Tasks of the Ministry of Interior and Foreign Police
The short version of the below (detailled) text:
- for announcing your arrival in Czech Republic and getting your visa stamped - the Foreign Police
- for a visa extension (for 3rd Country Nationals) - the Ministry of Interior
- for an EU (temporary) residence permit application or extension - the Ministry of Interior
The long version, as published by the Ministry of Interior:
Due to the new 2011 Alien's Act,
The Ministry of Interior handles Visa extensions and Longterm / Permanent Residence Permits,
The Foreign Police handles Reporting on Arrival, extensions of short-term visas, invitations etc.
As a result, rules, requirements, procedure and visiting addresses have all changed or are going to be changed.
Tasks of the regional offices of the Ministry of the Interior
- application for an extension to a long-stay visa (applications for such visas should continue to be made to the relevant Czech embassy abroad)
- application for a long-stay visa for the purpose of leave to remain on the territory and extension of validity of such a visa or length of stay on the basis of this visa
- application for a long-term residence permit or its extension
- application for a certificate of temporary residence (EU citizens)
- application for a temporary residence and for a residency card for a family member of EU citizen and its extension, respectively
- application for permanent residence
- reporting of a change in the place of residence in the Czech Republic (change shall be reported within 30 days after the change takes place)
- holder of a long-stay visa or a long-term residence permit is obliged to report the change of his/her place of residence, provided the change of address is expected to last for longer than 30 days
- holder of a residence card of family member of EU citizen or EU citizen who was granted certificate of temporary residence or foreign national holding permanent residence permit is obliged to report the change of his/her place of residence, provided the change of address is expected to last for longer than 180 days
Tasks of the regional offices of the Foreign Police offices
- reporting of place of residence in the Czech Republic within the given statutory time period upon the arrival in the Czech Republic (the subsequent change of place of residency, if the residency is based on a long-stay visa, long-term or permanent residence permit, should be reported to the regional Ministry of the Interior regional offices)
- extensions to stays in the Czech Republic on the basis of a short-term visa
- issuance of short-term residence certificates or - irrespective of the type of residency -certificates certifying a legitimate right of residence in the Czech Republic required by the registry office before getting married
- the verification of an invitation
- checks on the legitimacy of stays in the Czech Republic
Many fear the Foreign Police, but compared to a couple of years ago, when the atmosphere was really hostile, much improvement has been made*, especially for EU Citizens.
although now, starting 01.01.2011 everything is back in disarray again.
Unfortunately two things have not changed at all: still, mostly Czech is spoken there and there may be queues that linger on for hours, so if you don't know exactly what you're doing or forgot some required papers, you are most likely getting nowhere with your application and will have to come back (several times).
There are occurences of friendly English-speaking personnel, but they are as rare as Elvis in an UFO.
If you are a 3rd-Country National then you should get up really early and wait hours before opening to get a number (they are usually gone within 10 minutes of opening the doors) OR book an appointment by phone. Otherwise, you could wait for nothing all day.
For EU-Citizens usually it is not so dramatic, one usually can get a number at any time during the day. It is however not possible to predict how long one should wait. It could be hours (or not), so masybe it is a good idea to get an appointment by phone.
It's better to leave it to a czech-speaking expert if you want to save yourself from losing time and a getting a lot of frustration, the worst case being: expiration of papers painstakingly gathered in your home country, possibly even forcing you to having to make a trip back home for a single sheet of paper! (it happened to me too)
Documents of EU Citizens are not required to have an apostille stamp anymore, but if you can, get them apostilled anyway, to avoid being sent away just because the clerk doesn't accept the document without it.
Careful: stamps / signatures must be in blue ink, and stamps that are embossed may also not be accepted.
CRITICAL INFORMATION - MUST READ FIRST
Changes in conditions for the entry and stay on the territory of the Czech Republic from 2011
1/7 - Schengen Visa and Residence Permit Guide for 3rd-Country Nationals
2/7 - Schengen C Visa and D Visa Application for Czech Republic
3/7 - Applying for a Residence Permit for Czech Republic
4/7 - Visa / Residence Permit Requirements for Czech Republic
5/7 - Purpose of Stay (Visa / Residence Permit type) in Czech Republic
6a/7 -Addresses of the Ministry of Interior and Foreign Police
6b/7 -Tasks of the Ministry of Interior and Foreign Police
7/7 - Visa, Residence Permit, Work Permit Services for Czech Republic