This page is for temporary protection holders who are thinking about a longer permit or have already received the results of the 2026 check. It covers the conditions, the steps, the deadlines of the current round and what changes once you get the card.
What is special long-term residence?
It is an ordinary long-term residence permit under the Act on the Residence of Foreigners. It was created for temporary protection holders from 11 February 2025 by Act 24/2025 Sb., the seventh package of amendments to the Lex Ukrajina laws (Sb. stands for the Collection of Laws of the Czech Republic, Sbírka zákonů). The permit is valid for 5 years from the day you received the card. There is no right to it, and the ordinary rules of administrative procedure do not apply to it.
Special residence does not replace temporary protection. If you did not express interest, your protection does not end because of that. But once you have received a special residence card, you can no longer apply for temporary protection, unless special residence is revoked.
How do you get it?
The procedure has three steps:
- Interest. You express it online with electronic identification during a window set by the government. Other ways are not accepted. Your expression of interest is valid for a year.
- Automatic check. The Ministry of the Interior checks the conditions against state registers.
- Registration. Those who pass the check register online, book an appointment to have their biometric data taken, and then receive the card.
In 2026, interest was accepted from 1 to 30 April. According to the ministry’s announcement of 30 September 2026, the results appeared at 8:00 on 1 October 2026 in your personal account on the ministry’s portal for foreigners, which you log into with electronic identification. Registration runs until 31 December 2026, and the ministry says you do not have to register right after the launch.
One person registers the whole family. The appointment date can be changed only once. All family members come to have their biometric data taken; everyone except children under 6 comes to collect the card.
What conditions must you meet?
The conditions are set in the law, and a government regulation sets the reference dates for each round. For the 2026 round:
| Condition | On what date or for what period |
|---|---|
| Continuous temporary protection in Czechia for at least 2 years | On 1 April 2026 |
| Continuous state health insurance for at least 2 years without debts | On 31 March 2026 |
| Income of at least 440,000 Kč a year plus 110,000 Kč for each additional person registered together | For the 2025 tax year; the tax return had to be filed by 4 May 2026 |
| Not receiving humanitarian benefit | From 1 October 2025 to 31 March 2026 |
| Children aged 6 to 14 attend school | On 31 March 2026 |
| A valid passport and a registered address that is not the address of a public office | On the day biometric data are taken and on the day the card is issued |
The two-year conditions do not apply to family members under 18. Before issuing the card, the ministry also checks that protection has not been interrupted since the reference date, that the person is not in the Schengen Information System or the register of undesirable persons, that they have no criminal record (from age 15) and that they are not a security threat.
For self-employed people who pay the flat-rate tax (paušální daň, a single monthly payment instead of tax and contributions), the regulation treats their income as 224,880 Kč, 336,600 Kč or 514,800 Kč a year for the first, second and third band respectively. So, by our calculation, a person who registers alone and pays the flat-rate tax in the first or second band does not reach the 440,000 Kč threshold with this income alone.
How is a family assessed?
A family is assessed as one household. A married couple living together must both express interest, each naming the other, and include their children under 18 who have temporary protection in Czechia. Adult dependent children and some other dependents can also be added.
If one family member does not meet a condition, no one is considered to have met it. At the stage when the card is issued, a criminal record of one family member cancels the registration of everyone, and this cannot be appealed.
How much does it cost?
The fee is 2,500 Kč for each card, or 1,000 Kč for children under 15. You pay by payment card at the Ministry of the Interior office. For this procedure, documents on family relationships can be submitted without a certified Czech translation.
What changes once you get the card?
- Work. You can work without a permit; no integration course is needed.
- Personal number. Holders of special residence are not given a rodné číslo.
- Social benefits. There is no right to non-insurance social benefits, including housing and child benefits; the law expressly excludes holders of special residence from the same benefits as protection holders.
- Health insurance. People who work for an employer based in Czechia stay in the state system. Self-employed people and people who do not work must buy commercial insurance, and parents pay for their children: 3,024 Kč a month in 2026. You must tell your insurance company about the change within 8 days.
- Document. You get a biometric residence card, but it is not a travel document: you travel with your passport.
- Address. You report a change of address to the Ministry of the Interior within 30 days if it will last more than 30 days.
- Car and driver’s license. Your car must be registered in the Czech register, and a driver’s license issued under the international road traffic conventions must be exchanged within 3 months.
- Other permits. You can apply only for a permit for family reunification, study or research work, or for an EU Blue Card. The employee card is not among the exceptions, and any other permit ends special residence.
- Business. The Trade Licensing Act requires a foreigner to have a long-term visa or a long-term residence permit; special residence meets this condition.
Can you extend the permit and get permanent residence?
The Ministry of the Interior will not extend the permit if its holder lived outside the EU for more than 12 months in a row without a serious reason, such as pregnancy, serious illness, study or a work assignment. In our reading, this rule implies that the permit can be extended after 5 years, although the law does not describe this separately.
Permanent residence requires 5 years of continuous stay. Time on special residence counts in full, and earlier time on temporary protection granted by Czechia counts by half (§ 7w(6) of Lex Ukrajina).
Where there is no official explanation, we say so directly, and we mark our own conclusions from the text of the law with the words “in our reading”.
What mistakes should you avoid?
- Counting on applying now: in 2026 no new applicants are accepted, and a 2027 round has not been announced.
- Missing registration by 31 December 2026 if you passed the check.
- Switching to special residence without a job and without taking out commercial health insurance.
- Changing the appointment date more than once: only one change is allowed.
- Forgetting that a criminal record of one family member cancels the registration of the whole family.