Residence in Czechia: one mandatory report, one voluntary certificate
As an EU citizen you may live in Czechia without a permit, and the registration certificate is voluntary. That is exactly why everyone misses the one obligation there is: whoever stays longer than thirty days reports to the Foreign Police within thirty days. And in practice you need the voluntary certificate anyway — for your personal number, the bank and the car.
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Written and checked by Auke on , against the sources at the bottom. Is something no longer right? Report it below and I'll fix it.
As a Dutch citizen you may live in Czechia without a permit, and registering your residence there is voluntary. Most EU countries don't do that. It sounds convenient, but it is a pitfall.
Two things to know in advance:
- There is one obligation, and almost everyone misses it. Whoever stays longer than thirty days reports to the Foreign Police within thirty days, on pain of a fine of up to 3,000 crowns.
- The voluntary paper is the key. The registration certificate costs 200 crowns and is valid for ten years. In practice it is the route to your Czech personal number.
What is compulsory, and what isn't?
| Report (Foreign Police) | Registration certificate (Ministry of the Interior) | |
|---|---|---|
| Compulsory? | yes, for a stay of more than 30 days | no, it's up to you |
| Deadline | within 30 days of entry | whenever you like, for a stay of more than 3 months |
| Cost | free | 200 Kč |
| What you get | your stay is registered at your address | a 10-year certificate, and your rodné číslo |
| Processing | — | at most 30 days |
The one obligation: reporting within thirty days
Whoever stays in Czechia as an EU citizen for longer than thirty days reports within thirty days of entry to the Foreign Police department of their place of residence. It is the police's own form and it costs nothing.
Two exceptions: children under fifteen don't have to, and whoever stays in a hotel or guesthouse is reported by the operator.
How the report works further, and why it doesn't give you a personal number, is in rodné číslo and the reporting duty in Czechia.
The voluntary certificate: why would you apply for it?
The registration certificate for EU citizens is not a condition for being allowed to live there. The government writes literally that it is up to you whether you apply for it.
But the ministry itself names three reasons to do it anyway:
- With the application, an employee requests your rodné číslo ex officio (on their own initiative), the personal number that schools, banks, insurers and doctors ask for.
- The certificate helps you prove after five years how long you have lived there, for permanent residence.
- According to the ministry it makes many administrative procedures significantly easier.
With the certificate you can also vote in municipal and European elections.
What do you bring?
- the completed application form;
- your passport or identity card;
- proof of the purpose of your stay if that is work, business or study;
- proof of health insurance if your purpose is study, family or something else; whoever works or runs a business doesn't need to bring it;
- proof of accommodation in Czechia, such as your rental agreement;
- a photo.
For pensioners the S1 is the proof of insurance. The registration at a Czech health insurer doesn't need to be done yet for this (see healthcare in Czechia). All documents must be originals or officially certified copies.
Documents older than 180 days don't count. Except your passport, your certificates and your photo, no attached document may be older than a hundred and eighty days. Whoever arranges their rental agreement or proof of insurance in spring and only applies in autumn starts again. And the application can't be made from abroad: you file it in Czechia.
How do you submit it?
You have four options:
- at the counter of the Ministry of the Interior in your district;
- by post;
- via a datová schránka, the official digital mailbox for post from the government;
- by e-mail with a recognised electronic signature.
Making an appointment saves time but is not compulsory.
The ministry decides within at most thirty days. If something is missing, you get a letter saying what to supply, and the time limit stops. If the application is rejected, you have fifteen days to appeal. If it is approved, you collect the certificate within thirty days.
The certificate is valid for ten years and cannot be extended. After that you apply for a new one, or for permanent residence.
After five years
After five years of continuous residence in Czechia you can apply for permanent residence as an EU citizen. You do that in person at the ministry counter, and the fee is again 200 crowns.
The police report and the registration certificate are then the proof of your years. One more reason to have both in order.
In Vertrekklaar this is phase 1 of 5 of the journey, step 1.1: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Czechia or go straight to step 1.1 in the open plan.
What this rests on
The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change. When in doubt, go by the source, not this article.
- Gov.cz — the reporting duty of EU citizens to the Foreign Police — portal.gov.cz
- Gov.cz — the registration certificate of an EU citizen — portal.gov.cz
- Your Europe — residence rights of EU citizens — europa.eu
- Information Portal for Foreigners — the registration certificate, documents, fee and time limits — ipc.gov.cz
- Information Portal for Foreigners — which proof of health insurance counts for EU citizens, including the S1 — ipc.gov.cz
- Information Portal for Foreigners — permanent residence of an EU citizen — ipc.gov.cz
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