As Radio Prague notes, Senator Václav Láska is one of the active critics of the new Law on the Stay of Foreigners in the Czech Republic and is currently preparing to file a complaint against it with the Constitutional Court. In his opinion, what will a foreign citizen who intends to apply for a long-term residence permit in the Czech Republic have to face?
"Unfortunately, the first thing a foreigner preparing to submit documents should keep in mind is that the Czech state will not be too accommodating in granting them a residence permit in any form. They should also know that the slightest mistake made during the submission of documents, for example, when filling out the application, will automatically mean a refusal to issue the permit. Unfortunately," says the senator, "a person needs to know that when they contact the Foreign Police, they will encounter a not very friendly attitude."
As is known, the actions of the Ministry of the Interior have not been particularly friendly towards foreigners for a long time, but very often the Supreme Administrative Court took their side. Thus, a number of complaints filed by foreigners against the Ministry were ruled in their favor.
"The amendment, which was created by the Ministry itself, is precisely a reaction to those court cases that the Ministry lost. This means that where it lost courts on some legal grounds, the Ministry changed those grounds so that it will no longer be possible to lose courts on those grounds. The Ministry even tried to eliminate judicial reviews. In the Chamber of Deputies, a proposal was even made that courts should not have the right to review decisions of the Ministry at all. So the main changes are that today foreigners from third countries, that is, states not belonging to the EU, will not find protection in Czech courts, because the Ministry of the Interior has rewritten the law so that it will win in these proceedings," notes Václav Láska.
Radio Prague asked Václav Láska to elaborate on some specific innovations. For example, one of the common grounds for obtaining a residence permit for foreigners in the Czech Republic is the so-called family reunification. The law significantly affects this provision.
"Until now, in mixed families, it was possible, if a spouse from a third country, after getting married, changed the grounds for stay in the Czech Republic, they could apply for this change on the territory of the Czech Republic. Thus, there was a kind of 'transition period' during which they could change the grounds for stay, even if the previous grounds had expired," says Senator Václav Láska. "Now the situation changes so that no 'transition period' remains, and if the grounds expire, for example, studies, the foreigner is obliged to leave for their country of origin and apply there at the Czech consulate.
This is a huge formalism, because the Czech consulate will do nothing other than accept the application and forward it to the Ministry of the Interior for consideration. This is even more paradoxical because it only concerns those foreigners who are married to a Czech citizen. If it is a marriage with a citizen of an EU state permanently residing in the Czech Republic, such couples are not affected by this change. So this is discrimination not only against foreigners but also against Czech citizens who 'dare' to marry a citizen of a third country."
Another innovation concerns those convicted of any crime in the Czech Republic. Previously, in accordance with the law, such people often served their sentences in the Czech Republic. From now on, after conviction for any crime, a person is automatically deported from the Czech Republic. Senator Václav Láska recalled that recently there have been cases of conviction for such 'crimes' as drawing 'horns' on a billboard. Such crimes are considered minor, and a Czech citizen may receive a fine or a warning for them, while a foreigner will be obliged to leave the country, losing their studies, work, and even family.
Another provision, due to which Senator Láska plans to file a complaint with the Constitutional Court, concerns a situation where the police detain a foreigner, place them in a specialized detention facility, and the foreigner defends themselves and files a complaint with the Supreme Administrative Court. Until now, the rule was that the court would review the complaint and make a decision. After the change in the law, if the police release the detained foreigner before the court's decision, the proceedings must be terminated.
"This means, firstly, that no one will be able to demand from the court a determination of whether the detention was lawful or not. Thus, the person will not receive any compensation for damages if it was unlawful, and will also be obliged to pay for their stay in the facility, and no one will reimburse them for these costs. Ultimately, this could lead to a very unpleasant practice where the Ministry can detain anyone and keep them locked up until the person files a complaint with the court, and then release them so that the decision on the lawfulness of the detention is never reviewed.
I believe this is a violation of the human right to a court review of a decision, and thus a violation of the Constitution of the Czech Republic," emphasizes Senator Václav Láska.