Continuous Residence

A permanent residence permit is issued upon request to third countries citizens who on the day of application have resided in the Czech Republic continuously for at least 5 years. Here you can find out what counts towards continuous residence.

Subject to the exceptions below, the whole length of the following types of residence counts towards continuous residence:

residence with a long-term visa and with a long-term residence permit,
residence with a long-term visa and with a long-term residence permit (including the amount of time the foreign national has legally resided in the Czech Republic on the basis of the fiction of residence),
residence as an asylum seeker or under subsidiary protection in the Czech Republic,
continuous residence is counted even for the residence in another state of the EU Member states for Blue card holders, if:
- as a blue card holder, you have resided continuously in the Czech Republic for at least 2 years and
- as a blue card holder, you have resided at least one year in another state of the EU Member States.
residence for the purpose of scientific research or study in another EU Member state for the holders of Blue card,
residence with a temporary residence permit of an EU citizen’s family member, including the duration of the application proceedings, if the Ministry of the Interior terminated your temporary residence permit and you subsequently:
- acquired a long-term residence permit or
- you directly applied for a permanent residence permit.

If the Ministry of the Interior has not revoked your temporary residence permit, you can apply for a permanent residence permit of an EU citizen’s family member.

Example:

a) You have been staying in the Czech Republic with a temporary residence permit of an EU citizen’s family member and you applied for termination of your residence permit at your own request. You have thus ceased to meet the definition of a family member of an EU citizen. However, you can apply for a permanent residence permit after 5 years in the territory even as a third-country national at the Ministry of the Interior (although the application for a permanent residence does not establish fiction of residence in the same way as the application for long-stay residence does). If you would not applied for termination of your temporary residence permit, you can apply for a permanent residence permit of an EU citizen’s family member.

b) you have been staying in the Czech Republic with a temporary residence permit of an EU citizen’s family member for 2 years, then you terminated your residence permit and applied for an employee card, which you have acquired. After at least 3 more years, you can apply for a permanent residence permit after 5 years in the Czech Republic.

c) You have been staying 3 years as a blue card holder in other EU Member State and now you are a blue card holder in the Czech Republic for a period longer than 2 years. Therefore, you can apply for permanent residence permit after 5 years in the Czech Republic. You have to prove the Continuous Residence in another EU Member State.

d) You have been staying in another EU Member State for 2 years continuously on the basis of residence for the purpose of studies and now you are a blue card holder in the Czech Republic for a period longer than 3 years. Therefore, you can apply for a permanent residence permit after 5 years in the Czech Republic. You have to prove the Continuous Residence in another EU Member State.

e) You have been staying in the Czech Republic for 4,5 years as an employee card holder. In the course of these 4,5 years you have applied for an extension of the employee card. Your applications have not been decided upon within the statutory deadline. This situation has created a so-called fiction of residence in the Czech Republic. The cumulative time of the so-called fiction of residence has been counted into the period of continuous stay for the last 5 years. If the period of valid residence and of fiction of residence altogether exceed 5 years, you may apply for a permanent residence permit after residing for 5 years in the Czech Republic.

4,5 years of residence with a valid employee card + 7 months of stay on the grounds of the fiction of residence = you may apply for a permanent residence permission after residing for 5 years in the Czech Republic.

The duration of the following types of residence counts towards continuous residence as one half:

residence with a long-term visa for the purpose of studies and with a long-term residence permit for the purpose of studies,

the duration of the proceedings to grant international protection that resulted in a decision to grant asylum or subsidiary protection, including the duration of appeal proceedings, if the proceedings took less than 18 months.

Subject to the conditions below, the continuity of residence is maintained even in case of absence from the Czech Republic:

Each absence was not longer than 6 consecutive months and the absences altogether were not longer than 310 days. In such case, the absence counts towards the length of the residence.

If your employer transferred you abroad for reasons of work, each absence was not longer than 10 consecutive months and the absences altogether were not longer than 560 days. If you were a member of your employer’s statutory body who transferred you abroad, the absence does not count towards the length of the residence.

Absence for serious reasons was not longer than 12 consecutive months. A serious reason is, for example, pregnancy and giving birth, illness, studies or professional training. In such case, the continuity of residence is maintained but the time of absence does not count towards it. Therefore, if you have resided in the Czech Republic, for example, for 5 years and 2 months out of which you were absent from the Czech Republic for serious reasons for 12 months, your residence is considered continuous, but only 4 years and 2 months count for application purposes.

The duration of the following types of residences does not count towards continuous residence:

residence with a visa for a stay longer than 90 days for the purpose of seasonal employment or with a special work visa,

residence with a visa for a stay longer than 90 days for the purpose of leave to remain. This does not apply in the case of following residence with a long-term residence permit for the purpose of leave to remain,

residence for the purpose of working as an au-pair,

transfer to the Czech Republic by a foreign employer, legal entity or a foreign natural person,

serving a custodial sentence; the continuity of residence is suspended from the day you start a custodial sentence until the day you are released from prison.