The citizens from the countries of the European Union and EFTA (Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland) can legally stay in the Czech Republic without a visa. However, if they plan to stay longer than 30 days, they are obliged to register at the local authorities. For more information, please see the information below.
Citizens of Third Countries (all countries except EU or EFTA members) are obliged to have visa or resident permit for their legal stay. This applies also for students with visa or temporary resident permit valid in another EU/EFTA country, if they want to stay more than 90 days within a period of 180 days. Citizens of some countries (e.g. the USA, Canada, some Balkan countries) can stay up to 90 days within 180 days without a visa. For more information, please, see the information below.
Citizens of the United Kingdom are also considered as Visa students.
EU or EFTA students are legally obliged to register at the foreign police in the place of their residence on the EU territory within 30 days after their arrival to the country, if their intended stay will be longer than 30 days (§ 93, Law no. 326/1999).
Students are required to report their presence to the appropriate Foreign Police Department:
Prague: web pages; address: Olšanská 2, Praha 3
Hradec Králové: web pages; address: Ulrichovo náměstí 810, Hradec Králové
Pilsen: web pages; address: Slovanská alej 26, Plzeň
This obligation does not apply if the person/company (including the halls of residence of Charles University) providing accommodation submits the registration forms on behalf of the incoming student.
Please see the after arrival duties and registration requirements on the website of Czech Ministry of Interior:
EU students are entitled (but not obliged) to apply for a Certificate of Temporary Residence at the Departments for Asylum and Migration Policy (Ministry of the Interior offices). Students who obtain this Certificate of Temporary Residence are issued with a special card (known as a European Card) officially confirming a short-term Czech address and therefore can be used for many transactions that require an official proof of Czech address (opening a bank account, purchase of a mobile phone on a contract, getting any temporary job, etc.). A short-term residence permit is issued for different periods of time depending on the purpose of the short-term residence. The application is processed without undue delay, within 30 days after initiating the process.
Please see the Temporary Residence Permit requirements on the Czech Ministry of Interior website
The holders of the Temporary Residence Permit enjoy more rights than the students who have only a simple registration of their Czech address (see above). For example, the Temporaty Residence Permit allows you to cross the Czech Republic borders despite travel restrictions caused by the Covid 19 crisis.
An Acceptance Letter in English and Czech will be issued for every student and sent to their home postal address before their arrival and registration at the host faculty.
Please note that according to the law, paid work of any kind can be undertaken only having a work permit.
Residents of Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein are treated in the same way as EU residents.
Students from non-EU and non-EFTA countries are considered third-countries citizens. For these students there are three most common legal statuses for the stay in the Czech Republic
short-term stay (with or without visa) – up to 90 days within 180 day
long-term visa or temporary residence permit – more then 90 – majority of student exchanges, the regular semester stay is always longer than 90 days
Students are required to report their presence at the appropriate Foreign Police Department within 3 days of the arrival :
Prague web pages; address: Olšanská 2, Praha 3
Hradec Králové web pages; address: Ulrichovo náměstí 810, Hradec Králové
Pilsen web pages; address: Slovanská alej 26, Plzeň
This obligation does not apply if the person/company (including the halls of residence of Charles University) providing accommodation submits the registration forms on behalf of the incoming student.
Each incoming student is obliged to have a medical insurance since it is essential for issuing the visa. For more information please look here
For more general information for foreigners arriving to the Czech Republic look here
The maximal length of a short-term stay is 90 days within any 180 days.
Third-country citizens have to apply for a short-term visa at the embassy. Please, read the instructions here
Please keep in mind that you have to apply for a short term visa al least 15 days before your planned arrival.
The prolongation of a short-term visa is possible only in exceptional cases, when you cannot return to your home country for a serious reason. If you consider extending your stay in the EU/Schengen area, we strongly recommend applying for a long-term visa.
Citizens of some countries can stay on the Czech Republic territory up to 90 days thanks to the visa-free regime. The list of countries with visa free regime is available here
If your home country is on the list, please pay attention to the instructions in the note below the list.
If a third-country citizen has a valid visa or resident permit in another EU/EFTA member state (except for Ireland), he or she is also allowed to stay in the Czech Republic without a short-term stay visa (max. 90 days within 180 days!).
Third-country citizens who wish to stay longer than 90 days (regular semester stays always exceed 90 days) have to apply for a long-term visa at the Embassy of the Czech Republic or for the long-term resident permit at the Ministry of Interior in the Czech Republic.
The European Office of the Charles University provides following documents required for a long-term visa/residence permit administration:
1. Admission documents
Letter of Admission (Potvrzení o studiu v rámci výměnného programu Erasmus+) and Confirmation of Study Program (Jednotné potvrzení o přijetí ke studiu) - Czech version of these documents confirm the purpose of stay
2. Accommodation Agreement for Charles University hall of residence
Czech version signed by the official representative of the dormitory and by yourself is valid as a proof of accommodation – we book an accommondation for all of our incoming Erasmus+ students regardless the information in the application. If you wish to stay in private accommodation, send us a scan of your accommondation agreement to erasmus@ruk.cuni.cz. Please make sure that the provider of the accommodation will provide you with the documents necessary for the visa – a version with the original handwritten signature is usually necessary. Further details can be found here. Make sure that the agreement is not a fraud and that the room you rent really exists. Unforturnately, there are some scammers on the market.
If you will decide not to apply for the student dormitory or if you will cancel your reservation at the student dornitory, the Charles University cannot give you any assistance regarding your accommondation and the respected document confirming your accommondation requested by the visa/resident permit administrative process.
Be aware that the universitiy hall of residence will ask you to pay a deposit in advance. If you will not pay the deposit on time, your reservation will be canceled.
3. Confirmation of Funding. Only for students coming within the Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility scheme
We do not provide any proof of funds to students coming within Erasmus+ program, since we are not the scholarship providers. We neither provide any official translations or any kind of documents regarding your funds if you do not receive scholarship from the Charles University. All the instructions regarding the proof of funds can be found here. Please be aware that the proof of funds must be issued by a recognized institution. The embassy might reject a proof written in a foreign language which is not understandable for the officer. If you have doubts about the eligibility of your documents, please contact the respected embassy.
To learn more, please read carefully the obligations for students from non-EU countries as presented on the Ministry of Interior website
Application process
Please note that it is important to book an appointment at the respected embassy, consulate or office of the Ministry of Interior in advance. We strongly recommend you booking the appointment as soon as you will receive the above mentioned set of documents from the Charles University. For more information how to book the appointment, please consult the website of the particular office (there might be different instructions for each embassy/consulate/office of Ministry of Interior).
The final decision on visa or resident permit should be done within 60 days after the submission of the visa/resident permit application.
For a long-term visa, you have to apply at the embassy/consulate of the Czech Republic according to the information from previous section.
Please read carefully the application instructions for the long-term visa here:
Please note that you are eligible to apply at the embassy or consulate which belongs to the region of your permanent address or residence. Some countries do not have a Czech embassy at their territories and some Czech embassies do not provide any visa service. In these cases you would have to apply at a Czech embassy located in a different country. For example, the embassy in Vienna provides visa service for residents of more than 10 countries. In other countries (such as Turkey, Ukraine or USA) there is not only the Czech embassy, but also one or more consulates with a visa section. Each embassy and consulate provide visa service only for residents of particular regions at the respected country. If you are not sure which embassy or consulate does your application belong to, please ask at the embassy before applying for the appointment.
The list of respected embassies and consulates together with the specification of territories which belong to the particular offices is available only in Czech language here.
Information for applicants from selected countries:
United Kingdom
Documents that have to be submitted with your visa application and instructions from the embassy in London are listed here
Instructions for booking an appointment at the embassy in London can be found here
Turkey
Embassy in Ankara - information about visa applications can be found here
Consulate in Istanbul - information about visa applications can be found here
Ukraine
Information for students and staff members from Ukraine at Charles University are available here.
General information for people fleeing from Ukraine to the Czech Republic are available here.
Serbia
You can apply for a long-term visa at the embassy/consulate of the Czech Republic, in some cases (explained bellow) at the office of Ministry of Interior at the territory of the Czech Republic.
Please read carefully the instructions about the resident permit applications here
Citizens of third-countries who have a residence permit valid in another EU member state for the study purposes (with the exception of Denmark and Ireland) are entitled to apply for a long-term residence permit on the territory of the Czech Republic.
In case you decide to apply for a resident permit on the territory of the Czech Republic, make sure that that:
The resident permit for the study purpose issued by another EU member state must be valid for the whole period of your proposed stay in the Czech Republic.
The respected officer at the Ministry of Interior will very likely search for the word “student” in your resident permit card issued by another EU member state. If the information about the study purpose is not specifically mentioned on your official document, you might be asked for an alternative official document proving this fact. This has to be issued by an official authority of the state that issued your resident permit. A document issued by your home university might not be acknowledged by Czech official authorities.
If you are eligible to apply for a long-term residence permit on the territory of the Czech Republic, you should visit the special office of the Ministry of Interior. In Prague, it is an office at Hládkov, which is intended for students. More information about the office can be found here For booking an appointment at Hládkov office, please use the on-line reservation system
If you wish to extend your stay (for example you would like to extend your stay from winter semester to full academic year), you have to apply for an extension of your long-term visa or long-term resident permit. For the extension you will need the same type of documents as for visa/resident permit application. The only difference is the validity of these documents, which has to cover the period of the prolongation. The European Office provides new set of the following documents required by official authorities:
1. Letter of Acceptance and Confirmation of Study Program (these documents confirm the purpose of youstay)
2. Only for students coming with the Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility scheme: the Confirmation of Funding.
The European Office will also make a reservation for your accommodation at the Charles University hall of residence. The Accommodation Agreement will be provided by the main dormitory office. Student will be notified when the agreement is ready so he or she can visit the office and pick up the agreement.
Please be aware of the fact that we will not prepare these documents for you until we will receive your learning agreement for the prolongation confirmed by your signature, your home university and the host faculty.
Mre information about the visa prolongation of visa can be found here
Mre information about the prolongation of the resident permit can be found here
For the prolongation of your visa/resident permit, you have to apply at the Ministry of Interior (MOI) that belongs to the area where you stay. The latest possible day when you are eligible to apply for the extension is the last day of the validity of your visa/resident permit. However, we recommed applying as soon as you pick up all of the required documents. It is very likely that you will have to book an appointment at the respected office in advance.
The lists of respected MOI offices are available here
Prague (the office at Hládkov is assigned for students, use primarly this MOI office)
Charles University
Ovocný trh 5
Prague 1
116 36
Czech Republic
CU Point - Centre for Information, Counselling and Social Services
E-mail:
Phone: +420 224 491 850
Erasmus+ info:
E-mail:
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