A record 813,000 people applied for a Czech visa in 2019

Prague, Feb 10 (CTK) – A record 813,000 people sought Czech visas in 2019, 12.7 percent more than in 2018, with fee revenues expected to reach one billion crowns, the Foreign Ministry reported in a press release today.

Most of the applications, 91 percent, were for the Schengen type of visas that allow the holder to travel between the countries in the Schengen Area without the need to go through inner border checks.

The success of these applications is high, as only 5.1 percent of them were rejected.

“The marked increase in the number of visa applications is linked to several factors, especially the fact that travel is much easier now. We see significant growth in the number of tourists from China, India, Saudi Arabia and Belarus. Tourism thus remains the most common reason for filing a visa application. Through the higher numbers, we can see that the Czech Republic is becoming more and more attractive,” Foreign Ministry’s visa department director David Novy said.

The most applications for Czech visas, roughly 208,000, were received by the Czech embassy in Moscow, followed by the embassy in Kiev with 100,000 and in Beijing with 76,000. The general consulate in Lvov was fourth with 71,000 applications and the embassy in Minsk, Belarus, was fifth with 21,000 application, an increase of 66.7 percent since 2018.

Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek (Social Democrats, CSSD) noted that the higher number of issued visas is beneficial not only for tourism, but that it also directly helps the state budget.

“The record numbers illustrate how significant the visa application funds are for the state budget,” Petricek said.

Ten diplomatic missions with the highest numbers of visa applications: