G-Man's Guide To Prague and the Czech Republic

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Disclaimers

I am not an authority on all this - I only put this page together because, well, no one else has done it and the UK government has made virtually no effort at all to support its citizens living and working in the European Union. As far as I am aware, there's nothing like this page, even on the British Embassy in Prague's web site. I live in Prague with my wife and we are registered permanent residents. I am not a lawyer and the information presented here should not be used for legal purposes. I just wanted to post a collection of information for British citizens living in the Czech Republic. I will try and update this page as information becomes available but this is all being done in my own personal free time so please don't expect instant updates.

Sections

• Current Timings
• Withdrawal Agreement (WA) Brexit
• British Citizens' Status From 1st January 2021
• Current Czech Residence Options
• Passport
• Travel
• Driving Licence
• Questions And Answers
• Useful Links

Current Timings

23rd June 2016 - UK Brexit referendrum was held
24th June 2016 - UK Brexit referendrum result was declared
29th January 2019 - Brexit Withdrawal Agreement was ratifed by the European Union
31st January 2020 - initial Brexit date - the Withdrawal Agreement became law on this date and the UK left the EU institutions

If you are a British citizen living in the EU/Czech Republic your rights are now protected by the Withdrawal Agreement (WA). It took 1316 days for the UK to leave the EU during which time it left British citizens living in the EU/Czech Republic in limbo!

31st December 2020 - current date for the end of the Transition Period

There is now a "Brexit transition period" (which currently ends on 31st December 2020 but could be extended) - this is the period that, by the end of, you are highly recommended to be legally resident in another EU country to attain the rights set out in the Withdrawal Agreement. In the case of the Czech Republic this means you should get your Czech Republic paperwork and residency status in order by 31st December 2020.You have -1421 days (~34087 hours) to obtain either Temporary Residence or Permanent Residence paperwork.

1st January 2021 - the date British citizens become third country nationals
30th June 2021 - British citizens must be registered as legally resident

Withdrawal Agreement (WA) Brexit

The withdrawal agreement puts in place certain legal rights of British Citizens living in the EU. This is completely separate to the current "negotiations" for a "trade deal and future relationship". Regardless of what happens with this negotiation, including the possibility of "no (trade) deal", the withdrawal agreement and its associated rights cannot be changed. The withdrawal agreement's citizens rights information can be found from page 22 onwards in the New Withdrawal Agreement PDF document of 17th October 2019.

The best place for more information about the Withdrawal Agreement and what it means for British citizens living and working in the European Union please see the British In Europe web site where they have specific information about it.:

• Part 1 - An Explanation
• Part 2 - Residence Rights and Procedures
• Part 3 - Health, Pensions and Social Security
• Part 4 - Working Rights, Professional Qualifications and Future Family Reunification
• Part 5 - What’s NOT Covered

PLEASE donate to British In Europe here.

If you are a British citizen living in the Czech Republic I highly recommend that you get yourself legally resident by obtaining one of the following Czech Residence documents.

Current Czech Residence Options

• Permanent Residence (5+ Years)
• Permanent Residence Card Of A Family Member Of An EU Citizen
• Temporary Residence - EU Citizen

Permanent Residence (5+ Years)

Permanent Residence Card Of A Family Member Of An EU Citizen

Temporary Residence - EU Citizen

Proof Of Residence

The onus is on you to prove your residence. Make sure you have all the paperwork ready and professionally translated into Czech if need be.

The following are the best ways of proving your residence:

• Original registration in the Czech residential system e.g. temporary residence (document) - this may be earlier than the date on your current document as documents are renewed for things like passport/name changes
• Tenancy rental contract(s) with your name on them
• Property deeds with your name on it

The following may help prove your residence (as long as they have your name and Czech residential address on them):

• Bank statements (also the original signed banking contract)
• Utility bills - gas and/or electric
• Internet/broadband bill
• Mobile phone contract (not a Pay-As-You-Go/PAYG account)
• Work contract(s)/permit(s)

The following will not work for proving your residence:

• Registration with the office of the Foreign Police for staying in the Czech Republic
• Hotel receipts
• Flight/train tickets
• Bar receipts as a štamgast/bar-fly in your local Czech pub :-)

Passport

UK.Gov guidance on passport rules for travel to Europe after the end of the transition period (currently 31st December 2020).

If you have temporary/permanent residence document(s), from 1st January 2021 you are highly recommended to carry these with your passport when travelling outside of the Czech Republic.

Travel

The European Commission announced on the 3rd April 2019 that they have offered visa-free travel to the EU for UK nationals and it would certainly apply until the end of the transition period 31st December 2020 and possibly longer - this is to be determined. Here's the official press release.

Even if you are travelling within the Schengen area, from 1st January 2021 you are highly recommended to carry your UK passport and any additional paperwork e.g. temporary/permanent residence document, when travelling outside of the Czech Republic.

Driving Licence

UK.Gov guidance on driving in the EU after the end of the transition period (currently 31st December 2020).

For British citizens resident in or near Prague you need to visit the "Drivers Registration" office at Na Pankráci 1685/17,19 Praha 4 - budova Business Centrum Vyšehrad to "exchange" your licence (view this location on mapy.cz). Some notes:

• It is possible to book an appointment online in advance - you get a pin code that you enter at the terminal in the office +/- 10 minutes to your meeting time (otherwise your meeting becomes void) [this feature on the web site is only available in the Czech language though]
• Your UK Driving Licence must be the modern, photo card type issued from 1st May 2004 or later - you cannot exchange a paper based licence.
• You cannot download or pickup a form, fill it out at your leisure and return. The form is issued electronically at the counter and physically filled in during your meeting.
• There may be is an administration fee of 200 CZK (~£7) (the new licence will be issued within 20 working days). Or for 700 CZK (~£24) you can request the new licence to be issued within 5 working days - make sure you specify this before the form is completed if this is what you want. You must return to the office to pick up the new licence and physically hand over, in exchange, your old UK licence at that time - I'm not sure if you can get it posted (probably not, due to the "exchange" requirement).
• I highly advise you to attend this meeting with someone that can speak excellent Czech - when I visited recently there was no one that spoke English and my rudimentary Czech was not good enough. I was (rudely) told no one in the building could help me, you must be fluent in Czech or have a translator with you. I returned on the 28th February 2019 with a good Czech friend that spoke perfect Czech and the application for exchange was completed - to be fair, the fluent Czech requirement is needed as there were a few technical questions around the UK driving licence "codes" which are, apparently, not the same in the Czech Republic. Incidentally, the Czech counter assistant stated they were processing a lot of these "exchanges" but didn't know why. When we told her that the UK Driving Licence would not be valid here in the event of a no deal, so this is the reason for all the exchanges, she said she did not know that - so, another great job by the British Embassy working with the Czech authorities it would seem (sic). at the British Embassy in Prague Open Evening for UK Nationals in the Czech Republic on the 9th April 2019, Lucy Hughes (Deputy Ambassador) stated that they were working with Czech authorities to make sure they are aware of the need for British citizens to exchange their licences and make the process smoother. However, judging by the comments from the audience this message was not getting across to the Czech authorities.
• You need to visit with the following:
1. Your current UK Driving Licence
2. Your current UK passport
3. Document of habitual residence i.e. temporary or permanent residence - I'm not sure whether you can exchange a licence without one of these but as time is running out, perhaps tenancy rental contract(s)/property deeds with your name on them might be acceptable
4. A current, passport sized photo (35mm x 45mm) - although we took this, they could find our digital image via the other Czech (residency) authorities but I would take at least one of these just in case (there are no photo booths at the Prague office but it looked like all the counters do have digital image taking facilities but I wouldn't rely on this!)

Questions And Answers

Q. Can I obtain Czech citizenship?
A. Yes - the rules are here.

Q. Does Czech law allow for "dual citizenship" so can I be British and Czech and legally hold both passports?
A. Yes.

Useful Links

• Official Czech Republic Brexit web site
• British In Europe
• British In The Czech Republic Facebook group (might not be visible/public to those without a Facebook account)
• UK government Policy paper on the rights of UK nationals in the EU - (PDF) published 4th April 2019
• British Embassy Prague
• British Embassy Prague on Facebook
• British Embassy Prague on Twitter - don't bother with this, they don't post useful information on it and they don't answer questions
• Gov.UK Czech Republic and the UK - go to this page and click on the "Get updates to this list - email" link on the right so that you receive an email any time the page is updated
• Brits in the Czech Republic Facebook page (run by the UK embassy)
• Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic
• Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic Brexit Page
• Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic Immigration Page
• Government of the Czech Republic Brexit Page (Czech only)
• Živnostenský list (business/trade licence) information
• Foreigners in the Czech Republic
• Immigration Portal of the Czech Republic
• Ministry of Transport
• Exchange Driving Licence (Czech only)
• European Commission - Residence rights of UK nationals in the EU Member States (Czechia)
• Move To Prague Relocation Services
• Professional Document Translations