From 1 September 2023, applications for the specified residence permits will no longer be accepted other than in person.
Until now, the Ministry of the Interior has allowed an application for a residence permit that must by law be submitted by the applicant in person to be delivered to the Ministry of the Interior by other means. In this case, the applicant had to confirm the submission in person within 5 days at the office of the Ministry of the Interior in his/her catchment area.
Such an application was then deemed to have been submitted on the date on which it was delivered to the Ministry of the Interior by post or by data box.
This procedure applied, for example, to applications for the grant/issue of:
- long-term visa,
- long-term residence permit,
- temporary residence permit or
- permanent residence permit.
The Supreme Administrative Court found this procedure to be incorrect[1] and therefore the Ministry of the Interior is forced to change it.
As of 1 September 2023, it will no longer be possible to send an application for a residence permit, which according to the law is to be submitted in person, to the Ministry of the Interior in another way (by post or in a data box) and then to confirm it in person at a Ministry of the Interior office within 5 calendar days.
Such an application will have to be made in person only.
f an application, which the law states must be submitted by the applicant in person, is delivered to the Ministry of the Interior by other means, it will be returned to the sender immediately.
[1] Sentence of the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic of 27 June 2018, No.1 Azs 26/2018 – 37, as well as the sentence of the Regional Court in Ústí nad Labem of 2 November 2022, No.112 A 7/2021-43.