Where to apply

You may submit your application at the Consular Office (of the Embassy or Consulates General of the Czech Republic) in accordance with the jurisdiction where you permanently reside.

Important notes

• Please note that submitting the application to the wrong Consular Office will automatically result in it being forwarded to the correct one and thus delay the processing time of your application.
• Business visas are only issued by Czech Embassies and Consulates General located outside of the territory of the Czech Republic, applicants must wait for their applications to be processed.
• A business visa can only be issued by the same Embassy and Consulate General where the application for it was submitted. Hence, you cannot apply for a visa in the US and pick it up in Europe or the Czech Republic.
• You must be present in the US at the end of the application process when the visa is issued into your passport.
• If you do not intend to pick up your passport with the visa in person (after the visa process has been finished), please enclose a certified pre-paid envelope with a sufficient stamp or an already pre-paid label  (only certified mail with a tracking number) to your original visa application package.
• All documents must be presented in their original form or as a notarized copy.
• No documents (except for your passport or birth and marriage certificates) may be older than 180 days.

Processing time

All visas have to be approved by the Ministry of Interior. The processing time for the business visa lasts from 90 to 120 days from the date the Embassy receives the fully completed application. Therefore, the Embassy recommends that applicants submit their applications on time. Please understand that the Embassy is not able to speed up the process or follow up on it as it is handled by the authorities in the Czech Republic.

 

Required documents and fees

We recommend to submit two sets of all documents (originals + copies).

Interview at the Embassy is required while submitting the long-term visa application for the purpose of business. Therefore, the visa application must be submitted at the Embassy in person!!! 

Visa applicants need to schedule and appointment in advance!!! Our opening hours are every business day 8:30 AM - 11:30 AM. Please email us at washington.visa@mzv.gov.cz . You will be provided with an appointment within 30 days.

 

1. Completed application form

• The form "Application for Long-Stay Visa" must be filled out completely with a ball point pen or on a typewriter. Do not use red ink to complete the application.
  
  Please do not forget
• to sign the application in the place indicated at the bottom of the fifth page and
• to include your phone number and e-mail address for future communication.

2. Two recent passport photographs

• Please see detailed instructions and examples of photographs here.

3. Passport

You must submit

• your original passport or official travel document recognized by the Schengen countries with a validity exceeding your intended stay by at least 3 months and issued within the last 10 years,
• copy of the data page of the passport (the page with your personal data and photo).
  
  Notes
• Please make sure that your passport has at least two blank pages (for affixing a visa and administrative purposes).
• If you need your passport during the processing time, please send a request with your application as well as a stamped envelope so that the passport can be returned to you. The passport must be resubmitted at the end of the application process for the issuance of the visa after the Embassy has received the approval from the Czech authorities. During this time, you must be present in the US.

4. Proof of sufficient financial means

• A notarized copy of your valid credit or debit card (Visa, MasterCard or other valid and internationally recognized means of credit) held in your name and valid for at least the duration of your stay in the Czech Republic + An original or notarized copy of a recent bank account statement held in your name from a bank in the Czech Republic or the US, indicating the current balance (please do not forget to enclose a letter from the bank confirming the fact that you will be able to use your funds while in the Czech Republic)
  
  Requirements for financial means during your stay
  The foreign national is obliged to prove availability of financial resources that are least 50 times the amount of the existential minimum, i.e. 50 * 3 130) = 156 500 CZK.

5. Proof of the purpose of your stay

-   a copy of an excerpt from the Trades Register or a certificate issued by a Trades Licensing Office documenting that the alien meets the general and the special conditions for operation of a trade (Section 46 of Act No. 326/1999 Coll. and Section 47(7) of Act No. 455/1991 Coll. on trades); or

-  a copy of an excerpt from the Commercial Register, with an exception stipulated in Section 21(5) of Act No.  513/1991 Coll., the Commercial Code; or

-   a statutory body or a member of the statutory body of a company who does not ensure for the company the performance of tasks arising from the object of business activities of the company as the legal entity shall present a copy of the excerpt from the Commercial Register indicating that he/she fulfils the relevant conditions;

-   a member of a statutory body of a cooperative who does not ensure for the cooperative the performance of tasks arising from the object of business activities of the legal entity shall present a copy of the excerpt from the Commercial Register indicating that he/she fulfils the relevant conditions;

-   a liquidator, bankruptcy trustee, composition trustee, receiver or an alien who is authorized to bind or to represent the company before the court or to participate in the management of or control of the company as a body established by the law or as a member of such body, and who does not ensure for the company or for the cooperative the performance of tasks arising from the object of business activities of the legal entity shall present a certified copy of an excerpt from the Commercial Register or another document indicating that he/she meets such conditions;

 

6. Proof of your accommodation

• A certificate issued by an individual or a legal entity providing accommodation, or
• an original statement from the owner of an apartment or a house stating his or her ability and willingness to provide the accommodation (private accommodation), or
• a lease agreement for an apartment or a house, or
• a lease agreement and an affidavit signed by the owner of an apartment or a house confirming the sublet.
  
  Important notes
• The original or notarized copy of any of the mentioned documents must be submitted.
• The copies and signature of the owner must be notarized by a Notary Public in the Czech Republic.
• The documents confiming your accomodation must be in Czech language.

 

7. Criminal History Background

• Criminal History Affidavit (PDF, 167 KB) confirming that you have never been indicted and sentenced for a felony of any kind.
  If you are submitting your application by mail, your signature must be notarized by a Notary Public. If you come to the Embassy in person, you will have to sign the Affidavit here.
  
  In addition:

US citizens

• If you have lived in any other country besides the US for 6 months or longer in the previous three years, you are required to submit a Criminal History Record issued by that country.

Non US citizens

1. You need to submit a Criminal History Record from the home country with the appropriate verification (Apostille/superlegalisation) with the translation into the Czech language of whole document including Apostile.
2. Criminal History Record issued by the official authority (it means from the FBI) with the appropriate verification (Apostille) with the translation into the Czech language of whole document including Apostile.

​
8. Travel medical insurance

9. Visa application fee

• There is a fee assessed for submitting your visa application. The fee must be paid either in cash or by money order payable to the Embassy of the Czech Republic. We do not accept personal checks. The fee may change without prior notice.

9.  Post delivery

• If you do not intend to pick up your passport with the visa in person (after the visa process has been finished), please enclose a certified pre-paid envelope with a sufficient stamp or an already pre-paid label  (only certified mail with a tracking number) to your original visa application package.
  
  We recommend using:
  
  For overnight service
  
  USPS Priority Mail Express Flat Rate Envelope - EP13F together with USPS Label 11B and sufficient stamp.
  
  For priority mail delivery
  
  USPS Priority Flat Rate Envelope – EP14F together with USPS Tracking # - Label 400 and sufficient stamp.
  
  Alternatively, you can print shipping label by using Click-N-Ship^® service.

• Our mailing address:

• EMBASSY OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC
  VISA SECTION
  3900 SPRING OF FREEDOM ST NW
  WASHINGTON DC 20008-3803

Other notes

The Consular Section of the Embassy of the Czech Republic

• does not provide translation services
• provides verification of translations of some types of documents (please see consular fees).

 

Useful links

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic

Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic