Visa to the Czech Republic
Information for students
MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC
1. Requirements for an application for a long-term residence permit with the purpose of studies
2. Foreigners reservation system – manage your appointment for visa/long-term residence ON-LINE
GUIDE TO STUDYING AND LIVING IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC
ANNOUNCEMENT FOR NEWLY ADMITTED STUDENTS WITH VISA OBLIGATION
The following information is intended for newly admitted students who have currently applied for or will apply for a visa or residence permit for the Czech Republic. If you already have a visa or do not need it to stay in the Czech Republic, consider the information below as irrelevant.
Based on a new request from the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic, if you obtain a visa or long-term residence permit to study at the CZU or a work visa associated with a work stay at the CZU, proof of a new certificate issued by the university is required. It is necessary when you are going to pick up the residence permit or visa approval at the embassy at the latest (when the visa is affixed to your passport) to submit the attached “form A”, which must be confirmed and signed by the CZU.
The “form A” responds to the protective measures of the Ministry of Health to restrict the crossing of the state border of the Czech Republic, which took effect on 1 July 2020. In accordance with the Act No. 326/1999 Coll., On the Stay of Foreigners in the Territory of the Czech Republic, as amended, article 31 paragraph 3 letter b), all citizens of non-EU countries submit the above-mentioned form which states the CZU obligations.
Based on the mentioned measure, the CZU must ensure that the foreigner has suitable accommodation in the territory of the Czech Republic actually provided. This obligation does not mean that the CZU should strictly determine where the foreigner will be accommodated and pay for his accommodation. The aim of the measure is to determine the responsibility of the CZU especially for the place of residence of the foreigner in the event that the public health authority orders foreign student or employee to be quarantined, or held in isolation, which he or she will not be able to complete, for example, in a hostel or dormitory.
When it comes to health insurance and reimbursement for health care, due to the focus of the protective measure, the form is aimed at ensuring that the expenses related to the COVID-19 disease will be covered by the health insurance of the student or employee. The CZU must verify the coverage with the foreigner. Typically, it is sufficient to have comprehensive (complex) health insurance, not insurance of “necessary and immediate care” (also called basic health insurance)! Therefore, even if you have information that you have obtained a visa, but your insurance will not cover treatment related to COVID-19, the CZU cannot issue you the relevant certificate, and you cannot even obtain a visa in your passport. Therefore, it is necessary for you to send a scan of your insurance contract to the CZU together with the completed form, which will show that you are also insured for the case of COVID-19 in the Czech Republic.
From 2 August 2021, a foreigner with a long-term stay in the Czech Republic will have to have insurance only with Pojišťovna VZP a.s. Visit this page to calculate your insurance.
The CZU also undertakes in the given form that a student whose studies will be terminated will leave the territory of the Czech Republic with the assistance of the state authorities. CZU could be financially responsible for such a procedure. Therefore, in the Statutory Declaration, in addition to the insurance information, you must confirm that you have sufficient financial resources to travel to the country of your residence in the event of study termination.
WHAT IS THE PROCEDURE?
What needs to be sent to the CZU when you know that you have been notified that you will be granted a visa to study or work at the CZU:
- If you have been informed that you will be issued a visa for the purpose of study (or employment), fill the attached “form A” and send it as an attachment by e-mail (in * .docx or * .pdf format). Send it to the contact person of the relevant faculty, where you will begin your studies (sending it to the wrong e-mail address will significantly prolong the processing of the application).
- Together with the completed form, send a scan of your insurance contract and highlight the passage that relates to coverage of expenses for COVID 19 in the Czech Republic (it must be clear that your insurance covers all costs of COVID19 treatment in the Czech Republic, it can also be in the form of the statement of the health insurance company – such insurance can be arranged online, e.g. at the General Health Insurance Company of the Czech Republic). The CZU will not confirm the form without the scan or PDF of the health insurance contract! From 2 August 2021, a foreigner with a long-term stay in the Czech Republic will have to have insurance only with Pojišťovna VZP a.s.. Visit this page to calculate your insurance.
- Statutory Declaration (form B) on securing the costs of leaving the Czech Republic at the moment when your reason for staying in the Czech Republic ends, once more it must be sent by e-mail in the form of the signed and scanned Declaration.
- Since all major health insurance companies do not typically cover expenses within the first 14 days of your stay in the Czech Republic when the origin of the disease is considered abroad or you had a precondition or first symptoms of the disease already abroad, you are required to purchase travel insurance which will be valid for the above mentioned period of the first 2 weeks! This obligation is also declared in the affidavit (form B).
- Since all major health insurance companies do not typically cover expenses within the first 14 days of your stay in the Czech Republic when the origin of the disease is considered abroad or you had a precondition or first symptoms of the disease already abroad, you are required to purchase travel insurance which will be valid for the above mentioned period of the first 2 weeks! This obligation is also declared in the affidavit (form B).
Send all the required documents (form A, form B, comprehensive insurance contract + travel insurance contract valid for the first 2 weeks of your stay in the Czech Republic) in one e-mail to the contact of the faculty where you will study.
CONTACT
If you send the appropriate and necessary documents, a signed confirmation from the CZU will be sent to you by e-mail. The confirmation must be submitted at the latest when the visa is issued to your passport, and you only need to present a printed version of the signed confirmation, which we will send to you.
| Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences | navratilova@fld.czu.cz |
Thank you for your cooperation.
REGIME STUDENT - FAST TRACK FOR VISA INTERVIEW
Applicants for student visa and long term resident permit for studies in the Czech Republic (more than 90 days) who received an official letter of acceptance for studies from one of the Faculties of the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZU), may be nominated by the CZU International Relations Office for fast track interviews (Regime Student) at the Czech Embassy in their country of origin. Provided that the nomination is endorsed by the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth of the Czech Republic, and accepted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, the selected students will be contacted by the Czech Embassy Consular section in their country of origin (by email or by phone), and will eventually receive a fixed date for their long term resident visa interview and for submitting all the required documents.
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
- Applicants for long term resident visa for the Czech Republic are not automatically elligible to be nominated for fast track interviews. CZU International Relations Office reserves the right to nominate students for the Regime Student at its own discretion and is not legaly bound to nominate a student, particularly when the student is not reccommended for nomination by the Study Office and/or International Relations Office at one of the CZU Faculties.
- A nomination for the Regime Student is by no means a guarantee that the applicant will actually receive a long term resident student visa.
- Only CZU International Relations Office is entitled to send nominations for Regime Student to the Ministry of Education, Sport and Youth.
- The nominations and prepared by the relevant faculty study coordinators who provide the necessary support documents to the CZU IRO.
- Applicants for long term resident visa are not entitled to nominate themselves and have no legal right to be nominated.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION:
The Czech University of Life Sciences Prague is part of the Regime Student programme - a joint programme of the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Interior for accelerating the visa process for applicants for study at CZU from countries included in the Regime Student. CZU may nominate applicants to the Regime Student if their citizenship corresponds to the countries falling within the consular competence of embassies (see the list here). Applicants can participate in the Regime Student only in the country of which they are citizens. E.g. an applicant with Indian citizenship living in Russia may be included in the Student Regime only for the embassy in India, not in Russia.
The application for inclusion of applicants in the Regime Student is NOT SUBMITTED BY THE STUDENT, but by the university. The ADMITTING FACULTY must prepare the following documents (applies to students admitted to study the full degree study programme):
(a) decision on admission to study;
b) documents proving the verification of previous education and its provider.
These documents are usually prepared by the Study Department of the Faculty for programs in the Czech language and the Department of International Relations of the Faculty for programs in the English language.
For more information or in case of a request for nomination, contact your faculty (Study Department of the Faculty for Programs in the Czech Language and Department of International Relations of the Faculty for Programs in the English Language).
A visa for a stay of over 90 days (long-term)
All the information for incoming Erasmus/exchange students can be found here.
Complete information about the visa procedure can be found at the webpage of the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic.
An application for a long-term visa for over 90 days can be submitted at a Czech Embassy abroad. You are obliged to submit the application only at the Czech Embassy in the state of which you are a citizen or which issued your current travel document or in the state in which you have a long-term or permanent residence permit. You do not have to meet these conditions if you are a citizen of a state presented in the list of countries whose nationals are entitled to submit an application for a long-term visa at any Czech Embassy whatsoever (Decree No. 429/2010 Coll.).
An application for a long-term visa can only be submitted inside the Czech Republic in legally set cases.
You should submit the application on the completed form along with all the necessary requirements laid down by law.
Along with the application for a long-term visa, you must submit:
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a travel document (original),
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1 photograph; not necessary if a pictorial recording has been made of the foreign national,
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a Consent of parents or any other statutory representative or guardian to the permanent residence of a child in the Czech Republic. Consent of a parent is not required, if the parent, statutory representative or guardian making the request for a child, will stay with a child in the territory and if foreign national proves that he/she is unable to declare consent due to reasons beyond his / her control,
upon request you are further obliged to submit
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a document similar to an extract from the Penal Register record, issued by the state of which you are a citizen, as well as the states in which, in the last 3 years, you have resided continuously for a period longer than 6 months, or a signed affidavit in the event that this state does not issue such a document (not required from a foreign national under 15 years).
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a document proving the fulfilment of conditions set out in the measure of Ministry of Health on prevention of the spread of infectious illnesses.
Travel document, a document confirming the purpose of stay and registrar documents (birth certificate, marriage certificate) shall be submitted in original. A certified copy is not sufficient for this purpose.
If your application is approved, prior to affixing the visa, you are obliged to submit a proof of medical travel insurance that corresponds to the specified conditions (not required if the foreign national subscribes to public health insurance or if the costs for health care are covered on the basis of an international agreement or if the foreign national can demonstrate that health care is covered in another manner), and, upon request, a document on paying the insurance presented in the proof of medical travel insurance.
Application procedure
The Czech Embassy is only competent for receiving an application for a long-term visa, the competent body for processing it is the MOI. During the procedure, the Czech Embassy communicates with the applicant, invites him/her for a hearing or calls on him/her to pick up the visa.
The application procedures are governed by the Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals (pdf, 1.9 MB), the Administrative Procedure Code (pdf, 549 kB), and any other associated acts.
Czech Embassy may invite you for an interview, request that you complete the requirements for the application; likewise, the Czech Embassy is entitled to take your fingerprints or take a pictorial record of you.