Trade License.cz / Long-term D-Visa (Business Visa)
Business Visa for 3rd-Country Nationals
If you are not an EU-citizen with a 'Schengen passport' you will have to apply for a Business Visa if you want to have a trade license business in Czech Republic unless you have a permanent residence permit, or a (temporary) residence permit based on marriage / relationship / partnership or a visa for employment / student purposes (provided that the job / studying will still be the main activity).
No need for a work permit
With a Business Visa you do not need a Work Permit. A Work Permit you only need if you have a Work Visa (for a job as employee). A freelancer with a trade license is not an employee.
It is not possible to apply for the Visa inside Czech Republic. You will have to apply the embassy in the country of origin (except for US citizens and other nationals that are entitled to apply at an embassy outside their home country.)
Note that in 2011 a lot of many unpleasant changes were made by the Ministry of Interior, making it more difficult to apply for and extend a business visa. We highly recommend reading the Visa Guide on the Alexio.cz website (external link)
Applying for a permanent Residence Permit
It is not possible to get a permanent Residence Permit right away. You first need to apply for a Visa for Business Purposes, which is a long-term D-Visa. After extending this D-Visa for a total of 5 years, it is possible to apply for the permanent Residence Permit, not sooner.
Requirements for a D-Visa
- extract of the criminal record + apostille stamp from your home country, not older than 90 days,
- proof of at least 140.000 CZK for living expenses for the duration of your stay (per year),
- Proof of Residence in Czech Republic (rental contract + owner's permission),
- Health Insurance for a Czech insurance company (we can get it for you),
- Proof from the živnostenský úřad that you are entitled to get a trade license
For many people, especially the 140.000 CZK is a problem, but if you are not able to show that you have enough money for living expenses in Czech Republic or do not have proof of residence (or a fake proof) your Visa application will be rejected.
3rd-Country National with Visa-Free Entry:
Some people, come here on a Tourist Visa or have a Visa-Free Entry ( American citizens and a few others), and want to change this Visa into a Business Visa. There are four problems with this:
- A 'Visa-Free Entry' is not a visa, so it is not possible to extend or 'upgrade' to a business visa in Czech Republic, you need to apply again for a Business Visa from scratch,
- it is not possible to change the purpose of stay from 'tourist' into 'business', you need to apply again for a Business Visa from scratch,
- The D-Visa application has to be made outside Czech Republic. You will have to apply the embassy in the country of origin (except for US citizens and a few other natoinalities who can travel to Bratislava, Berlin, Vienna or another embassy outside Czech Republic).
- Processing the Visa application will take some 3 months, so it can happen your tourist stay / visa free entry will end before your Business Visa is ready, and in that case you are staying illegally in the Schengen-zone. Some stay in a country outside the Schengen zone (UK, Croatia etc), to stop the 'Schengen-clock' while waiting for the visa.
- Staying longer in Czech Republic than the the tourist visa / or the visa free entry-while waiting for the D-Visa- is not allowed, you may risk getting a Business Visa refusal because of this. Also, it is not possible to get a temporary visa while waiting for the first D-Visa.
3rd-Country National without D-Visa:
You must apply for the Business Visa with as 'purpose of stay' the trade license (živnostenský list). Since you are still outside the Schengen-zone you should apply for a combined C+D Visa, which allows you to travel the first 90 days in the Schengen-zone, using your short-term C-Visa, and after the 90 days you are allowed to stay up to 6 months on your long-term D-Visa.
You must include proof that you already applied for the trade license, but for applications for a tradelicense you need to show up personally at the trade license register, so before you can apply for a D-Visa you must obtain another visa or have a visa-free entry for the visit to the trade license register.
3rd-Country National with D-Visa, changing purpose of stay:
If you have already a D-Visa for employment purposes, then it is possible to change the purpose of stay into 'Business', provided that:
- you have had a visa for at least 2 years,
- and there is at least 60 days left on the original visa on the moment of filing the extension,
- and you comply to all the requirements of the Business Visa.
For this, it is not necessary to go abroad. This can be done at the Ministry of Interior in Prague. Do not wait for the last moment and start well in time. A couple of hickups, and your old Visa expires, meaning that you cannot extend it anymore and you will have to apply from scratch for a Business Visa at an embassy abroad (including 3-4 months of waiting for approval)
We offer help with this process - contact us for details.
Requests from Pakistan, India, Iran, Far-East, Asia, Africa, South-America etc.
Unfortunately the Ministry of Interior has become very strict for 3rd-country nationals from a non-western country. In practise, getting a Business Visa on basis of a Trade License can be quite challenging.
Getting a Business Visa on basis of a newly formed s.r.o. company (also an off-the-shelf or ready-made company is not recommended) has a higher success rate.
As with all visa applications, a good preparation, provinding all requested documents will increase your chances. Hoewever, the decision is to the embassy personnel and ultimately the foreign police. As a visa application depends on the person, no two cases are the same.
For more information on applying for and extending of Visas for Czech Republic we refer to the Visa Info section on Alexio.cz (external link)
