Czech primary or secondary school or a year at a Czech-language university in the last 20 years, if you passed an equivalent recognised exam, or if a disability affects how you communicate.⁷

The exam is held only at the schools listed by the National Pedagogical Institute, and you register online or in person at one of them. It costs 3,200 Kč, and the certificate never expires.⁸⁶ The exam's official site advises registering for the exam before you apply, because dates are limited; if you've applied, the ministry gives you a deadline to hand in the certificate.⁸

What else must you prove?

Bring the application form, your passport, a photo, proof of accommodation, proof of income and, for a child, the parents' consent.⁵¹ Apart from your passport, civil records, the language certificate and the photo, no document may be older than 180 days.⁹

• Income. A regular income for you and the people assessed with you, at least the sum of your subsistence minimums plus the standard housing costs the state uses for its housing benefit, or your real housing costs. One-off income, unemployment and retraining benefits, and welfare for people in material need don't count.¹⁰ The ministry may ask for your consent to check your tax records.⁵
• Accommodation. Proof that you own or have the right to use your home, or the owner's confirmation with an officially verified signature.¹⁰ The proof of accommodation page prepares that letter.
• Criminal record. You must have a clean record; you hand in a record from abroad only if the ministry asks for it.⁵¹¹
• Your last permit. The ministry can refuse you if you didn't do what your last long-term permit was for, such as the job or the studies, unless that was temporary and for serious reasons.¹¹

Applying for permanent residence doesn't add an integration course; that duty comes with long-term permits.¹²

How do you apply, and what does it cost?

In person, at a Ministry of the Interior office, ideally with an appointment.¹ The fee is 2,500 Kč, or 1,000 Kč for a child under 15, paid by card at the office.¹³¹ The ministry must decide within 60 days, though the clock stops while the case is suspended; an application made at an embassy has 180 days.¹⁴¹

If the ministry refuses, you can appeal within 15 days.¹ If it approves, you give fingerprints and a photo and collect the card within 60 days of giving them.¹⁵

What does permanent residence give you, and how can you lose it?

The permit has no end date; the card lasts 10 years, or 5 for a child under 15, and you renew it.¹ You can work without a permit, you're in public health insurance, you can claim social benefits, and you can travel in the Schengen area without a visa.¹ Health insurance explains the switch to public insurance, and Driving licence says when you must exchange a licence from outside the EU.

The permit ends if you become a Czech citizen, are expelled, get EU long-term resident status in another EU country, or die.¹⁶ The ministry cancels it if:¹⁷

• you spend more than 12 months in a row outside the EU without a serious reason, such as pregnancy, illness, studies or a work posting;
• you spend more than 6 years in a row outside Czechia;
• you got it by fraud or a sham marriage;
• a Czech court sentences you to prison for more than 3 years, or more than once, for an intentional crime;
• you ask it to.

How does it work for EU citizens and their families?

EU citizens can get permanent residence after five years' continuous temporary residence, but it's optional: you can live and work here without it.¹⁸ You need it for some rights, though: an EU citizen applying for Czech citizenship, for example, usually needs at least three years of it.¹⁹ Some get it sooner: after three years if you retire here after working here for the last 12 months, and after two years if you stop working because of a third-degree invalidity.¹⁸ Absences of up to six months a year, or one of up to 12 months for a serious reason, keep your stay continuous.¹⁸

A family member who isn't an EU citizen applies after five years' continuous temporary residence.²⁰ Time on asylum or temporary protection counts once that protection no longer applies to you.²⁰ Register your address covers the address report EU citizens make when they arrive.

You don't take the Czech exam: you bring your passport, proof of the five years, a photo and proof of accommodation, and only some wider family members also prove an income.¹⁸ The fee is 200 Kč, and the ministry has 60 days to decide.¹³¹⁴ The permit is cancelled if you live outside Czechia for more than two years in a row, or if you ask.²¹

Are there shorter routes?

Yes, for a few groups, without the five years:

• Family of a Czech citizen. After two years' temporary residence, if for at least one year you've been the family member of a Czech citizen who lives here.²⁰
• Humanitarian reasons. The spouse of someone granted asylum, if they married before the person came here; their minor or dependent child; and a former Czech citizen.²²
• Children of permanent residents. A minor child joining a parent who has permanent residence.²²
• Special reasons. Other reasons worth special consideration, or if your stay is in Czechia's interest.²²

Applications on the humanitarian, children's and special routes usually go to an embassy, though some can be made here.²²

When should you ask a lawyer?

Ask an immigration lawyer, or a non-profit adviser for foreigners, if your five years include absences, study or protection that are hard to count, if your income is close to the limit, if a record abroad might count against you, or if you've been refused. A refusal comes with a 15-day appeal deadline, so get advice the day it arrives.¹

Sources

1. Ministry of the Interior, "Permanent residence permit after 5 years of temporary residence in the Czech Republic", ipc.gov.cz. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

2. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §68(1) to (5). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

3. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §69(1) to (6). ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. Lex Ukrajina (Act 65/2022 Coll.), §7w(6); Ministry of the Interior, "Obecné informace ke zvláštnímu dlouhodobému pobytu", ipc.gov.cz. ↩ ↩²

5. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §70(2). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

6. Government Decree 31/2016 Coll., §2(1) and §5a(1). ↩ ↩²

7. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §70(5). ↩

8. National Pedagogical Institute, "Exam for permanent residence", cestina-pro-cizince.cz. ↩ ↩² ↩³

9. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §72. ↩

10. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §71. ↩ ↩²

11. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §75(1)(e) and (f), and §75(2)(d). ↩ ↩²

12. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §155b(2). ↩

13. Administrative Fees Act (Act 634/2004 Coll.), tariff item 116(1) and (5). ↩ ↩²

14. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §169t(6). ↩ ↩²

15. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §74(2) and (3). ↩

16. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §76. ↩

17. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §77(1). ↩ ↩²

18. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §87a(1), §87g(1) and (7), and §87i(1). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

19. Citizenship Act (Act 186/2013 Coll.), §14(1). ↩

20. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §87h(1), (2)(a) and (4). ↩ ↩² ↩³

21. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §87l(1)(d) and (2). ↩

22. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §66(1) and §69(1) to (4). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴