Long-term Residence Permit for the Purpose of Investment
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Povoleni k dlouhodobemu pobytu za ucelem investovani as of 2026-06-12[4][7] |
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| Official name (English) | Long-term Residence Permit for the Purpose of Investment as of 2026-06-24[2] Page title on the Ministry of the Interior's Information Portal for Foreigners – official English published by the administering authority, not a translation made here. |
| Legal basis | Act No. 326/1999 Coll., on the Residence of Foreign Nationals in the Czech Republic, s. 42n; issuance period s. 44(9); extension s. 44a; statutory decision period s. 169t(6)(b) as of 2026-06-12[4][7] s. 42n(1): the Ministry issues the permit to a foreigner intending to stay for more than 90 days who (a) is an entrepreneur, (b) intends to make a 'vyznamna investice' – a significant investment consisting of creating new jobs in a number set by government regulation and investing money in an amount set by government regulation, part of which may be replaced by other assets, (c) whose plan is credible and feasible and of benefit to the state, region or municipality, (d) who has the funds on an account held with an authorised payment services provider in an EU or EEA state and must prove their origin on request, and (e) who has no outstanding debts, that last condition not applying to a foreigner who has not yet resided in the territory. s. 42n(3) opens the same permit to a partner, member of a statutory body or prokurista of a business corporation whose activity in the territory will have a substantial influence on the corporation's business, the s. 42n(1) conditions then being met by the corporation. Amendment search run separately against e-Sbirka's version list for the Act: the consolidated text in force since 12 June 2026 is version 73, produced by Act No. 314/2025 Coll., and a further future version is registered – see country.pending_changes. |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-06-24[2][7] s. 42n grants a 'povoleni k dlouhodobemu pobytu' evidenced by a biometric residence card, not a visa. A separate D/VR visa is issued only to collect the card where the application was lodged abroad. |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | EU, EEA as of 2026-06-24[2][3] The Information Portal frames the permit as being for third-country nationals. The MFA defines the term for these purposes as citizens of states outside the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, and excludes family members of EU/EEA citizens holding or applying for a residence card. Switzerland is excluded too but by treaty rather than by a bloc in this vocabulary, so it cannot be expressed in this field. |
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| Criminal-record condition | Yes as of 2026-06-24[2] A criminal-record document is a mandatory attachment where the application is lodged abroad: 'Document similar to a criminal record certificate, issued by the state of which you are a citizen', plus, on request, equivalent documents from any state where the applicant has resided for a total of six months in the three preceding years. The Act frames criminality as a ground for refusal rather than as a positive condition; recorded true on the document requirement. |
Permit terms
| Initial duration | up to 2 years as of 2026-06-24[2][4][7] s. 44(9): 'Povoleni k dlouhodobemu pobytu za ucelem investovani se vydava na dobu uskutecneni vyznamne investice, nejdele vsak na 2 roky.' The term is relational – the period needed to carry out the significant investment – with a two-year ceiling, hence bound 'maximum'. The Information Portal states the ceiling alone: 'For a maximum of 2 years.' |
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| How the initial term is set | fixed |
| Renewable | Yes as of 2026-06-24[2][7] s. 44a: the validity may be extended repeatedly for the period needed to achieve the purpose of stay, in each case for at most 2 years. |
| Renewal duration | up to 2 years as of 2026-06-12[7] s. 44a: 'lze opakovane prodlouzit na dobu potrebnou k dosazeni ucelu pobytu, vzdy vsak nejdele na dobu 2 let'. |
| Work rights | own activity only as of 2026-06-24[2][7] The permit exists for its own purpose and the holder must fulfil it for the whole of its validity. s. 42n(1)(a) requires the holder to be an entrepreneur with the right to carry on the business concerned, so business activity is inherent to the purpose; nothing on the route page grants a right to take employment, which under this Act runs through the employee card or the blue card instead. 'own_purpose_only' rather than 'self_employment_only' because s. 42n(3) also admits a member of a statutory body or a prokurista of a corporation, which is not self-employment. |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Yes as of 2026-06-12[7] s. 68(2)(a) of Act No. 326/1999 Coll. counts time on a long-term visa and on a long-term residence permit toward the 5 years of continuous residence that s. 68(1) requires for permanent residence, with no discount for this purpose of stay. |
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Requirements
| Investment options |
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| Source-of-funds checks | Yes as of 2026-06-24[2][7] s. 42n(1)(d): the funds must be held on an account in an EU or EEA state with a person authorised there to provide payment services, and 'na pozadani je cizinec povinen prokazat jejich puvod'. The Information Portal lists proof of the origin of the funds among the documents to be supplied on request, alongside two years of financial statements for the applicant and the controlling person, a solemn declaration of no insolvency decision, and proof of ownership and origin of any other assets invested with an expert valuation. |
Process
| Where to apply from | either as of 2026-06-24[2][7] s. 42n(7): the application is lodged at a diplomatic mission; a foreigner already residing in the territory on a long-term visa or a long-term residence permit may lodge it with the Ministry instead. It cannot be lodged in the territory by a holder of a long-term visa for tolerated stay or of the corresponding permit. Unusually for this Act, s. 45(1)'s 5-year bar on switching to a business purpose is expressly disapplied for the investment permit. |
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| Statutory processing time | 30 to 60 days as of 2026-06-12[4][7] s. 169t(6)(b): 've lhute do 30 dnu ode dne podani zadosti o vydani povoleni k dlouhodobemu pobytu za ucelem investovani, ve zvlast slozitych pripadech ve lhute do 60 dnu ode dne podani zadosti'. The MFA states the same two figures. The clock stops while the proceedings are suspended, and s. 42n(5) suspends them by resolution for the 15 working days the Ministry of Industry and Trade has to deliver its opinion. The Information Portal separately gives 60 days as the period for deciding an extension application. |
| Observed processing time | Not established from a qualifying source The Ministry of the Interior publishes no observed processing range for this permit. |
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Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Yes as of 2026-06-12[7] Act No. 326/1999 Coll. s. 42a(1): the spouse of a foreigner with permitted residence, that foreigner's minor child or the minor child of that foreigner's spouse, a minor placed in substitute family care / adopted / warded, and a lone foreigner over 65 (or of any age who cannot care for themselves for health reasons) reuniting with a parent or child, may apply for a long-term residence permit for the purpose of family reunification. |
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| Eligible relations | spouse, minor child, parent, other dependent as of 2026-06-12[7] From s. 42a(1)(a)-(d). 'parent' and 'other_dependent' both come from s. 42a(1)(d), which covers a lone foreigner over 65 or, regardless of age, one who cannot care for themselves for health reasons, reuniting with a parent or a child. s. 42a(1) names manzel (spouse) only – no registered or unmarried partner appears in the provision, so registered_partner and unmarried_partner are deliberately NOT listed. Paragraphs (e)-(i) extend the list for relatives of recognised refugees; those are an asylum track and are not recorded here. |
| Family may apply at the same time | No as of 2026-06-12[7] s. 42a(7)(a): the sponsor must hold a long-term or permanent residence permit and have resided in the territory for at least 15 months; for spouses both must be at least 20. The investment permit is exempt: s. 42a(7)(d) names s. 42n alongside the Blue Card and both intra-company transfer cards as sponsor statuses requiring no residence duration at all, so the family may apply at once. One procedural concession does apply once the family does qualify: s. 169t(6)(a)(4) gives the Ministry 90 days to decide a family-reunification application made in respect of an investment-permit holder, the same clock as for a blue card holder, against 270 days for an ordinary family-reunification application. |
| Family members' work rights | Not established from a qualifying source |
Your next step
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Verification
| Sources cited | 7 |
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| of which official (tier 1) | 7 |
| Oldest as-of date | 2026-06-12 |
| Newest as-of date | 2026-06-30 |
| Reviewed on | 2026-08-26 |
| Schema version | 1.1 |
Sources
- [1] Fees – Third-country Nationals
Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic – Information Portal for Foreigners · fee schedule · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [2] 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 - [3] 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 - [4] Dlouhodoby pobyt za ucelem investovani
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic – Consulate General in Lviv · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [5] 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 - [6] Visa Fees
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic · fee schedule · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-22 - [7] 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