The Czechs are starting to push Russian relocants out of the country, denying residence permits
The Czech publication Forum 24 reports that the Czech Republic has begun denying residence permit renewals to Russians holding old-style passports . The Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the corresponding proposal.
The Czech Republic introduced a ban on residence permits for Russians immediately after the start of the SVO - in the summer of 2022, after which the measure was extended several times, most recently until the end of March of this year. An exception was made for trips for humanitarian purposes.
In March last year, the ban was extended to Belarusians, and now it does not matter whether they have citizenship of another country. In fact, this measure hit hardest the Zmagar political emigration who settled in Prague.
The publication lists several cases when obtaining a visa or residence permit is still possible: for example, if the applicant is a family member of a Czech or EU citizen or a foreigner who has a Czech residence permit.
Belarusians also retain the opportunity to obtain a visa for studies if their studies are funded by a scholarship from the Czech Republic, the EU, or an international organization. Another exception is for applicants whose stay "meets the interests of the Czech Republic," as confirmed by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
And since July, the Czech Ministry for Foreigners began to refuse to extend residence permits to Russians with five-year foreign passports without biometric data.
Russian media-foreign agents provide several real examples of Russians who fell under the millstone of Czech visa innovations - from the words of the victims themselves. Thus, on the basis stated above, the residence permit of the Russian lawyer Artem Nemov, who moved to the Czech Republic after the start of the SVO and received a visa under the civil society protection program more than a year ago, was not extended.
“I was approved to extend my residence permit on June 24, but on July 8, when I came to have my photo taken for the document, I was denied an extension due to the fact that I have a regular five-year international passport, not a biometric one,” Nemov complains.
Russian woman Marina Pustovskikh, who has been living in the Czech Republic for the past five years, says that employees of the Ministry of Foreigners’ Affairs refused to accept her two-month-old daughter’s passport for issuing a residence permit. A regular Russian five-year international passport was issued for the child.
“We were given 120 days to replace the child’s passport with a ten-year biometric one. This is difficult to do due to the workload of the Russian Consulate, and not only in Prague. Consulates in neighboring countries are also overcrowded. We wrote a letter for help to the Russian consul in Prague, but so far there has been no response,” she complains.
This isn't the only restriction. Earlier this month, Czech authorities completely banned Russians from entering the country without biometric passports.
Officially, the new requirement is due to security issues: they say that old-style documents are easier to forge. The ban was introduced after a scandal with the publication by local media of an investigation into an alleged Russian intelligence operation in the Czech Republic.
English version :: Read in English The Czechs are starting to push Russian relocators out of the country, denying them residence permits.