This law was last amended quite recently - at the end of last year. And now further changes. What do they mean for foreigners? The authors of the bill claim that their sole purpose is to make the process of obtaining Czech visas simpler and more understandable for people and to minimize opportunities for corruption and various offenses by intermediaries, employees of embassies and consulates of the Czech Republic.
The explanatory memorandum formulates the need for changes to the Law on the Residence of Foreigners as follows: "Current rules allow Czech diplomatic missions, when accepting an application for a long-term visa, to conduct an interview with the applicant and on its basis draw up their own resolution, of a recommendatory or negative nature. However, this aspect of consular work is completely unformalized; there are no rules for drawing up such resolutions. The applicant has no opportunity to either familiarize himself with the consulate's resolution or challenge it in any way. At the same time, it often becomes a determining factor for the Aliens Police when deciding whether to issue or refuse a visa. According to some foreigners, given the importance of the consulate's resolution, this often becomes a subject of corruption on the part of consular employees. The aim of the bill is to establish rules for conducting interviews and drawing up resolutions by Czech diplomatic missions, which will make the process more transparent and provide an opportunity to monitor it, and also reduce the importance of the opinion of consular employees when the police decide to issue or refuse a visa. For this purpose, it is proposed to legislate that the decision of consular employees should play only a supporting role and cannot serve as a basis for police officers to make a negative decision."
Another important point mentioned by the authors of the bill is the absence of uniform rules under which the police are obliged to provide the applicant with an explanation of the reason for visa refusal. "Refusal to issue a visa undoubtedly affects the applicant's interests, who has the right to know why such a decision was made. However, some Aliens Police departments sometimes get away with a formal reply stating that the negative decision was made on the basis of such and such clauses of such and such a law, without explaining them. Other police departments simply write on the visa application form that the negative decision was made due to a negative opinion of consular employees set out in the cover note. Since it is usually impossible to verify the grounds on which such an opinion was drawn up, it effectively turns out that the diplomatic mission makes the decision to issue or refuse a long-term visa."
"Another important goal of the bill is to eliminate the market for fake health insurance policies, which are a business for some groups of foreigners operating practically under the windows of police departments, and to reduce multi-million losses of healthcare facilities providing medical care to foreigners 'insured' in this way. For this purpose, it is proposed to oblige foreigners seeking a Czech visa to provide insurance policies issued only by insurance companies operating in the country of their citizenship or the state where the foreigner has permanent residence. If a foreigner provides a health insurance policy directly in the territory of the Czech Republic, it must be issued by a company licensed to operate in the Czech Republic."
So, summarizing the above, let's highlight the specific changes proposed to be made to the law on the residence of foreigners in the Czech Republic.
First, to supplement the law with the following phrase: "Decisions on refusal to issue a visa should be issued in writing and formalized in accordance with the current rules" (which also still need to be developed).
Second, the right of consular employees to draw up a personal opinion on a person applying for a long-term Czech visa is preserved. However, such a cover note should only play a secondary role for the police when deciding whether to issue or refuse a visa.
Third, employees of Czech diplomatic missions will be authorized to conduct interviews with persons applying for long-term Czech visas, but only in cases of "doubts about the accuracy of information provided in the visa application form or other documents." The purpose of such an interview is to eliminate inaccuracies or ambiguities. At the same time, consular employees are obliged to inform the applicant about what specific problems are in question. Based on the results of the conversation, a protocol is drawn up according to the established rules (which also need to be developed).
Fourth, health insurance policy must be issued by an insurance company licensed to operate in the applicant's country of permanent residence or country of citizenship. If a foreigner takes out an insurance policy directly in the territory of the Czech Republic, it must be a company licensed to operate in the Czech Republic.