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Citizens' Rights

Existing residence rights arising from the Withdrawal Agreement will be maintained for the United Kingdom (UK) citizens who have legally resided in the territory of the Czech Republic before 31 December 2020. Legal residence can be proven primarily through a certificate of temporary residence, or permanent residence permit issued for the UK citizens before 1 February 2020, or a residence document issued after 1 February 2020 in the same format. For this reason, it is important for all UK citizens who have been long-term residents in the territory of the Czech Republic to hold a temporary residence certificate or, in case of citizens residing in the territory of the Czech Republic for over 5 years, a permanent residence permit after 31 December 2020.

The temporary or permanent residence certificate can be requested at the Ministry of the Interior by 31 December 2020. For those residing legally, it will be possible to submit the application after 1 January 2021 as well. However, a longer examination process of these applications can be expected.

Visa

UK citizens travelling to the Czech Republic after 31 December 2020 will fall into the third country citizens’ category. For stays in the territory of the Czech Republic exceeding 90 days the UK citizens will have to request a long-term visa or long-term residence at the diplomatic mission of the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic will start accepting the applications for the entitlement to long-term residence from UK citizens on 1 January 2021.

The UK citizens will be entitled to submit the long-term residence applications at all diplomatic missions of the Czech Republic abroad, i.e. the applications can be submitted not only through the Czech embassy in London, but also at other diplomatic embassies of the Czech Republic within the EU, e.g. in Berlin, Brussels, Bucharest, Dublin, Sofia, Warsaw, Vienna or Zagreb.

As far as short-term stays not exceeding 90 days during any 180-days period are concerned, UK citizens will be obliged to apply for a Schengen visa only if they travel to the territory of the Czech Republic to perform profit-making activities. The above mentioned period includes stay in both the Czech Republic and other countries of the Schengen area.

COVID-19

Please be aware that due to the EU coordination on temporary travel restrictions from third countries to EU+, after 1 January 2021 UK citizens might be allowed to travel to the EU/Czech Republic only in justified cases. If, due to the unfavourable epidemiological situation, the UK is not listed as a safe country from epidemiological perspective, persons who do not hold a residence permit or do not fall into the exempt categories will not be able to travel to the Czech Republic at all.

Border Regime

With effect from 1 January 2021, UK nationals and British citizens benefitting from the Withdrawal Agreement will not be able to undergo border checks at the designated EU/EHP/CH checkpoints. The border checkpoints are sufficiently staffed, nevertheless, longer waiting times in the checkpoints queues can be expected.

Current information can be found on the website of the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic here.

The CU Staff Welcome Center team is ready to provide you more information, instructions and a list of documents for a long-term residence permit.

Source: Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic