Foreigners Need Not Apply?

Foreigners legally residing in the Czech Republic―permanent residents or people with long-term visas―represent less than 5% of the Czech population, at an estimated number of 436,000. Naturalized citizens and refugees account for a tiny fraction of the total. The percentage of foreigners that makes up its population is about half of that of the Czech Republic’s Western European neighbors. In the East, both Poland and Slovakia record higher numbers of immigrants, suggesting that the Czech Republic may be closed to foreigners.

In 2007 a big jump in long-term stays came when the Czech Republic joined the Schengen Zone. Since then, the number has not changed much. Because the total doesn’t differentiate between extensions and new applicants, the numbers alone don’t show if the population is static, added to with a few new arrivals, or if there is a large turn over with large numbers of new stays replacing people leaving.

Even if the number of migrants has risen, the visa-granting process is lengthy and generally considered unpleasant. The slightest mistake in paperwork can require another visit and another wait. A certain amount of “gate-keeping” could be accepted. However, the duration and the attitude of some officials make the experience on the whole unwelcoming.

In 2006 becoming permanent was reduced to 5 years from 10. Two years later, the number of permanent residents jumped slightly. Since 2009, the growth has been in increments of a few thousand. A tapering off of new permanent residents suggests that shortening the minimum period wasn’t enough to make the country open.

As far as becoming a Czech citizen, the numbers of people doing so are significantly smaller. In 2008, 1,190 people out of 1,837 were granted citizenship. The following year and the year after that the number of new citizens dipped to 1,128 and still farther to 1,088.  The year 2011 saw an increase of almost 600 new citizens. (Figures provided by the Ministry of the Interior.) 

“Of course it’s the right of the state to grant or not to grant citizenship but sometimes [applicants] don’t get it for reasons which are not stated,” she said.


Selma Muhic Dizdarevic, a lecturer in Public and Social Policy at Charles University, came to the Czech Republic from the former Yugoslavia. She had her application for citizenship rejected on the grounds that the company she owned at the time had not paid tax. There was good reason. The company hadn’t earned enough money. 

“In six months I applied again and this time because I was involved in this NGO and I worked at the university, there were lots of people who knew about [my application] so they wrote and then [the ministry] changed their mind. All the facts remained the same but this time their reaction was positive,” she said.

In some cases, children born to foreign nationals can live here their whole or most of their lives, attend school, and converse predominantly in Czech but still have to apply for citizenship. Such applicants aren’t always successful. Ms. Muhic Dizdarevic offered as an example a young Bosnian man who had lived in the Czech Republic from the age of four and spoke Czech as his first language. He was denied because he had studied for a time in the UK.

“While in the case of Czech citizens it is seen as building their education, and so on, in the case of this young man he was rejected because it showed he wants to live somewhere else,” she said.

The number of refugees is even smaller. In 2011, 753 people applied for asylum status and only 41 were granted it. The largest single number of people who received asylum was in 2006―which was 268 people from 3,016. Even when applications peaked in 2001 with 18,094, acceptance remained low.

Since joining the EU, applications dropped farther. The Dublin Convention is one significant reason. The convention allows refugees to apply for asylum in only one EU nation, usually the one in which they arrive. The Czech Republic was not the first choice for many for a number of reasons: their own communities are small; the process is seen as long and unreliable, and integration is complicated.

“We see people waiting year after year. The end isn’t getting closer. The first year work is prohibited. It drags their mental state down terribly. In a couple of years they are an absolutely crushed individual.”

Given the lower rates of citizenship and refugee application compared with other Western democracies, the question is whether there is a policy to keep migrants out. 

Mr. Řepka said that the Ministry does not regard itself as restrictive when compared to other EU states. He also stressed that the trend of the proportion of applicants has grown. However, this result may have more to do with the significant drop in applications.

Ms. Jelínková said xenophobia may play some role. “Czechs tend to prefer a more homogenous society,” she said. However, she believed a certain legal approach was at play too. “The spirit of law is usually not taken as the most important.”

Regarding the future, a new Foreigners’ Residency Act is being discussed. All of the individuals we spoke with expressed concern about it, believing that the newly proposed law will make entry increasingly difficult. The Ministry does not agree. 


We will be following this new law and updating this article with the latest developments.