Where to apply

The application has to be submitted in person at the Consular Office (of the Embassy or Consulates General of the Czech Republic) in accordance with the jurisdiction where you permanently reside.

Important notes

• Family/dependant visas are only issued by Czech Embassies and Consulates General located outside of the territory of the Czech Republic, applicants must wait for their applications to be processed.
• A family/dependant visa can only be issued by the same Embassy and Consulate General where the application for it was submitted. Hence, you cannot apply for a visa in the US and pick it up in Europe or the Czech Republic.
• You must be present in the US at the end of the application process when the visa is issued into your passport. The Consular Office does not accept the passports mailed from the Czech Republic and does not ship them to the Czech Republic!
• If you do not intend to pick up your passport with the visa in person (after the visa process has been finished), please enclose a certified pre-paid envelope USPS with a sufficient stamp (only certified mail with a tracking number) to your original visa application package.

 

Processing time

All visas have to be approved by the Ministry of Interior. The processing time for the family/dependant visa lasts from 90 to 120 days from the date the Embassy receives the fully completed application. Therefore, the Embassy recommends that applicants submit their applications on time. Please understand that the Embassy is not able to speed up the process or follow up on it as it is handled by the authorities in the Czech Republic.

 

Required documents and fees

• Every member of an applying family must apply separately and fulfill all requirements for the visa.
• Please read carefully as incomplete applications will be immediately returned and the process will be delayed.
• All documents must be presented in their original form or as a notarized copy.
• No documents (except for your passport or birth and marriage certificates) may be older than 180 days.

1. Completed application form

• The form "Application for Long-Stay Visa" must be filled out completely with a ball point pen or on a typewriter. Do not use red ink to complete the application.
• The application of a child up to 15 must be signed by the legal gardian of the child.
  
  Please do not forget:
• To sign the application in the place indicated at the bottom of the fifth page and
• to include your phone number and e-mail address for future communication.

2. Two recent passport photographs

• Please see detailed instructions and examples of photographs here.

3. Passport

You must submit

• your original passport or official travel document recognized by the Schengen countries with a validity exceeding your intended stay by at least 3 months and issued within the last 10 years,
• copy of the data page of the passport (the page with your personal data and photo).
  
  Notes
• Please make sure that your passport has at least two blank pages (for affixing a visa and administrative purposes).
• If you need your passport during the processing time, please send a request with your application as well as a stamped envelope so that the passport can be returned to you. The passport must be resubmitted at the end of the application process for the issuance of the visa after the Embassy has received the approval from the Czech authorities. During this time, you must be present in the US.

4. Proof of sufficient financial means

• A notarized copy of both sides of your valid credit or debit card (Visa, MasterCard or other valid and internationally recognized means of credit) held in your name and valid for at least the duration of your stay in the Czech Republic.
  
  If you can not fulfill this requirement (you do not have a credit or debit card), please submit the following:
• An original or notarized copy of a recent bank account statement held in your name from a bank in the Czech Republic or the US, indicating the current balance (please do not forget to enclose a letter from the bank confirming the fact that you will be able to use your funds while in the Czech Republic).
  
  Requirements for financial means during your stay

  For the purposes of a long-term visa (apart from the purpose of business), a foreign national is obliged to prove the availability of funds that are 15 times the amount of the existential minimum (in accordance with the Governement Regulation No. 436/2022 Coll., as of Jan 1st, 2023 the following minimum is equal to 3 130 CZK) for the first month and double the amount of existential minimum for every month afterwards, i.e. for instance, for a stay from January 1^st until June 30^th it would be (15 * 3 130) + (5 * 2 * 3 130) = 46 950 + 31 300 = 78 250 CZK.

  A foreign national under 18 years proves the availability of half the amount.

5. Proof of the purpose of your stay

Your relationship to a family member (spouse/registered partner, children, elderly parents) has to be proved by an appropriate official document:

• the original and a notarized copy of your marriage certificate,
• the original and a notarized copy of birth certificate (yours or of your children), etc.
• any other official document certifying your relationship to relatives in the Czech Republic.
  
  Important notes
• The original U.S. document (specifically the name and signature of the State Registrar) has to be certified by an Apostille.
• The documents has to be translated to the Czech language, incl. the Apostille (for the translation services see below, please).
• The translation to the Czech language has to be officially verified by the certified translator.

6. Proof of your accommodation

• A certificate issued by an individual or a legal entity providing accommodation, or
• an original statement from the owner of an apartment or a house stating his or her ability and willingness to provide the accommodation (private accommodation), or
• a lease agreement for an apartment or a house, or
• a lease agreement and an affidavit signed by the owner of an apartment or a house confirming the sublet.
  
  Important notes
• The original or notarized copy of any of the mentioned documents must be submitted.
• The copies and signature of the owner must be notarized by a Notary Public in the Czech Republic.
• The documents confiming your accomodation must be in Czech language.

7. Criminal History Background

• Criminal History Affidavit (PDF, 167 KB) confirming that you have never been indicted and sentenced for a felony of any kind.
  If you are submitting your application by mail, your signature must be notarized by a Notary Public. If you come to the Embassy in person, you will have to sign the Affidavit here.
  
  In addition:

US citizens

• If you have lived in any other country besides the US for 6 months or longer in the previous three years, you are required to submit a Criminal History Record issued by that country.

Non US citizens

1. You need to submit a Criminal History Record from the home country with the appropriate verification (Apostille/superlegalisation) with the translation into the Czech language of whole document including Apostile.
2. Criminal History Record issued by the official authority (it means from the FBI) with the appropriate verification (Apostille) with the translation into the Czech language of whole document including Apostile.

Note: Children under 15 are not required to submit neigther a Czech Criminal History Record, nor an Affidavit confirming that they have never been indicted and sentenced for a felony of any kind.

8. Travel medical insurance

9. Visa application fee

• There is a fee assessed for submitting your visa application. The fee must be paid either in cash or by money order made payable to the Embassy of the Czech Republic. We do not accept personal checks. The fee may change without prior notice.
• There is no visa application fee for children under 6.

9.  Post delivery

• If you do not intend to pick up your passport with the visa in person (after the visa process has been finished), please enclose a certified pre-paid envelope with a sufficient stamp or an already pre-paid label  (only certified mail with a tracking number) to your original visa application package.
   
• The Embassy shall not assume any responsibility for lost or damaged documentation.

10. Our mailing address

EMBASSY OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC
VISA SECTION
3900 SPRING OF FREEDOM ST NW
WASHINGTON DC 20008-3803

Other notes

The Consular Section of the Embassy of the Czech Republic

• does not provide translation services
• provides verification of translations of some types of documents (please see consular fees).

 

Useful links

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic

Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic