Legalization in Czechia for foreigners

The extension for 2026 has two steps, which many people do not know about. The first step — online registration by March 15, 2026 — only provided protection until September 30, 2026. The second step — appearing in person for a visa stamp by September 30, 2026 — is what extends the protection until March 31, 2027.

The key misunderstanding is that if you only completed the first step, your protection does not 'remain as it was.' It ends on September 30, 2026. Online registration alone does not lead to protection until March 31, 2027 — you need a stamp in your passport.

The Ministry of the Interior (MVS) directly warns: 'Na nový termín není právní nárok' — there is no legal right to a new appointment, and branch capacities are not guaranteed. This means you should not expect to find an available slot in the last weeks of September: you need to secure a date in advance.

Separately: On July 15, 2026, EU ambassadors agreed to extend temporary protection until March 4, 2028, but this has not yet been formally approved — Czech law currently only recognizes the date of March 31, 2027. Plan according to the current date, and check the procedure and booking at ipc.gov.cz.

Since May 12, 2025, a rule is in effect that everyone should know: if a person is registered at an administrative body's address (OAMP address) for 90 days, their temporary protection ends by law — § 5 para. 8 letter e) of Act No. 65/2022 Coll.

The most dangerous aspect here is not the time limit itself, but the silence. No decision is issued, and you are NOT notified. A person might believe everything is fine and only find out by accident — when their employer suddenly cannot hire them, or their insurance institution refuses coverage. The consequences are simple and severe: you cannot work, and you have no health insurance.

How this happens: The accommodation provider (ubytovatel) deregisters you, or the police do not find you at the address → the Ministry of the Interior (MVS) cancels your address → you are assigned the OAMP address → after 90 days, your protection disappears. No fault of yours is needed for this chain of events — it is enough not to know that it has started.

The only reliable protection is to periodically check your address in the citizen registry (registr obyvatel) yourself through the Citizen's Portal (Portál občana). And if you move, report your new address to the Ministry of the Interior (MVS) or KACPU within 3 working days (if you will live there for more than 15 days) — this is free for holders of temporary protection (DO). Details: ipc.gov.cz and MPSV.

Special long-term residence (Zvláštní dlouhodobý pobyt - ZDP) is not a free upgrade, but an exchange, and here's how it honestly looks. You get: 5 years of stability instead of annual renewals, no purpose of stay is needed, and most importantly — time spent on ZDP counts fully towards permanent residence (trvalý pobyt), while time on temporary protection (DO) only counts half.

You pay: the right to public health insurance (veřejné zdravotní pojištění) is maintained only if you are employed — self-employed individuals (OSVČ) and the unemployed switch to commercial insurance. The right to non-insurance benefits — humanitarian benefits (humanitární dávku) and humanitarian housing — is lost. And you fall under the '3 offenses in 12 months' rule (effective from 01.01.2026, Act No. 314/2025 Coll.), under which a residence permit can be canceled or not renewed; this rule does not apply to temporary protection (DO), and traffic violations do not count.

But the choice is actually narrower than it seems. You cannot apply for an employee card (zaměstnaneckou kartu) or another type of residence permit with only temporary protection (DO) — the only exception is provided by government regulation No. 308/2022 Coll. (applications at a foreign institution in Ukraine). This is why ZDP has become practically the only way forward: from ZDP, you can apply for study, a blue card (modrá karta), science, and family reunification.

In short: if you work officially and plan to stay for a long time, ZDP is likely in your favor. If you are not working or live on benefits — first calculate the loss of insurance and benefits, and only then apply. Conditions are available at ipc.gov.cz.

Conditions for round 2026 are calculated for the assessment date of April 1, 2026: continuous DO (temporary protection) for at least 2 years (not applicable to persons under 18); income of 440,000 CZK for the tax period 2025 plus another 110,000 CZK for each additional household member; health insurance for 2 continuous years and without debts as of March 31, 2026; you have not received humanitarian benefits from October 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026; criminal record, valid passport, registered residence (not an office address), and school for children aged 6–14. Important: how income is calculated – from turnover or taxable base – is critical for OSVČ (self-employed individuals), and the wording should be verified for your specific case on the portal, not from hearsay.

Two pieces of good news amidst the rest: Czech language is not needed at all for ZDP (special long-term residence) and the adaptation course “Vítejte v ČR” (Welcome to the Czech Republic) does not create this status either (§ 7w para. 4). Fees are moderate: 2,500 CZK for adults and 1,000 CZK for children under 15, with revenue stamps.

Two bad ones. The first: a debt with an insurance institution, paid retroactively, does not save the condition – there should have been no debt as of March 31, 2026. The second, more serious one: there is no legal right to ZDP (§ 7o para. 3) – fulfilling all conditions does not guarantee issuance, and § 7o para. 5 excludes the usual administrative process, so there will be no appeal.

Regarding chances – about one in five. In 2025, 81,873 people expressed interest, and only about 15–17 thousand met the conditions. In 2026, interest dropped significantly: 56,503 people, 33,415 households (−31%). And round 2027 is not guaranteed – each round requires a separate government decision. Conditions: ipc.gov.cz, statistics: mv.gov.cz.

Formally — 5 years of continuous stay (§ 68 of Act No. 326/1999 Coll.). The focus is on how these years are counted: time under temporary protection (DO) is counted only by half, and time under ZDP (special long-term residence) — fully (§ 7w para. 6 of Act No. 65/2022 Coll.).

Hence the unpleasant arithmetic. If you have been under DO since March 2022, by mid-2026 you will have accumulated about 4.3 years of actual life in the Czech Republic — but only about 2.2 years will be counted. To reach five counted years solely through DO, it would take about ten years. The working path to permanent residence is precisely through ZDP, where time counts one-to-one.

The second part is language. Czech language at A2 level is required, and this is important because outdated information about "A1" still appears online. The exam costs 3,200 CZK, the operator is NPI ČR. Structure: written part with 70 points (reading 25, writing 20, listening 25) and oral part with 40, passing score — 60%, i.e., 42 and 24. If you fail one part, you retake the whole exam, but the number of attempts is unlimited. From April 11, 2026, a new A2 format will be in effect: writing and speaking will change, but the level, passing score, and price remain the same.

And the most persistent myth: "the first attempt is free." It has not been free since January 1, 2024 — the Ministry of the Interior vouchers were canceled on August 31, 2023. Exempt from the exam are children under 15 and people over 60, as well as those who have studied for at least a year in a Czech school in the last 20 years. The application fee is 2,500 CZK (under 15 — 1,000 CZK), the decision period is 60 days, and 180 days if submitted from abroad.

It provides work without bureaucracy: access to the labor market is free, a separate permit is not required. The employer is only required to submit an information card to the labor office — no later than the day the work begins.

It provides access to public health insurance, but not indefinitely at the state's expense: the state pays for you only for a limited initial period, and then you pay yourself as OBZP (a person without registered insurance) — 3,024 CZK per month (2026). You must report a change in the payer to the insurance institution within 8 days, otherwise a debt will accrue — and this, by the way, blocks the path to ZDP (special long-term residence).

It does not provide a personal identification number (rodné číslo). Holders of DO (temporary protection) — like holders of ZDP — are not assigned one at all, § 7v of Act No. 65/2022 Coll. This is not an official's mistake or your oversight, and there is no point in asking for an exception. Instead, the insurance institution assigns a substitute insurance number — this is what is entered in forms where the field is called "rodné číslo".

And it does not provide freedom of movement within Schengen without restrictions: a maximum of 90 days in any 180-day period.

First — the correct website. The domain frs.gov.cz is no longer a portal: since July 1, 2023, it simply redirects to ipc.gov.cz. You cannot visit OAMP without an appointment. Client center — +420 974 801 801, operates Mon–Thu 8:00–16:00 and Fri 8:00–14:00.

You should know the appointment rules in advance: you can make an appointment from the age of 15; a verified account (NIA or BankID) allows up to 3 active appointments for 60 days, an unverified one — only one. An appointment can be canceled no later than 48 hours in advance. More than 10 cancellations in 90 days — a 90-day block; 3 no-shows in 180 days — a 180-day block.

Do not confuse two institutions: the card is issued by the immigration police (cizinecká policie), not OAMP, and their appointment portals are different — rezervace.policie.gov.cz for the police and ipc.gov.cz for OAMP.

And the main deadline that confuses people. Biometrics (face and fingerprints, except for children under 6) are taken once — and the 60 days to receive the card are counted from the day biometrics are taken (§ 117d), not from the day the card is manufactured. How long the manufacturing itself takes is not officially regulated: "14 days" and "a month" are folklore, not deadlines, so do not rely on them.