Please schedule an appointment in advance. Our opening hours are every business day 8:30 AM - 11:30 AM. Please email us /email communication is preferred/ at    visa.washington@mzv.cz    or    call 202-274-9103 from Monday to Thursday between 1:30 PM and 5:00 PM.

You are entitled to file an application for a long-term residence permit for the purpose of scientific research at our Embassy, if you have signed a hosting agreement with a research organization and intend to stay temporarily in the Czech Republic for more than 3 months.

The competent authority to assess an application for long-term residence is the Department for Asylum and Migration Policy of the Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic.

Please read carefully following articles:

• Long-term residence - The purpose of "scientific research" on the web site of the Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic.
• Long-term residence permit on our web site.

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

• Entry visas for scientists/researchers 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.
• Entry visa for scientists/researchers can only be issued by the same Embassy and Consulate General where the application for it was submitted. Hence, you cannot apply in the US and pick up the visa 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 with a sufficient stamp or an already pre-paid label (only certified mail with a tracking number) to your original visa application package. You can use for example USPS PRIORITY MAIL FLAT RATE ENVELOPE - EP14F or PRIORITY MAIL EXPRESS FLAT RATE ENVELOPE - EP13F with appropriate stamp and label.

 

Processing time

All visas have to be approved by the Ministry of Interior. The processing time lasts 60 days. 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

• Please read carefully the above-mentioned article on the web site of the Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic. 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 Long term residence permit application (PDF, 815 KB) must be filled out completely with a ball point pen or on a typewriter. Do not use red ink to complete the application.
  
  Please do not forget
• to sign the application
• 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.

 

A hosting agreement and a written commitment by the research organisation that it will cover the costs must be submitted in the original or in notarized copy (by a Notary Public in the Czech Republic).

4. 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.

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5. Travel medical insurance

6. 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.

7.  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.
• Send the complete application to:
  
  Embassy of the Czech Republic
  Consular Section
  3900 Spring of Freedom, NW
  Washington DC, 20008
  
  The Embassy shall not assume any responsibility for lost or damaged documentation.

 

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