Useful advice

LONG-TERM VISA FOR THE PURPOSE OF FAMILY REUNIFICATION

You can apply for long-term visa for the purpose of family reunification (hereinafter “family reunification”) if you are:

spouse of a foreign national in possession of residence permit;
minor child or adult dependent child of an adult in possession of a residence permit;
minor child or adult dependent child of a spouse of a foreign national in possession of a residence permit;
minor foreign national, who was entrusted into custody to a foreign national or in possession of a residence permit or to his/her spouse by a decision of a competent authority; or who was adopted by a foreign national in possession of a residence permit or his/her spouse, or whose guardian or guardian’s spouse is a foreign national in possession of a residence permit, if the minor will be taken care of in the Czech Republic;
a solitary foreign national older than 65 years old or, regardless of age, a solitary foreign national who is objectively unable to provide for their own need on account of their state of health if it concerns family reunification with a parent or a child with a residence permit.

Foreign nationals are entitled to apply for long-term visa for the purpose of family reunification even when they reunify with a family member who is not in possession of permanent or long-term residence permit who does not reside in the Czech Republic for at least 15 months. If you want to apply for long-term residence for the purpose of family reunification, these conditions shall be fulfilled.

Application requirements:

completed application form;
2 photographs;
travel document;
documentary evidence of the family relationship (the original or licensed copy of the document which proves the kindred relationship to the family reunification sponsor (such as birth certificate, marriage certificate; a document on dependence of a child, a document on guardianship, a document on a foreign national being solitary or his/her health status);
proof of accommodation during the residence;
document proofing enough finance for the residence
parental consent, or consent of any statutory representative or guardian with the residence of a child in the Czech Republic, if the application does not concern family reunification with this parent, statutory representative or guardian;

The foreigner is obliged to provide:

document equivalent to extract from the criminal record issued by the • state of origin of the foreigner, and by states where he/she resided in the last 3 years for a continuous period exceeding 6 months, or an affirmation in lieu in case the state does not issue such document (not required from a foreign person under 15 years of age),
document proving the fulfilment of conditions set out in the measures on prevention of spread of infectious illnesses.

After positive processing of the application, you are obliged to submit a document on travel health insurance,complacent with the set out conditions, to an embassy of the Czech Republic, (not required if the foreigner is covered by public health insurance or if the healthcare costs are covered according to an international treaty or if the foreigner proves that the healthcare costs are covered otherwise), and upon request a proof insurance payment indicated on the travel health insurance document.

More information on long-term visa for the purpose of family reunification, requirements of the application and other details is here.

LONG-TERM RESIDENCE FOR THE PURPOSE OF FAMILY REUNIFICATION

You can apply for the long term residence permit for the purpose of family reunification (hereinafter “family reunification”) if you are:

spouse of a foreign national in possession of residence permit;
minor child or adult dependent child of an adult in possession of a residence permit;
minor child or adult dependent child of a spouse of a foreign nationl in possession of a residence permit;
minor foreign national, who was entrusted into custody to a foreign national or in possession of a residence permit or to his or her spouse by a decision of competent authority; or who was adopted by a foreign national in possession of a residence permit or his or her spouse, or whose legal guardian or guardian’s spouse is a foreign national in possession of a residence permit, if the minor will be taken care of in the Czech Republic;
a solitary foreign national older than 65 years old or, regardless of age, a solitary foreign national who is objectively unable to provide for their own need on account of their state of health if it concerns family reunification with a parent or a child with a residence permit.

Foreign nationals are entitled to apply for long-term residence permit for the purpose of family reunification only when they reunify with a family member who is a holder of permanent or long-term residence permit and has resided in the Czech Republic for a period exceeding 15 months; as regards reunification of spouses, each of them must be at least 20 years of age, If these criteria are not met, the foreign national can only apply for long-term visa for the purpose of family reunification.

You shall apply for the long-term residence for the purpose of family reunification at an embassy. If you already are in the Czech Republic on the basis of a visa for over 90 days or a long-term residence permit issued for a different purpose, the application for the long-term residence permit for the purpose of family reunification in the Czech Republic can be filed in the regional office of the Ministry of the Interior foreign nationals residence department.

Application requirements:

completed application form;
2 photographs;
travel document;
documentary evidence of the family relationship (birth certificate, marriage certificate);
proof of accommodation during the residence;
parental consent, or consent of any statutory representative or guardian with the residence of a child in the Czech Republic, if the application does not concern family reunification with this parent, statutory representative or guardian;
a document proving that the aggregate monthly household income of the family after reunification will not be lower than (1) the sum of the subsistence minimums of all family members and (2) the sum of the highest amount of normative housing costs established for the purposes of the housing benefit by a separate regulation or the amount which you can credibly prove as an amount of reasonably justified costs for the accommodation of the family; form of the document is not explicitly provided by law. For more information, please contact Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic.
extract from the criminal record as a material for evaluating your criminal record issues by your state of origin, or by a state where you resided in the last three years for a continuous period exceeding 6 months, or an affirmation in lieu in case the state does not issue such document – foreign document must be appropriately verified (unless regulated otherwise by an international agreement binding for the Czech Republic) and officially translated into Czech;
consent of parents, or other statutory representatives or guardians, with the residence of the minor; the consent is not required when the parent, statutory representative or guardian filed the application himself/herself, and also when the foreign national proves that he/she cannot present the consent for reasons beyond his/her control;
travel health insurance – of not less than 60, 000 EUR covering the Czech Republic (the insurance shall be presented before affixing the visa into the passport)
paying administrative fee for the application (500 CZK).
upon request of the Institute of Public Health a document proving the fulfilment of conditions set out in the measure on prevention of the spread of infectious illnesses;

Personal appearance of the applicant for the long-term residence permit is necessary.

The requirements shall not be older than 180 days, except for the travel document, birth certificate, marriage certificate and the photograph of the foreign national if it corresponds to his/her actual appearance. All requirements except for the travel document must be in Czech (in Czech or accompanied by an official translation into Czech).

The Institute of Public Health is entitled to interview the applicant. If the applicant has been interviewed, the Institute of Public Health shall write a record which the applicant will then sign. Please note that the application proceedings are in Czech and therefore the records are also written in Czech. If you do not understand Czech, we kindly recommend you to bring an interpreter.

The time limit for issuing a decision on an application for a long-term residence permit for the purpose of family reunification is 270 days from the day of submitting the application.

More information about long-term residence, requirements and other details are here.

How to calculate and prove availability of funds for the purpose of long-term visa?

For the purposes of a long term visa (apart from business), foreign nation is obliged to prove availability of funds that are 15 times the amount of existential minimum (currently equals 2,200 CZK according to Government Regulation) for the first month and double the amount of existential minimum for every month afterwards of the intended stay, for example:

For a stay from 1.1.-30.6., it would be (15*2,200) + (5*2*2,200) = 33,000 + 22,000 = 55,000 CZK

A foreign national under 18 years of age proves availability of half the amount.

If it concerns a long-term visa for the purpose of business, the foreign national is obliged to prove availability of financial resources that are least 50 times the amount of the existential minimum, i.e. 50*2,200 = 110,000 CZK

To receive long term visa, you must properly demonstrate availability of the funds by for example:

a bank account statement for an account maintained in a bank or other financial institution (not necessarily a bank or financial institution licensed to operate its business solely in the territory of the Czech Republic) in the foreign national’s name indicating that he/she is free to use the finances in the required amount during his/her stay in the Czech Republic. The submitted document must clearly indicate that the foreign national is entitled to use the requisite funds in the Czech Republic. Should it not be clear that the foreign national has the requisite financial resources at his/her disposal (e.g. in case of a foreign bank account), he/she will be required to provide further evidence, e.g. an internationally recognised payment card issued for the bank account in question.
another document on financial security demonstrating that the foreign national has the required amount of
financial resources at his/her disposal, or that he/she has secured funds to cover the costs associated with his/her stay in the territory
valid internationally recognized payment card, as long as it is not exempt from use in the Czech Republic. Upon request of an administrative body, the foreigner is obliged to simultaneously submit a statement from a bank account maintained in a bank or other financial institution, indicating that he/she is free to use the finances in the specified amount during his/her stay in the territory.

A foreign national who will study in the Czech Republic (i.e. is applying for a residence permit for the purpose of “studies” pursuant to § 64 of the ARFN) can submit the proof of funds in form of a pledge issued by a state body or legal entity that they will secure the foreign national’s stay in the Czech Republic by providing financial means amounting to the existential minimum for 1 month of the expected stay, or a document that all of the costs associated with his/her stay will be covered by the recipient organisation (school).

The document on securing funds for the stay can be substituted for by a confirmation of payment for services related to residence of the foreign national in the Czech Republic or by a confirmation that the services will be provided free of charge or by presenting and invitation verified by Alien Police.

How to calculate and prove aggregate monthly household income for a family for the purpose of long-term residence?

The funds for the purpose of long-term residence shall be proved by a document proving aggregate monthly income of the applicant and of the persons jointly appraised with him/her residing in the Czech Republic (on aggregate monthly income of the family after reunification, if it concerns long-term resident for the purpose of family reunification).

The amount of the aggregate monthly income of the foreign national and the persons appraised with him/her, may not be lower than the sum of the amounts for the existential minimum for the foreign national and the persons appraised with him/her (family members) according to the below criteria and the corresponding amount of the normative costs for housing or the amount of actually proven housing costs.

For these purposes, it is necessary to prove the aggregate monthly income of a foreign national, which also meets the requirements of a regular and continuous income. Thus, the submission of a single account statement on the account’s balance cannot be considered proof of such an income.

Document on the income of other family members is not required in case the applicant´s income fully covers the amount required by the Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals.

Jointly assessed persons:

parents and minor dependent children,
spouses or partners; a partner is also understood to be a partner, with whom a citizen of an EU Member State has entered into a registered partnership on the basis of the legal regulations of another EU Member State, if these legal regulations govern the mutual maintenance obligations between the partners,
parents and
minor children who are not dependent,
adult children, if these children live together with their parents in a flat; this does not apply in a case when these adult children are jointly appraised with a spouse or partner or with a person with whom they live in the flat (if they do not declare in writing that they do not live together permanently and do not cover the costs for their needs jointly),
other persons that live together in a flat, with the exception of persons that prove, that they do not live together permanently and do not cover the costs for their needs jointly, if these persons that are jointly appraised with the foreign national reside in the territory.

If the applicant is a parent of a minor dependent child, who has been entrusted to the custody of the other parent by a decision of a relevant authority, this child is not appraised with the applicant. If the applicant is a child that lives in a joint household with just one parent, the other parent is not a jointly appraised person. For the purposes of the application, alimentary payments paid to the child by the other parent, who does not live with the child in a joint household, are counted as the child’s income.

The amount of the subsistence minimum

The amount of the subsistence minimum for a foreign national who is not appraised together with other persons is 3,410 CZK.

The amount of the subsistence minimum for a foreign national who is appraised together with other persons is determined according the order of the persons. The order of the persons appraised is determined so that persons who are not dependent children are appraised first, followed by dependent children. Within each of these groups of appraised persons, the order is determined by age from the oldest to the youngest person. The decisive age of a person for determining the amount of the subsistence minimum is the age of the person in the calendar month during which the existential minimum is ascertained.

The amount of the subsistence minimum of a person who is considered to be the first in order is 3,140 CZK per month.

The amount of the subsistence minimum of a person who is considered to be the second or the third in order is

2,830 CZK per month for a person over 15 years old who is not a dependent child
2,450 CZK per month for a dependent child from 15 to 26 years old
2,140 CZK per month for a dependent child from 6 to 15 years old
1,740 CZK per month for a dependent child up to 6 years old.

Housing costs

7,731 CZK for one person,
11,114 CZK for two persons in a family,
15,114 CZK for three persons in a family,
18 947 Kč for four and more persons in a family.

If the foreign national credibly proves that for his/her housing and, if needs be, that of the persons jointly appraised (family members) he/she invests a different amount than that determined as the amount of normative costs for housing, the necessary monthly income is calculated by adding the amounts of the existential minimums (see above) and the actually proven housing costs.

Housing costs consist of the rent or another sum of money paid for the provision of housing and further the costs for gas, electricity, water, waste water and central heating or for solid fuel, if these costs are not included in the rent for the flat or another room intended for housing, or alternatively in the amount paid for accommodation.

The calculation is quite complicated, therefore feel free to contact our lawyer who will be happy to help you. More information on how to prove income and other information on aggregate montly family income for the purpose of long-term residence is here.

MATERNITY LEAVE

First, we would like to emphasize that from the legal point of view, maternity leave and parental leave are considered to be serious impediments to work on the employee’s side; furthermore, maternity and parental leave are regarded as work.

You are entitled to maternity leave if you are an earner and you lost your income because of pregnancy, childbirth and subsequent childcare.

Maternity leave lasts 28 weeks and it begins 8 to 6 weeks before the expected childbirth. If you give birth to two or more children, maternity leave lasts 37 weeks. However, maternity leave related to childbirth must not be shorter than 14 weeks and it cannot end or be interrupted earlier than 6 weeks after the day of the childbirth.

Your employer must keep your post for you for the entire duration of the maternity leave. As soon as you return to work, your employer is obliged to give you the same job at the same workplace. If it is not possible (for example the company’s establishment or business premises were cancelled), you can be given a different post; however, the new post must correspond with the post stated in the employment contract.

Maternity allowance is a financial benefit that you will receive during your maternity leave. It will be paid from the health insurance system. The exact amount of the benefit is determined by law; curretly, it is 70 % of your reduced daily assessment base of a calendar day. The definite amount is always calculated by a relevant regional office of the Czech Social Security Administration.

You are entitled to maternity allowance if you meet two conditions:

you are legally employed on the day of the beginning of the maternity leave and you have social insurance (or if you are in the so called protection period – see below) and
you have paid health insurance for at least 270 days in the last two years before this day.

If you are self-employed, you have to pay sickness insurance (nemocenské pojištění) as a self-employed person for at least 180 calendar days before the beginning of the maternity leave.

If your insured employment ended during your pregnancy, the protection period for the entitlement for financial maternity benefits lasts as many days as your last employment lasted, maximum 180 calendar days.

You shall give your claim for maternity benefit (usually issued by your doctor) to your employer. The employer will send it to the relevant regional office (Prague) of the Czech Social Security Administration. You will be informed about the benefit itself, about the amount and about the duration in a written notice. If you do not agree with the amount of the benefit, the social security administration will issue a decision upon your request and you can challenge this decision. You can start receiving the benefit as late as 7 days after termination of of your employment (in the protection period). We would like to emphasize that unemployed women are not entitled to this benefit! They usually receive parental benefit.

You can also take turns is childcare with your husband or with father of the child. This must be stated in a written agreement. Both of you are then entitled to a part of the financial maternity benefits. Alternation is possible from the beginning of the 7^th week after birth and you can take turns as often as you want to. However, men must take care of the child for at least 7 consecutive calendar days.

PARENTAL LEAVE

Similarly to maternity leave, parental leave is regarded as a serious impediment to work on the employer’s side. According to the law, parental leave is aimed to intensify childcare. You can take parental leave after maternity leave, but maximum until the child is 3 years old. The employer must oblige and after the parental leave, they must employ you again; however, it doesn’t have to be the same position, such as in the case of maternity leave. You are entitled only to a position corresponding the kind of work determined by the employment contract.

If you would like to take parental leave until the child is 4 years old, you must agree on that with your employer. Father of the child can take parental leave immediately after the child is born. He doesn’t have to be your husband but he must be registered in the birth certificate of the child. Only one of the parents can take parental leave, not both consecutively!

If you are not entitled for maternity leave and maternity benefit, you can take parental leave immediately after childbirth and apply for parental benefit.

Parental benefit is a state social support benefit; you can obtain it for example during your parental leave. It is paid regardless of your income. However, it must not be higher than 70 % of your previous income and it must not exceed 11,500 CZK per month.

If you fulfil statutory conditions, you can receive parental benefits for two, three or four years. Those who receive higher benefits will of course exhaust them earlier.

The law requires some foreign nationals to fulfil the condition of the continuous year-long residence in the Czech Republic.

The period in which the person is an applicant for international protection accommodated in the accommodation centre of the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic. Only persons and jointly assessed persons who are registered for permanent residence (citizens) or who permanently reside (foreigners) in the Czech Republic and have their address here are entitled to the benefits.

If the benefit claim is rejected due to not fulfilling the condition of the continuous residence and it has serious negative effect, the relevant regional authority may in duly justified cases waive the condition of continuous residence.

The beneficiaries also include EU citizens.

The period of receiving parental benefit does not have to be indentical with the period of parental leave. A parent who duly takes care of the youngest child in the family in person all day for the whole calendar month is entitled to the parental benefit, as late as until the child is 4 years old. The condition of taking care for the whole calendar month is considered fulfilled even if it is in fact not, i.e. in following situations:

a child under 2 years attends nursery or similar facility for maximum 46 hours per calendar month;
a child under 2 years regularly attends medical rehabilitation facility or kindergarten or a class of kindergarten for disabled children or nursery for children with sight, hearing and speech issues and for disabled and mentally retarded children for maximum 4 hours per day;
long-term disabled child or long term seriously disabled child younger than 2 years regularly attends pre-school facility for maximum 6 hours per day;
a child whose single parent or both parents depend on help of another person can attend nursery, kindergarten or similar facility for pre-school children for maximum 4 hours per day;
a child older than 2 years attends kindergarten or similar institution without restriction.

It is important to know that income of the parents are not monitored. It is therefore possible to work full-time or part-time when claiming parental benefits. However, some other adult (grandmother, nanny) must take care of the child.

As parents, you can choose the amount of the benefit and therefore also length of the period when you receive it:

“faster benefits” – provided until the child is 2 years old, maximum 11,500 CZK per month. Only parents who are entitled to maternity benefits can apply for this form of benefits.
“classic benefits” – basic amount is 7,600 CZK per month for 31 months; only parents who are entitled to maternity benefits can apply for this form of benefits.
“slower benefits” – provided even if the parents were not entitled to maternity benefits, the basic amount (7,600 CZK per month) until the child is 9 months old and further the lower amount (3,800 CZK per month) until the child is 48 months old. The four year long parental benefits is aimed for mothers without health insurance (i.e. unemployed mothers or students), if the father also does not fulfil the conditions for parental benefits.

You shall apply for the time and amount of benefits at the regional office of the Labour Office of the Czech Republic (social department) which is relevant according to the permanent residence address of the beneficiary. The application must be written in a special form. The relevant office is determined according to the permanent residence of the parent. At the labour office, you must present your ID, fill in the form, present the documents for the purpose of the daily assessment basis (for example acknowledgement of income from your employer) and the birth certificate of your child.

The period of drawing the parental benefit and the amount can change every three months, if you or the father of your child participated in the health insurance system. If you did not, you will receive the benefit according to the “slow benefits” system.

Once more, we would like to emphasise that mothers who draw all the parental benefits before the end of their parental leave will not get any benefits till the end of the parental leave. However, they do not have to pay health and social insurance until the end of the parental leave. The health insurance will be covered by the state. If you take care of your child in person, it counts as substitute insurance period; you do not pay the insurance but is is taken into consideration for calculation of your pension. The insurance is also paid by the state for mothers who decide to take care of the child for longer time – until the child is 7 years old when the mother has one child, until the child/children are 15 years old when the mother has more than one child. You must inform the relevant office of the social security administration, where you will fill in an application form. You also need to apply for the state-paid insurance at the office of your health insurance company. These rights of course also apply to the fathher of the children if they take care fo them.

On the birth of another child, your entitlement for the parental benefit for the older child extinguishes, even when the benefit you are entitled to for the born child is of the same amount as the benefit for the older child. You must report the change to the relevant office to prevent overpayment of the benefit.

If you are entitled to receive parental benefit as well as care benefit (e. g. if the child is disabled) for the youngest child, you will be allowed to receive both of the benefits upon written request.

COMPULSORY SCHOOL

In the Czech Republic, the school attendance is compulsory. It means that children between 6 – 17 years old must attend school for 9 years. It is compulsory not only for Czech citizens but also for all children who are long-term residents in the Czech Republic, including children of foreign nationals! If the child is not mature for school attendance, it is possible to apply for a pedagogical and psychological examination and for postponement of the school attendance for the next school year.

If the child who should attend scholl would not attend, you would commit an administrative infraction for which a fine of maximum 3,000 CZK might be imposed on you; more serious cases might be regarded as a crime.

The law obliges legal representatives to send the child to school and the law also obliges schools to accept the child. We have not noticed any cases of school refunsing to accept a child of a foreign national. However, if your child were refused, contact our lawyer who will be ready to help you and to defend your rights.

PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION

Pre-school education supports personal development of children of pre-school age, it contributes to their emotional, intellectual and physical development and to learning about basic behaviour rules, fundamental life values and interpersonal relationships. Pre-school education constituted the basis for following school education.

In principle, it is intended for children between 3 to 6 years old. The decision of accepting the child into the kindergarten is made by its headmaster. The child can be accepted even in the course of the school year.

It is good to know that children who have only have one year to start school education have priority. If the child who has one year until he/she reaches school age are not accepted due to capacity constraints, the municipality of the child’s permanent residence must provide a place in another kindergarten.

In relation to “child’s permanent residence” which is defined by the law we came across misinterpretations of this provision. Children of foreign nationals were rejected with an explanation that they do not reside permanently in the municipality and therefore they are not entitled to a place in the kindergrated guaranteed by the municipality. The numerous disputes we have won have confirmed that this interpretation is wrong because for Czech citizens, permanent residence only means officially registered address of residence. Foreign nationals (especially from third countries) do not have possibility to have it. Permanent residence of foreign nationals is an authorisation to stay, and not all foreign nationals have it and must have it. If your child is not accepted for pre-school education, even though your official address registered at the Ministry of the Interior is in the particular municipality, contact us and we will be happy to help you with this issue within our legal counselling services.

More information about pre-school education is here