It turned out that she, like many of her relatives languishing without work in their ghettos, had discovered a new way to earn money – entering into sham marriages with African Americans who yearned for permanent residency in the Czech Republic. My interlocutor lived in two houses – with her common-law husband in one city and with her fictitious African American husband in another. What was most surprising was that the Gypsy woman and the black man communicated with each other almost by gestures, since neither knew the other's language, and yet the extravagant couple successfully passed all the interviews at the foreign police...
Until recently, marriages with members of the indigenous population remained the fastest and least painful way to obtain permanent residency in the Czech Republic. Unlike Germany, Austria, and even Poland, where a foreign spouse marrying a local resident first receives a temporary residence permit and only after a certain period gets permanent resident status, the Czech state presented this wonderful gift to foreigners on their wedding day itself. Hence the curious stories about young Ukrainian wives whom Czech husbands, waking up after the wedding night, did not find in bed: at that hour the wives were already standing in line at the foreign police to have the long-awaited stamp put in their passports.
It is difficult for a foreigner in the Czech Republic without permanent residency. Getting a job is impossible (a work visa is required, which is a complicated procedure), there is no access to the state healthcare system, and no right to social benefits. Until now, foreigners married to Czech citizens knew about these hardships of immigrant life only by hearsay. But soon everything should change. The Czech parliament is currently considering a bill on a two-year 'probationary period' for mixed marriages. According to this initiative, foreign spouses of Czech citizens will receive permanent residency after two years of marriage, and only after a thorough check by the foreign police and – here is the trap for our African American! – after passing a Czech language exam.
More than two dozen non-governmental organizations oppose the new law. Lawyer Pavel Chizhinsky from the Consultation on Citizenship, Civil and Human Rights warns that the new rules will lead to infringement of the rights of foreign spouses of Czech citizens (referring to foreigners from non-EU countries). For two years they will essentially have to live off their other halves, with no ability to work or receive unemployment benefits. For a foreign woman, childbirth will also become a problem: without state health insurance, it will have to be paid out of her own pocket, and that is not a cheap pleasure.
The law will almost certainly be passed. But for now in North Bohemia it is still easy to find a compliant Gypsy woman who, for just €1,000, will turn you into a permanent resident of the European Union overnight. True, Gypsy women do not favor Russian fake husbands, suspecting that you won't even get the thousand euros from them in the end. Black men – they are somehow more reliable.