Under what conditions can you travel in the Schengen Area and the EU?

As citizens of third countries for which a visa requirement was waived, you can stay in the countries applying a common visa policy for a maximum of 90 days within any 180-day period. The day of entry is considered as the first day of your stay and the departure day as the last day. In order to enter, you do not need to apply for a visa beforehand, you will just be checked on the border of the first Schengen country you enter.

This way you can stay and move freely in the countries that apply a common visa policy. These countries include all the Schengen countries. On the other hand, Cyprus and Ireland do not apply a common visa policy.

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Can you combine a long-term stay with a short-term one?

If you are a citizen of a third country for which a visa requirement for short-term stays was waived and if the validity of your long-term visa or a residence permit expires, you can stay in the Schengen Area without a visa for a maximum of 90 more days within every 180-day period. Only after then you must leave the Schengen Area. However, if you have just applied for a residence permit, you cannot exceed the maximum time limit of 90 days within any 180-day period.

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What documents do you need to travel if you hold a residence permit in the Czech Republic?

If you reside in the Czech Republic with a residence permit or a long-term visa, when traveling in the Schengen Area you must always carry with you a valid travel document as well as a valid residence permit document (or visa in your passport). A residence permit document itself, however, is not a travel document.

Under what conditions can you travel in the Schengen Area and the EU?

If you are a citizen of a country from which a visa is required, you must apply for a short-term visa before entering the countries that apply a common visa policy. Then you can stay in the country for a maximum of 90 days within any  180-day period. However, your stay is also governed by other requirements of the granted visa, such as:

• number of entries (a visa for one, two or more entries), 
• territorial validity (a visa for the entire Schengen Area or a visa with a so-called limited territorial validity for selected Member States),
• the visa’s validity and
• the duration of the permitted stay for which a consulate issued the visa according to the intended travel.

A visa granted by a Schengen country allows you to enter all the Schengen countries.

Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus issue their own national short-term visas. They also determine at national level if the holders of short-term Schengen visas can enter their territories without a corresponding national short-term visa.  For up-to-date information on entering these countries with a Schengen visa, especially for information on the requirements that a particular Schengen visa, long-term visa or residence permit must meet for you to be able to enter the country, please contact the corresponding authorities of these countries.

Ireland does not recognize a valid Schengen visa for entry and stay in its territory. For up-to-date information on entry and movement in Ireland please contact the corresponding Irish authorities.  

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What documents do you need to travel if you hold a residence permit in the Czech Republic?

If you reside in the Czech Republic with a residence permit or a long-term visa, when traveling in the Schengen Area you must always carry with you a valid travel document as well as a valid residence permit document (or visa in your passport). A residence permit document itself, however, is not a travel document.

Under what conditions can children travel in the Schengen Area and the EU?

Children and minors generally need their own travel document to travel (a passport or an ID). If the children are required to have a visa, they also need a visa. Such a visa can be substituted with a valid residence permit issued by the Czech Republic or another Schengen country.

Some countries allow children to travel without an own document if they are included in the passport of a parent they are traveling with. It is highly recommended that you double-check this information with a diplomatic mission of the country you are going to travel to.

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What are the travel requirements for school trips?

Children with an address in an EU Member State traveling on a school trip to other EU Member States may be included on a list of pupils issued by the school on a unified form. In such case, they do not need their own travel document or visa for the travel. You can collect the form at a Ministry of the Interior office.

In the case of children that are required to have a visa and that have a residence permit in the Czech Republic, there are the following two situations:

• If individual pupils/students hold their own travel documents with a residence permit, a passenger list serves as a visa.
• If the pupils/students do not have their own travel documents with a residence permit (for example because they are included in the passport of their parent), a passenger list serves as a visa as well as a travel document. In this case, the passenger list must include the foreigners’ photos.

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Before you travel

1. Collect a “Passenger List” form at a Ministry of the Interior office.  The form will be given to a school representative, a student or a student’s legal representative.
2. The school fills in the form and validates it. In the case of foreigners without own documents, the school will include their photos.
3. Bring the filled-in passenger list to a Ministry of the Interior office so that it can be validated also by the Ministry. The form can be brought in for validation by the foreigners themselves, their legal representatives or a school representative holding a general power of attorney for this purpose. If the foreigner is over 15 years of age, they must sign the power of attorney themselves. If they are younger, the power of attorney must be signed by their legal representatives.