Czech Government Submits Draft of New Foreigners Act to the Chamber of Deputies

The professional community has long highlighted the need to overhaul the legal framework governing the status of foreign nationals, and public administration bodies have also long recognized the necessity of a new law. The Ministry of the Interior itself prepared a package of new laws regarding foreign nationals as early as 2013, but the legislative process was not completed due to the fall of the government at the time. The currently valid Act on the Residence of Foreigners has become completely opaque and difficult to comprehend—even for the professionals who work with it daily, let alone for the foreign nationals who are its primary subjects—following dozens of amendments.

What changes would the new Act on the Residence of Foreigners bring if approved?

Digitization of foreign national residence proceedings

The government presents the digitization of proceedings as the bill's key innovation; among other things, this is intended to enable online communication and improve the vetting of applicants by linking the system to relevant state databases.

In addition to the adoption of the new Act itself, the digitization of proceedings requires the development of a new information system known as ICAS (Integrated Foreigner Agenda System), the cost of which is estimated at CZK 340 million in the explanatory memorandum. Funding for this system is currently secured 90% from European Union resources (the AMIF operational program), with only 10% coming from national co-financing. Given the current opportunity to utilize EU funding for the information system, the Ministry of the Interior will likely have a strong interest in the timely adoption of the bill to ensure the EU funds can be fully utilized.

The new information system would, for example, enable:

• the creation of a foreign national’s account as a means of communication with the administrative authority (the Ministry of the Interior), including the option to submit residence applications,
• electronic delivery via the foreign national’s account as the primary form of communication with the administrative authority,
• streamlining of application processing procedures (mandatory use of electronic forms, automatic notification of the foreign national regarding the progress and current status of the proceedings, etc.).

Other proposed changes

In addition to the digitalization of residence proceedings, the government lists the following further significant changes in the explanatory memorandum:

• greater accountability for guarantors—i.e., the persons in whose interest the foreign national is staying in the territory; such guarantors include, in particular, employers in the case of stays for employment purposes or schools in the case of stays for study purposes; the proposal aims to enable greater involvement of these entities in permitting procedures while simultaneously strengthening the accountability of those with an interest in the foreigner's arrival and stay;
• expansion of the quota system—extending beyond the scope of labor migration where quotas are currently established (see Government Regulation No. 220/2019 Coll., regarding the maximum number of applications for visas for stays exceeding 90 days for business purposes, long-term residence permits for investment purposes, and employee cards that may be submitted at a diplomatic mission);
• strengthening the grounds for revoking the residence status of criminal offenders and individuals who pose a threat to public order and internal security, while also streamlining the relevant procedures alongside the introduction of new grounds for revocation;
• mandatory registration for European Union citizens; currently, EU citizens are only required to report their place of residence within the territory to the Foreign Police if their stay is expected to exceed 30 days, whereas under the new rules, they would be required to register their temporary residence with the Ministry of the Interior (a step that has previously been voluntary).

In addition to the points mentioned above, the proposal seeks to create a legal framework that is clearer and more comprehensible to those subject to the regulations than the current Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals. However, the mere fact that the bill comprises 712 sections spanning nearly three hundred pages of text suggests that this legislation will certainly not be a simple matter.

Bill largely prepared by the previous government

The current bill is based on a proposal submitted to the Chamber of Deputies during the previous legislative term (in 2024); however, as its legislative process was not completed before the term ended, the original bill lapsed and had to be resubmitted as a new proposal for the current term. Given the substantial identity of the two proposals—according to the Ministry of the Interior, the current bill is more than 90% identical to the government proposal from 2024—the standard inter-ministerial comment procedure was not conducted for the current bill.

It will be interesting to observe how the bill’s passage through the Chamber of Deputies unfolds, particularly given that it was largely prepared by the previous government (whose coalition parties are now in opposition), yet it is being championed by the current governing coalition—some representatives of which employ strongly anti-immigration rhetoric. For the time being, they have focused their media statements on the restrictive aspects of the bill—such as the expanded authority to revoke the residency status of criminal offenders and individuals who threaten public order and internal security, or the mandatory registration of European Union citizens. In any case, it is to be expected that during the parliamentary debate, these entities—which are critical of migration—will introduce a number of amendments aimed at further tightening the legal regulations governing foreign nationals.

We will continue to cover the proposed new law on foreign nationals and its parliamentary progress in greater detail in future posts