Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic

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Family Members of EU Citizens

 

FOR VISA PURPOSES, FAMILY MEMBERS OF EU CITIZENS ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

(1) spouse

(2) parent who looks after an EU citizen who is younger than 21

(3) child younger than 21 of an EU citizen or such a child of a spouse of an EU citizen

(4) dependent direct relative in the ascending or descending line or such a relative of spouse of the EU citizen who is dependent on the EU citizen or his/her spouse for sustenance or other form of essential care or who was dependent on sustenance or other form of essential care in the state of which he/she is a citizen or in which he/she resided immediately before arrival to CZE

(5) relative of a Czech citizen with permanent residency in CZE if in a relationship given in pt´s (1) - (4)

(6) relative of an EU citizen or a Czech citizen with permanent residency in CZE who

(i) is in his/her home country depending on the EU citizen for sustenance,

(ii) is in his/her home country a member of a common household of the EU / Czech citizen,

(iii) requires personal care of the EU citizen on serious health grounds.

(7)

Family member of the EU citizen is also any other foreign national who duly attests that

(1) he/she is a relative of the EU citizen who (i) in the country from which he/she has come or in the country in which he/she was a permanent or long-term resident, was a member of a common household of the EU citizen before his/her entry to the Czech Republic or (ii) was a dependant depending on the EU citizen for sustenance,

(2) due to serious health grounds he/she strictly requires the personal care of the EU citizen,

(3) he/she has a durable relationship with the EU citizen and shares with him/her a common household.

As a family member of an EU citizen, you can temporarily stay (for up to 90 days) in the Czech Republic without a visa, if one of the following applies to you:

  1. You are a family member of the EU citizen, holder of a residence card of a family member issued in accordance with Art. 10 of the Directive 2004/38/EC or holder of a permanent residence permit in another EU Member State issued in accordance with Art. 20 of the Directive 2004/38/EC, and your stay on the territory of the Czech Republic will not exceed three months. 
  2. You are a family member of the EU citizen, your Schengen visa has expired, you are staying in the Czech Republic with the EU citizen and this stay does not exceed three months.

When applying for a Schengen visa as a family member of the EU citizen, submit the following:

filled-out form „Application for a Schengen visa“

valid travel document

photograph

documents attesting to existence of the EU citizen (copy of the EU citizen´s identity card or passport)

document attesting that you are a family member of the EU citizen (marriage certificate, birth certificate, dependence proof, document attesting to serious health situation, permanent partnership proof or other)

document attesting that you will accompany the EU citizen to the Czech Republic or join him/her to the Czech Republic.

The application processing time is 14 days. It can be extended for up to 45 days in well-founded instances.

Applications are lodged free-of-charge.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs draws the applicants´ attention to the fact that the decisions on granting a Schengen visa to a family member of the EU citizen are not taken automatically. Diplomatic missions of the Czech Republic conduct application examination to establish whether one of the refusal reasons set out in Section 20.5 of the Act No 326/1999 Coll., on Residence of Foreign Nationals in the Czech Republic, has been fulfilled:

a) the applicant presents a counterfeited or falsified travel document,

b) there is a reasonable suspicion that the applicant suffers from a serious disease,

c) there is a substantiated risk that the applicant, during his/her stay in the Czech Republic, might endanger the security of the state or seriously disrupt public order,

d) the applicant has been entered into the Information System of the Schengen area Contracting States and a competent authority, which initiated inclusion of a family member of the EU citizen into such records confirms that there is still a substantiated risk that he/she might, during his/her stay in the territory of a Schengen area Contracting State, endanger the security of, or disrupt public order in this state,

e) the applicant violated the Act on Residence of Foreign Nationals with the aim to obtain a visa, in particular if he/she entered into a marriage or declared paternity just for the purpose of acquiring a visa,

f) the applicant has acted fraudulently with the aim to obtain a visa for stay on the territory (for example by presenting fake documents to support the visa application or providing false information during an interview),

g) the application examination establishes that the applicant no longer is a family member of the EU citizen or that he/she will not accompany or join him/her.

Marriages of convenience are characterized as follows, in accordance with the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council no. COM (2014) 604 final, along with the Handbook on addressing the issue of alleged marriages of convenience between EU citizens and non-EU nationals in the context of EU law on free movement of EU citizens:

(1) „standard“ marriage of convenience – both spouses enter marriage for the sole purpose to violate EU law,

The MFA points out particularly Section 341 of the Act No 40/2009 Coll., Penal Code, which contains a provision that facilitating unauthorized stay on the territory of the Czech Republic constitute a crime.

(2) marriage by deception – marriage whereby the EU citizen is deceived by a third-country national by promise of proper and durable family life; such marriage is typically, although not necessarily, preceded by a brief internet or holiday encounter,

(3) forced marriage – often related to human trafficking,

(4) bogus marriage – contrary to marriage of convenience, such marriage is not illegal, but is linked to forged or misused documents.

Family members of EU citizens whose visa has been refused can appeal this decision by requesting a review of the visa refusal.

If this appeal is rejected, a family member can apply for a legal administrative review by a regional court.

The request for legal administrative review must be delivered to the regional court no more than 30 days after receipt by the family member of the appeal rejection letter and must be delivered to that regional court in the district where the family member would register his/her arrival, i.e. where he/she would reside  (www.justice.cz). The address of the intended residence in the Czech Republic must be clearly evident from the visa application.

The above information pertains to Schengen visa applications that family members of EU citizens lodge at diplomatic missions.

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Lodging of a Schengen visa application at a border crossing of the Czech Republic:

Family member of an EU citizen can lodge a Schengen visa application at a border crossing of the Czech Republic. Family member must substantiate the reasons for lodging the application at a border.

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Information on the application procedure for permanent residence permit of a family member is available on the www.mvcr.cz website.

 

Useful links:

Ministry of the Interior – EU citizens and their family members

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