Czechia
Residency route coverage
| Route family | Routes | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| Investment | Routes recorded One route, cz-investment. It is the only residence title in the Ministry of the Interior's own list of long-term residence permits that is conditioned on committing capital. | |
| Remote work | Routes recorded as of 2026-06-02[13][14][15] One route. Czechia has no residence title called a digital-nomad visa: what it has is the Digital Nomad Programme, a programme approved by government resolution and administered by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, which routes qualifying applicants onto existing instruments and gives them a guaranteed application slot at a mission and a 45-day decision. The programme has two limbs and they land on different instruments. The employee of a foreign employer – who keeps a foreign employment relationship and enters none in Czechia – applies for the long-term visa for the residual 'ostatní' purpose of stay, and that is the route recorded here as cz-digital-nomad-visa. The freelancer applies for the long-term visa for the purpose of doing business, which is already recorded as cz-business-visa in the entrepreneur family; it is pointed at rather than duplicated. Both limbs require 1.5 times the average gross annual wage – the same index and multiplier as the EU Blue Card – and both are confined to thirteen nationalities. The Ministry of the Interior publishes no route page for the 'ostatní' purpose at all, so the whole of this route rests on the Ministry of Industry and Trade's programme document and pages. | |
| Passive income | No routes recorded | No qualifying route as of 2026-06-12[10][11][25] Czechia has no retirement, pensioner or passive-income route. The Ministry of the Interior publishes complete lists of the long-term visas and the long-term residence permits open to non-EU nationals, and no entry in either is granted on pension, rental, dividend, interest or savings income. Proof of funds is a condition attached to other purposes, never a purpose in itself. |
| Entrepreneur | Routes recorded | |
| Work |
| Routes recorded as of 2026-08-21[10][11] |
| Study |
| Routes recorded as of 2026-07-27[10][11] Five routes, in three pairs-and-a-half. The definition that organises them is s. 64 of Act No. 326/1999 Coll., which lists seven kinds of study: accredited university programmes, language and professional preparation for one, exchange-programme secondary and higher vocational study, scholarship stays under international agreements, internships, European voluntary service, and educational exchanges under EU programmes. Study within s. 64 gets the study permit or the study visa; educational activity outside s. 64 gets the 'other educational activities' permit or visa – secondary study outside an exchange programme, non-accredited university programmes, Czech language courses and study visits. The fifth route, the training visa, is placed here rather than in the work family deliberately: the trainee stays employed and paid by the foreign employer and enters no Czech employment relationship, so what happens in Czechia is skills acquisition rather than supply of labour. Two features of the family are worth stating: study time counts toward permanent residence at ONE HALF under s. 68(2)(d)(1), and only the accredited-university-programme limb of the study PERMIT opens the post-study job-search permit – a study visa holder must convert first. A holder of the long-term residence permit of a resident of another EU Member State may also study; that route is recorded once, in the work family, and pointed at from here (3a.3(e)). |
| Family | Routes recorded as of 2026-07-15[10][11] |
Country facts
Identity
| Local name | Cesko |
|---|---|
| ISO code | CZE |
| Region | Europe |
| Currency | CZK as of 2026-08-22[5][7] |
| Official languages | cs as of 2026-08-22[5][19] |
Memberships
| Memberships |
|
|---|
Permanent residence
| Qualifying years | 5 as of 2026-06-24[9][25] Act No. 326/1999 Coll. s. 68(1): 'Povoleni k trvalemu pobytu se na zadost vyda cizinci, ktery ke dni podani zadosti pobyva na uzemi nepretrzite po dobu nejmene 5 let.' s. 68(2)(a) counts time on a long-term visa and on a long-term residence permit toward that period; s. 68(2)(d)(1) counts time on a study visa or study permit at one half. The permanent residence permit itself is not time-limited – only the card is, issued for 10 years (5 for holders under 15) and repeatedly renewable. |
|---|---|
| Language requirement | A2 as of 2026-08-22[2][25] |
| Integration requirement | No as of 2026-06-12[2][25] s. 70(2) lists the documents required for a permanent residence application and contains one knowledge condition only – the Czech language exam at (h). No civics, constitutional-order or integration test appears there, and the exam portal for permanent residence offers a language exam only. Distinct from citizenship, which does carry a separate Czech Life and Institutions exam, and distinct from the adaptation-integration course of s. 155b, which is an obligation on holders of a long-term residence permit rather than a condition of the permanent residence application. |
| Income requirement | Recorded at the source, but not reducible to a single value[8][25] |
| Absence rules |
|
Citizenship
| Years to naturalisation | 10 as of 2025-10-01[21][26] Act No. 186/2013 Coll. s. 14(1) states three alternatives, all measured on PERMANENT residence held on the date of application: (a) at least 5 years; (b) at least 3 years for a citizen of an EU member state; (c) a period which, together with the immediately preceding lawful residence in the territory, reaches at least 10 years. 10 is the Act's own total-lawful-residence figure, from (c); of_which_permanent_years carries the 5 of (a). Any lawful residence before the age of 18 counts toward (a) and (b). Exemptions from the fixed period are in s. 15(1). The applicant must also be integrated into society in the Czech Republic – family, work or social – under s. 13(1), and s. 13(2) bars conferral on a person who endangers state security. |
|---|---|
| of which on permanent residence | 5 as of 2025-10-01[21][26] s. 14(1)(a): at least 5 years of permanent residence, reduced to 3 years for citizens of EU member states under s. 14(1)(b). |
| Dual citizenship | allowed as of 2026-08-22[18][26] |
| Language requirement | B1 as of 2026-08-22[1][21] Official exam portal: 'The exam is intended for all foreigners who are applying for Czech citizenship and need to document their Czech communications skills at the required B1 language proficiency level under the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).' Both parts of the citizenship examination are administered by the Institute for Language and Preparatory Studies of Charles University. Fee CZK 3,700. Exemptions under s. 14(4) of Act No. 186/2013 Coll.: three years of schooling taught in Czech, age under 15 or over 65 on the date of application, a disability preventing acquisition of the language, or an equivalent exam (Czech school-leaving exam, state language exam, a state final/rigorosum/doctoral exam from a Czech-taught programme, or an ALTE-certified Czech-as-a-foreign-language exam at B1 or above). s. 15(3) allows the Ministry to waive both knowledge requirements for reasons worthy of special consideration. |
| Citizenship test required | Yes as of 2026-08-22[1][21] A second, separate examination is required alongside the language exam: 'basic knowledge of the constitutional system of the Czech Republic and basic familiarity with the culture, society, geography and history of the Czech Republic' – the Czech Life and Institutions exam. Same exemptions as the language exam under s. 14(4), except that an equivalent foreign language certificate does not substitute for it. |
Tax
| Tax-residency day threshold | 183 as of 2026-08-01[22][24] Act No. 586/1992 Coll. s. 2(4): 'Poplatniky obvykle se zdrzujicimi na uzemi Ceske republiky jsou ti, kteri zde pobyvaji alespon 183 dnu v prislusnem kalendarnim roce, a to souvisle nebo v nekolika obdobich; do doby 183 dnu se zapocitava kazdy zapocaty den pobytu.' Each started day of presence counts. Taxpayers present only for study or medical treatment are non-residents even if they cross 183 days (s. 2(3)). |
|---|---|
| Other tax-residency triggers | habitual abode, domicile as of 2026-08-01[22][24] |
| Headline income tax rate | 23% as of 2026-08-01[22][24] |
| Income tax structure | progressive as of 2026-08-01[22][24] Two bands, 15 and 23 per cent, split at 36 times the average wage (s. 16(1)). |
| Net-wealth tax | No as of 2026-08-22[6][24] Established from the Financial Administration's own enumeration rather than from absence of evidence: its tax calendar lists every tax it administers by filing or payment deadline – dan z prijmu, dan z pridane hodnoty, spotrebni dan, energeticke dane, dan z nemovitych veci, dan silnicni, dan z hazardnich her, dan z neocekavanych zisku and dorovnavaci dane – and no recurring net-wealth tax appears among them. Dan z nemovitych veci is a recurring tax on immovable property, not a tax on net wealth, and is not recorded here as one. |
| Inheritance or estate tax | No as of 2026-08-01[6][24] No standalone inheritance or estate tax exists. Inheritance is instead brought inside the income tax and exempted there: Act No. 586/1992 Coll. s. 4a(a) exempts 'bezuplatny prijem z nabyti dedictvi nebo odkazu' from personal income tax, and s. 4a(b) does the same for a beneficiary of a trust fund endowed by disposition on death. The Financial Administration's tax calendar likewise lists no inheritance tax. |
| Special tax regimes |
|
Family inclusion (country rule)
| Family inclusion (country rule) |
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|---|
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Reference figures
| subsistence minimum | |
|---|---|
| living minimum for a single person |
|
| living minimum for the first person in a household | |
| minimum wage |
|
| average gross annual wage, as announced for Blue Card purposes |
|
Changes
Recent changes
| 2025-10-01 | The housing half of the income test used by the residence-permit and permanent-residence means conditions was re-based. Act No. 151/2025 Coll. on the state social assistance benefit took effect on 1 October 2025, and ss. 42b(1)(d), 46(7) and 71(1) of Act No. 326/1999 Coll. now measure the housing component as the highest normative rent plus the energy flat rate 'stanovenych pro ucely slozky na bydleni davky statni socialni pomoci'. The amounts in force from 1 October 2025 are CZK 15,131 for one person, 17,266 for two, 19,900 for three, 21,510 for four and 21,620 for five or more, per Notice No. 526/2025 Coll. and s. 32 of Act No. 151/2025 Coll. MPSV confirms the same date for the shift of housing support into the new benefit. Affects: Long-term Residence Permit for the Purpose of Doing Business[8][16][25] |
|---|---|
| 2026-06-12 | Act No. 326/1999 Coll. was amended eight times with effect inside the 24-month window, per e-Sbirka's version list: 1 August 2024 (Act No. 230/2024 Coll.), 1 January 2025 (Acts No. 123/2024 and 453/2024 Coll.), 11 February 2025 (Act No. 24/2025 Coll.), 3 September 2025 (Act No. 314/2025 Coll.), 1 October 2025 (Acts No. 152/2025 and 314/2025 Coll.), 9 December 2025 (Act No. 453/2024 Coll.), 1 January 2026 (Acts No. 89/2024 and 314/2025 Coll.) and 12 June 2026 (Act No. 314/2025 Coll.), which produced the consolidated text this record cites. What each amendment altered is not recorded here; the entry records that the instrument moved, and when. Affects: Long-term Residence Permit for the Purpose of Investment, Long-term Residence Permit for the Purpose of Doing Business, Long-term Visa for the Purpose of Doing Business[3][25] |
| 2026-06-30 | The per-mission caps on applications lodged at Czech diplomatic missions were last restated by the MFA on 30 June 2026, under Government Regulation No. 220/2019 Coll. as amended. The cap on long-term visa applications for the purpose of doing business runs from 0 (Baghdad, Damascus, Erbil, Hanoi, Islamabad) through 12 at most missions to 24 (Kyiv, Lviv, Minsk), 48 (Delhi) and 100 (Belgrade, Moscow) per calendar year; Minsk and Moscow are marked suspended. From 1 January 2026 only nationals of selected states may lodge an employee-card or business-visa application at the Consulate General in Dresden. Affects: Long-term Visa for the Purpose of Doing Business[20] |
| 2026-05-01 | The EU Blue Card salary floor rose. Sdělení MPSV č. 44/2026 Sb. of 20 March 2026, issued under s. 182(2) of Act No. 326/1999 Coll., announced the average gross annual wage in Czechia for 2025 as CZK 590,580 (from a monthly figure of CZK 49,215) for the period 1 May 2026 to 30 April 2027. Because s. 42j(1)(b) sets the Blue Card floor at 1.5 times that figure, the minimum gross monthly wage for a Blue Card applicant became CZK 73,823 from 1 May 2026. The Ministry of Industry and Trade published the change on 16 April 2026 and stated that compliance is judged at the date of the decision granting the card, not at the date of the application – so applications already lodged, and applicants already admitted to the Key and Research Staff or Highly Qualified Worker programmes on the old declaration form, must meet the new figure. Affects: Blue Card, Long-term visa for the ‘other’ purpose of stay, under the Digital Nomad Programme[12][23] |
| 2026-01-01 | The minimum wage, which is the employee-card wage floor under s. 42g(2)(b) and the professional-sports remuneration floor, rose to CZK 22,400 a month (CZK 134.40 an hour) for the whole of 2026, announced by sdělení MPSV č. 356/2025 Sb. of 16 September 2025. Since 1 January 2025 the figure has been set by the valorisation formula in s. 111 of the Labour Code as amended by Act No. 230/2024 Coll.: the Ministry of Finance's predicted average gross monthly wage for the year, multiplied by a coefficient fixed by government regulation for two years at a time (0.434 for 2026, nařízení vlády č. 285/2024 Sb.), rounded up to whole hundreds. MPSV states the policy target the coefficients implement: a minimum-to-average wage ratio of about 43.4 per cent in 2026, rising to 47 per cent by 2029 – so this floor is on a known upward path and both routes that point at it will move with it. Affects: Employee Card, Visa for a Stay Longer than 90 Days for Sports Purposes, Long-term Residence Permit for Sports Purposes[17] |
| 2025-10-01 | The same re-basing of the housing half of the income test already recorded for the business permit reaches the study and family families, and the affected provisions are identified individually below. From 1 October 2025 the composite means tests in ss. 42b(1)(d)(2) (family reunification), 42c(3)(c) and 42c(6) (resident of another EU Member State and that resident's family member) and 42d(2)(c) (study) measure the housing component as the highest normative rent plus the energy flat rate set for the housing component of the state social assistance benefit under Act No. 151/2025 Coll., in place of the highest normative housing costs set for the housing allowance. The change was established by diffing the consolidated versions of Act No. 326/1999 Coll. in force on 3 September 2025 and on 1 October 2025 in the e-Sbírka open-data store: the earlier version carries the old wording in all four provisions and the later version the new one. Affects: Long-term Residence Permit for the Purpose of Family Reunification, Long-term Residence Permit of a Resident of Another EU Member State, Long-term Residence Permit in the Czech Republic for the Purpose of Studies[4][8][25] |
Pending changes
| stated in the text of the amending acts rather than as a date in e-Sbirka's version list | e-Sbirka carries a future consolidated version of Act No. 326/1999 Coll. ('Budouci zneni') built from Act No. 274/2021 Coll. and Act No. 173/2023 Coll., with the note 'Ucinnost uvedena v textove podobe' – the entry into force is stated inside the text rather than as a calendar date in the version list. Neither the effective date nor the substance is established.[3] |
|---|
Verification
| Sources cited | 26 |
|---|---|
| of which official (tier 1) | 26 |
| Oldest as-of date | 2025-10-01 |
| Newest as-of date | 2026-08-22 |
| Reviewed on | 2026-08-26 |
| Schema version | 1.1 |
Sources
- [1] Information about the Czech Language Exam (citizenship, B1)
Narodni pedagogicky institut CR / Institute for Language and Preparatory Studies, Charles University · official guidance · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [2] Exam in the Czech language for permanent residence (A2)
Narodni pedagogicky institut CR, with the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports · official guidance · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [3] 326/1999 Sb. – Novely a redakcni opravy (version history of the consolidated text)
Ministerstvo vnitra CR / e-Sbirka · gazette · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [4] Zákon č. 326/1999 Sb. – consolidated version of 12 June 2026, e-Sbírka open data (ELI / SPARQL)
Ministerstvo vnitra ČR – e-Sbírka open data · gazette · Tier 1 · Published 2026-06-12 · Accessed 2026-08-23 - [5] Czechia – EU country profile
European Union · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [6] Dane – danovy kalendar (enumeration of administered taxes by deadline)
Financni sprava Ceske republiky · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [7] Fees – Third-country Nationals
Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic – Information Portal for Foreigners · fee schedule · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [8] Proof of Funds for the Stay (Finances)
Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic – Information Portal for Foreigners · official guidance · Tier 1 · Published 2026-05-28 · Accessed 2026-08-22 · Archived copy - [9] Long-term Residence Permit for the Purpose of Investment
Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic – Information Portal for Foreigners · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-06-24 · Accessed 2026-08-22 · Archived copy - [10] Long-term Residence – index of long-term residence permit purposes
Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic – Information Portal for Foreigners · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-04-07 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [11] Long-term Visa – index of long-term visa purposes
Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic – Information Portal for Foreigners · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-04-07 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [12] Navýšení mzdy pro modré karty a nové formuláře čestného prohlášení
Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-04-16 · Accessed 2026-08-23 - [13] Program digitální nomád
Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2025-07-01 · Accessed 2026-08-23 - [14] PROGRAM DIGITÁLNÍ NOMÁD (programme document, 1 July 2025)
Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic · official guidance · Tier 1 · Published 2025-07-01 · Accessed 2026-08-23 - [15] Economic migration and government programs
Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-06-02 · Accessed 2026-08-23 - [16] Zivotni a existencni minimum
Ministerstvo prace a socialnich veci CR · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-04-30 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [17] Minimální mzda
Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2025-10-07 · Accessed 2026-08-23 - [18] Dvoji statni obcanstvi
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic – Embassy in Paris · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [19] Entrepreneurship – long-term visa for the purpose of entrepreneurship
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [20] Narizeni vlady o maximalnim poctu zadosti – zamestnani a podnikani (Government Regulation No. 220/2019 Coll., as amended, with the per-mission tables)
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-06-30 · Accessed 2026-08-22 · Archived copy - [21] Conferment of Czech citizenship
Digital and Information Agency – gov.cz public administration portal · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [22] Personal income taxes
Digital and Information Agency – gov.cz public administration portal · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [23] Sdělení Ministerstva práce a sociálních věcí č. 44/2026 Sb., o výši průměrné hrubé roční mzdy v České republice za rok 2025 pro účely vydávání modrých karet
Sbírka zákonů a mezinárodních smluv (e-Sbírka) · gazette · Tier 1 · Published 2026-03-24 · Accessed 2026-08-23 - [24] Zakon c. 586/1992 Sb., o danich z prijmu – consolidated text
Ministerstvo vnitra CR / e-Sbirka · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2026-08-01 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [25] Zakon c. 326/1999 Sb., o pobytu cizincu na uzemi Ceske republiky a o zmene nekterych zakonu – consolidated text
Ministerstvo vnitra CR / e-Sbirka · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2026-06-12 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [26] Zakon c. 186/2013 Sb., o statnim obcanstvi Ceske republiky – consolidated text
Ministerstvo vnitra CR / e-Sbirka · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2025-10-01 · Accessed 2026-08-22