Long-term visa for the ‘other’ purpose of stay, under the Digital Nomad Programme
Route status
Active as of 2026-06-02[2][3][4]
MPO's English page lists the Digital Nomad Programme among the live government programmes as of 2 June 2026 and dates it 'since 2023'.
Open to new applications under the rules recorded below.
| In force since | 2023-07-01 as of 2025-07-01[2][3] Programme document: 'Program je realizován od 1. července 2023.' |
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| Open only to nationals of | Australia, Brazil, India, Israel, Japan, Canada, Republic of Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, United Kingdom, United States, Taiwan as of 2026-06-02[2][3][4] Programme document section 4.1(1) and both MPO pages give the same thirteen. A family member who is not a national of one of the thirteen may still join, but only if entitled to lodge at the mission covering the state of his or her nationality or long-term residence, or at any mission under Ministry of the Interior Decree No. 429/2010 Coll. |
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Vízum k pobytu nad 90 dnů za účelem ostatní (Program digitální nomád) as of 2025-07-01[2][3] The programme document's own table of instruments: 'Zaměstnanec zahraničního zaměstnavatele → Vízum k pobytu nad 90 dnů za účelem ostatní'. The Aliens Act names no digital-nomad title; 'ostatní' is the residual purpose of stay under the general s. 30(1) power, and the Digital Nomad Programme is what makes it usable by a remote worker. Recorded with diacritics as published in the source. |
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| Official name (English) | Long-term visa for the 'other' purpose of stay, under the Digital Nomad Programme as of 2026-06-02[2][3][4] Descriptive English rendering. MPO's English page names the scheme 'Digital Nomad Programme' but does not translate the underlying residence title, which has no official English name. |
| Legal basis | Act No. 326/1999 Coll., s. 30(1) with s. 30(3); the programme is established by Government Resolution No. 475 of 28 June 2023 and administered by the Ministry of Industry and Trade; the freelancer limb runs inside the quota set by Government Regulation No. 220/2019 Coll. as of 2025-07-01[2][3] Programme document section 1 (Právní rámec): 'Program je realizován na základě usnesení vlády č. 475 ze dne 28. června 2023'; it is a programme approved by the government for the purpose of achieving economic benefit under Act No. 326/1999 Coll., which is the category that ss. 42g(5), 42i(3), 42k(7) and 42m(3)-(4) of the Act refer to as a 'vládou schválený program'. |
| Instrument type | national visa as of 2025-07-01[2][3] |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | EU, EEA as of 2025-07-01[2][3] |
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| Minimum age | Not established from a qualifying source The programme document states no age condition. |
| Criminal-record condition | Yes as of 2025-07-01[2][3] Programme document, closing warning: an application for the long-term visa must be accompanied by every document the Act requires – 'trestní rejstřík, doklad o účelu pobytu, doklad o zajištění ubytování, doklad o finančních prostředcích apod.' – regardless of what was already supplied to MPO for admission to the programme, in original or notarised copy and no older than 180 days. |
Permit terms
| Initial duration | up to 1 year as of 2026-06-12[2][3][6] The programme placement of an employee of a foreign employer is valid for at most 1 year (programme document section 5.3), and s. 30(3) caps a long-term visa at 1 year in any case. The freelancer's placement has no time limit of its own; the visa still does. |
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| How the initial term is set | fixed |
| Renewable | Yes as of 2025-07-01[2][3] Section 5.4: before the long-term visa expires an employee of a foreign employer must apply to extend the programme placement and then, on a favourable decision, apply to the Ministry of the Interior for a long-term residence permit for the purpose for which the visa was granted. The continuation is therefore a different instrument, not an extension of this one. |
| Renewal duration | Not established from a qualifying source The follow-on instrument is a long-term residence permit for the 'ostatní' purpose, whose duration would come from s. 44(4)(j) – up to 2 years in the residual class. No source states it for this route and no IPC page exists for it, so it is not asserted. |
| Maximum total duration | Not established from a qualifying source No aggregate ceiling is stated for the pathway. |
| Work rights | none as of 2025-07-01[2][3] |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Yes as of 2026-06-12[6] s. 68(2)(a) counts time on a long-term visa and on a long-term residence permit toward the 5 years; neither the 'ostatní' visa nor the 'ostatní' permit is on the s. 68(3) exclusion list. Recorded on that closed-list reading; no programme source states it. |
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Requirements
| Minimum income | 1.50 × average gross annual wage, as announced for Blue Card purposes per year as of 2026-03-24[2][3][5] Sections 4.2.1(3) and 4.2.2(3), identically for both limbs: 'Prokáže dostatečné příjmy ve výši alespoň 1,5 násobku průměrné hrubé roční mzdy vyhlášené sdělením Ministerstva práce a sociálních věcí.' That is the same index and the same multiplier as the EU Blue Card floor in s. 42j(1)(b) – CZK 885,870 a year on the notice in force from 1 May 2026, about CZK 73,823 a month. For a freelancer the programme document adds that a lump-sum contract fee may be spread across the months of performance. |
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| Qualifying income basis | employment abroad, freelance work for foreign clients as of 2025-07-01[2][3] Section 3(1) defines exactly two limbs. (a) Employee of a foreign employer: employed by a foreign business company or public-sector institution with at least 50 employees worldwide, whose contract or employer's statutory declaration provides for remote work by telecommunications, working as an IT specialist or a marketing specialist. (b) Freelancer: holder, or future holder, of a Czech trade licence in an IT-related or marketing-services field. 'own_company_abroad' is deliberately not listed: the programme's own narrative mentions working through one's own company managed from outside Czechia, but the two operative definitions in section 3(1) do not include it. |
| Local work allowed | No as of 2025-07-01[2][3] |
| Minimum remote-working history | Not established from a qualifying source The programme states no minimum period of prior remote working. |
| Route carries its own tax regime | No as of 2025-07-01[2][3] The programme confers no tax treatment. Its stated benefits are exactly two – a guaranteed application slot at a mission and a 45-day decision – and the programme document's rationale expressly counts income tax and social and health insurance contributions from long-staying nomads and freelancers as a benefit to the Czech budget. |
Process
| Where to apply from | from abroad only as of 2025-07-01[2][3] The benefit the programme confers is precisely a guaranteed slot at a Czech mission abroad: 'garantována možnost podání žádosti o pobytové oprávnění … na zastupitelském úřadu ČR v zahraničí'. Admission to the programme is separately barred for anyone who holds, or held in the preceding year, a Czech long-term visa or long-term residence permit (section 4.1(2)), so the route cannot be reached from inside Czechia. |
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| Statutory processing time | up to 45 days as of 2026-06-02[2][3][4] 'zajištěno vyřízení žádosti o pobytové oprávnění do 45 dnů od jejího podání'. MPO's English comparative table gives the same 45 days for this programme, against 30 days for the Key and Research Staff Programme. This is the programme's second benefit and the reason the scheme exists as a programme rather than as a residence title. |
| Fees |
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| Quota |
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Physical presence
| none stated | to keep the permit as of 2026-06-12[2][3][6] Neither the governing provision nor the route page states a day count, a maximum absence or a reporting obligation for keeping this permit. What the Information Portal states instead is qualitative: 'You must fulfil the purpose of your stay for the whole duration of your residence permit.' s. 155b applies to long-term residence permits, not to visas – but MPO's own comparative table records that the Digital Nomad Programme, unlike the Qualified Worker Programme and the Indonesian project, does not carry adaptation and integration courses, which suggests the point is live at the permit stage. |
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Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Yes as of 2025-07-01[2][3] Section 3(2): the closest family members – spouse, registered partner and a minor or adult dependent child of the nomad or of the spouse or partner – may be admitted to the programme, provided they apply for their residence title at the same time as the nomad. They apply for a long-term visa for family purposes; an adult dependent child, who Czech law otherwise excludes from family reunification on a long-term permit, applies instead for a study visa or an 'ostatní' visa for an educational activity. |
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| Eligible relations | spouse, registered partner, minor child, adult dependent child as of 2025-07-01[2][3] |
| Family may apply at the same time | Yes as of 2025-07-01[2][3] Section 4.3 makes it a condition rather than a concession: a family member may be admitted to the programme only if applying together with the nomad. |
| Family members' work rights | authorisation required as of 2026-07-01[1][7] The family member's instrument is the long-term visa for family purposes, and the Information Portal states for that visa: 'If you want to work in the Czech Republic with a visa for family purposes, you need to acquire a work permit.' Act No. 435/2004 Coll. s. 98(l) frees family members of long-term permit holders, not of visa holders. |
Your next step
Read the requirements above considering your own situation: the income multiple, the absence limits, who you can bring. Check the country record for the reference figure those amounts are calculated from, and for anything that has changed recently.
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Verification
| Sources cited | 7 |
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| of which official (tier 1) | 7 |
| Oldest as-of date | 2025-07-01 |
| Newest as-of date | 2026-07-01 |
| Reviewed on | 2026-08-26 |
| Schema version | 1.1 |
Sources
- [1] Long-term Visa for Family Purposes
Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-06-22 · Accessed 2026-08-23 · Archived copy - [2] Program digitální nomád
Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2025-07-01 · Accessed 2026-08-23 - [3] 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 - [4] 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 - [5] 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 - [6] 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 - [7] Zákon č. 435/2004 Sb., o zaměstnanosti (consolidated text in force from 1 July 2026)
Sbírka zákonů a mezinárodních smluv (e-Sbírka) · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2026-07-01 · Accessed 2026-08-23