Residence Permit for EU and EFTA Nationals

Thankfully, student visas are now a thing of the past for EU and EFTA nationals. If you are citizen of an EU or an EFTA country you do not need to apply for a visa. It is enough for you to register with the Czech Immigration Police within 30 days of your arrival (this is a legal requirement).

Students from the EU and EFTA are also entitled (but not obliged) to apply for a short-term residence permit. Students with a short-term residence permit receive a special card (known as a European Card) which officially states their address in the Czech Republic, and which can therefore be used for many transactions in which official proof of a Czech address is necessary (opening a bank account, purchase of a mobile phone on a contract, etc.) However, it can take up to 180 days for applications to be processed. We therefore do not recommend this for students who are staying in Prague less than two semesters.

To apply for a Residence Permit you will need:

• A valid travel document (generally your passport)
• A document confirming the purpose of your stay (e.g. an acceptance letter from the university)
• 2 passport photos
• A certificate of health insurance (form E-111 or something similar), or your European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)
• A declaration that you will not be receiving social welfare payments whilst in the Czech Republic
• A housing voucher from your dorm, or other document to confirm the address of your accommodation (if living in private housing)
• Completed application form

With the exception of travel documents, registry data, and photographs, documents must be no more than 180 days old, and all foreign-language documents must be officially translated into Czech.

Citizens of Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein are treated in the same way as EU naionals.

Student Visas for Non-EU Nationals

Unfortunately, students from non-EU or non-EFTA countries who wish to stay in the Czech Republic for more than 90 days, will continue to need a student visa. This includes students from EU candidate countries, and from countries whose citizens do not need a visa in order to enter the Czech Republic as a tourist (e.g. the USA). In most cases it will also include foreign nationals who are currently resident in another EU country.

Under current Czech immigration legislation, applications for student visas must be submitted to the Czech Embassy or Consulate in the student's country of origin before their departure for Prague. It is not possible to apply for a visa on the territory of the Czech Republic, or even to pick up a visa you have previously applied for. Charles University cannot and will not register students from non-EU/non-EFTA countries who do not have a student visa, even if they are able to enter the country without a visa as a tourist. The price of the visa fee depends on the country where you are applying.

Visa applications must be made at the nearest Czech Consulate, usually in the student's country of residence, or in a designated near-by country, if there is no consulate in the student's country itself. Processing time is often as much as 8-10 weeks, so make sure you apply in good time. Even when you have the visa you are legally obliged to register with the Prague office of the Czech Immigration Police within 3 days of your arrival.

What you will need to apply for a student visa:

• Completed Schengen Visa Application Form. Forms are available at every Czech consulate, and in pdf from the  Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs website 
• Valid passport, with the date of expiry extending at least three months beyond the date of your projected departure from the Czech Republic
• Letter of acceptance (supplied by our company)
• Document containing the specific address where you will be living in the Czech Republic (supplied by our company)
• Evidence of financial support (can be supplied by our company on your name)
• Evidence of health insurance. Note: the regulations regarding acceptable forms of health insurance for foreign nationals in the Czech Republic changed in January 2010. Please see our  Health Insurance Czech Republic information page.
• 1 passport photograph
• Confirmation from the authorities in your home country that you do not have a criminal record, including a Czech translation. In addition, if you have resided in a third country for a continuous period of more than six months at any time within the last three years, you will also be required to provide evidence regarding your lack of a criminal record from this third country

As in the case of the residence permit for EU nationals (above), all documents (with the exception of travel documents, registry data, and photographs) must be no more than 180 days old, and all foreign-language documents must be officially translated into Czech (supplied by our company).

The visa, in the form of a sticker placed in your passport, will generally be issued by the Consulate in 60-70 days (though in some cases it can take up to 90).

For general information regarding visa and immigration issues, you may also like to check the information from  Czech Ministry of the Interior website