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Schengen visa

Schengen visa is a visa issued by any of the Schengen States. Schengen visa allows you to
- Transit through or stay in the territory of the Schengen area for a duration of no more than 90 days in any 180 day period ("short-stay visa"),
- Transit through the international transit areas of airports of the Schengen area ("airport transit visa").

Schengen area covers 27 countries ("Schengen States") without internal border controls. These countries are: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

If you have a valid visa issued by a Schengen State, you can also visit any of the other Schengen States, unless the territorial validity of the visa is limited, which is shown in the visa sticker.

The visa shows how many times you can enter the Schengen area (one, two or multiple entries). If your visa is only valid for one entry, you have to remember that if you leave the Schengen area, for example to go to the UK, Ireland, Croatia, Russia or Turkey, you cannot re-enter the Schengen area without a new visa. It is therefore important that you state in your visa application how many times you will be travelling in and out of the Schengen area during your visit. 

If your visa is valid for more entries (multiple entry), you are allowed to stay in the Schengen area for up to 90 days in any 180-day period. The stay can be divided into as many separate trips as you wish. The period of validity of a multiple entry visa is 5 years maximum.

The procedures for the Schengen visa application to travel to the Czech Republic is subject to the Schengen rules valid for all Schengen States.

Information for visa holders

How to read the visa sticker

The Schengen visa has the form of a sticker in your passport. Please check carefully all the data in the sticker.

Validity period of the visa (“FROM … TO” heading on the visa sticker): This heading indicates the period during which the holder may make the visit authorised by the visa (including entry, stay and departure). The visit must be made between the start and end dates given in this heading and it must not exceed the number of days entered under the “Duration of visit” heading. 

Duration of visit (“DURATION OF VISIT…DAYS” heading on the visa sticker): This heading indicates the number of days during which the holder may stay in the territory for which the visa is valid (Schengen area/Czech Republic). The duration of visit is counted from the date of entry in the territory. The authorised duration of visit may be shorter than the validity period of the visa. In the case of multiple-entry Schengen visas  valid for more than 180 days, the authorised duration of each visit is 90 days in any 180-day period.  Please note that it is the visa holder who is responsible for observing the rule and not exceeding the allowed 90 days of stay within any 180-days period. In case of multiple entries, the accumulated amount of days can be determined by the entry/exit stamps in the passport. A useful tool to calculate the amount of days in the Schengen area is the so-called Norwegian Calculator.

Type of visa: A – airport transit visa, C – uniform Schengen visa (visits for not more than 90 days), D – long-stay visa (visits for more than 90 days)

Number of entries: This heading shows the number of times the visa holder may enter the Schengen area (the number of visits which may be spread over the entire period of validity of the visa).

Right of entry

The visa does not automatically entitle the holder to enter the Schengen area. When crossing the border, visa holders are required to prove that they meet the entry conditions, which in general means that they can be asked to justify the purpose and conditions of the intended stay and to prove that they have sufficient means of subsistence, both for the duration of the intended stay and for the return to their country of origin.

Duties of visa holders:

Please note that every foreigner must respect the laws of the country s/he is visiting.  

When visiting the Czech Republic, foreigners have the duty to register with the Alien Police inspectorate in the area where they are staying within 3 working days from the date of entry in the territory of the Czech Republic. This does not apply to the following categories of persons: children under 15 years of age; foreigners whose registration is arranged by their accommodation provider (e.g. by a hotel); members of staff of diplomatic missions, consular posts and international governmental organisations accredited to the Czech Republic and their family members registered with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and foreigners whose accommodation is provided by the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic.  For any questions regarding stay in the territory of the Czech Republic, please contact the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic (pobyty@mvcr.cz).

Personal Calculator:

Administrative bodies and travelers have access to a practical tool/internet application called Schengen calculator, allowing them to calculate the period of allowed stay under the new rules (based on the input of the information on the date of entry and dates of previous stays). Based on this calculation it will be possible to calculate the number of days of a legal stay within the Schengen area that can be applied for. The calculator can be found on the website of the European Commission: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/borders-and-visas/border-crossing/index_en.htm, clicking on the link „short stay calculator“. The website contains also the user manual of the Schengen calculator.

PERSONAL CALCULATOR