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 based on a Trade License or SRO company if you want to live 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 remain the main purpose of stay).
In case you want to have an SRO company and do not want to live in Czech Republic, a Business Visa is not necessary. It is not possible to have a Trade License and not live in Czech Republic.
It is only possible to apply for a Visa outside Czech Republic. You will have to apply at the embassy in the country of origin unless you are US citizens or certain other national that is entitled to apply at a CZ embassy / consulate outside their home country.
The landlord must give a written permission to register a Visa on the address. The rental contract alone is not enough, so also use this template with a notarized signature of the landlord: Doklad o zajisteni ubytovani.pdf
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 an Employment Visa (for a job as employee at a Czech-based company). A freelancer with a Trade License is not an employee, he / she is self-employed as independent contractor / sole proprietor external of the organisation. When you worked previously for a foreign company as employee, it is usually easier to invoice them as self-employed after relocation to Czech Republic.Applying for a permanent Residence Permit
It is not possible to get a permanent Residence Permit right away. One must have a valid visa or residence permit for a total of 5 years in order to apply for the permanent Residence Permit, not sooner. The one exception is through marriage. In such case, it is possible to apply after only 2 years.3rd-Country National without any visa or residence permit:
With a Trade License (živnostenský list) or SRO company you can apply for a Business Visa. Note that only directors of an SRO can apply for a business visa, shareholders *can not* apply for a business visa.Many nationalities have a visa-free entry for a limited amount of time, typically between 30 and 90 days, allowing to travel to the Schengen zone / Czech Republic once the D-visa has been approved. If you do not have a visa-free entry, you may have to apply for a short-term C-visa to get to Czech Republic.
In any case, once in Czech Republic you have to report within 3 days to the foreign police to activate your D-visa and once that is done, 3 days to activate your Trade License.
Note that the D-visa is country-specific (meaning: for Czech Republic only). Based on visa-free entry or a tourist visa you may be able to visit other countries in Europe, but for relocation you will have to apply for a visa for that country.
Requirements for a D-Visa for Business purposes
- extract of the criminal record + apostille stamp / super legalized from your home country, not older than 90 days *,
- proof of at least 156.500 CZK (since 2023) for living expenses for the duration of your stay (bank statements, payment card, other proof),
- Proof of Residence in Czech Republic; rental contract + landlord's permission ( template),
- Commercial Health Insurance by a Czech insurance company (unless you can be in Public Health Care, US citizens on a zivno, for example),
- Proof from the živnostenský úřad that you are entitled to get a Trade License (we provide it)
Note I: US citizens can use an afidavit from the US embassy in Prague instead of the 2 US criminal extracts (state and federal) for the Trade License registration, other nationalities can not. Some countries provide police clearances through their own embassies, check this.
Czech Republic is not cheap anymore!
For many people, the 156.500 CZK is a problem, but if you are not able to show that you have enough money for living expenses in Czech Republic. Living in big cities is *not* cheap anymore, costs are comparable / exceeding living costs in other big European cities. Also if you do not have proof of residence (or a fake proof) your Visa application will be rejected.Official Business Visa details
Business Visa details on the website of the Ministry of Interior (external link)Addresses and Telephone numbers of Foreign Embassies
For contact information of foreign embassies click here: Embassies on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (external link)3rd-Country National with Tourist Visa or 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 six issues with this:- A 'Visa-Free Entry' is not a visa, so it is not possible to extend or 'upgrade' to a Business D-Visa in Czech Republic, you need to apply for a Business Visa from scratch outside Czech Republic,
- 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, usually in your home country,
- it is not possible to apply for a temporary C or Bridge Visa while waiting for the longterm Business Visa. Only when extending a (Business) Visa a Bridge Visa can be applied for if the old Visa expires before the Extension is ready.
- 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 nationalities who can travel to Bratislava, Dresden, Vienna or another embassy outside their home country).
- Processing the Visa application will take up to 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, Serbia, Turkey 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 officially not allowed, you may risk getting a Business Visa refusal because of this.
3rd-Country National with D-Visa, changing purpose of stay:
If you have already a D-Visa for employment or student purposes, then it is possible to change the purpose of stay into 'Business', provided that:- you have had a visa for at least 5 (FIVE!) 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.
NOTE that is is not necessary to change the purpose of stay to business in order to apply for a Trade License. You can be employed or be student and have a Trade License at the same time, as long as being employee or student remains the main purpose of stay.
Details on changing purpose of stay for a longterm residence permit (external link)
IMPORTANT - 2 Critical steps after receiving the Visa at the Embassy:
After receiving at the Embassy the visa sticker in your passport, you can enter Czech Republic. You have to report within 3 days after arrival to the Foreign Police in order to get a red stamp with your residence address in your passport.After getting the red stamp, you have to report within 3 days to the Trade License office, and show your passport with this stamp. If you come later or not at all, the tradelicense will automatically be de-registered and you will have to start the process for the tradelicense all over again (!)
Therefore, we recommend to come to us the same day the police stamped your passport, and we will take care of the Trade License office. Once you are reported at the tradelicense office, it will issue a tradelicense with IČO number (so you can start to invoice) and we can continue registrations at the tax office and social office on your behalf (see next page).
IMPORTANT: Trade License renewal before Visa / Residence Permit extension
3rd-Country Nationals that have a Visa or Residence Permit need to have a valid Trade License registration every time in order to renew the Visa / Residence Permit. If the Trade License is not valid at time of Visa / Residence Permit renewal (renewing can normally only be done *while* your old Visa / Residence Permit is still valid), you can start from scratch again - so do not let it expire!It is possible to pick up that renewal paper in the very last days of the validity of your Trade License. That renewal paper will keep the Trade License 180 more days 'alive' so you can get your renewed Visa / Residence permit. If it takes more than 180 days: the Trade License expires irrovakably, and you will have to start from scratch again.
Also: if you do not present your renewed Visa / Residence Permit within 3 days after validation at the Foreign Police at the Trade License Register then the Trade License expires, despite having a valid visa.
Business Visa / Residence Permit Extension
The Business Visa / Residence Permit Extension is a long, complicated process that requires more and different documents than the original Business Visa application. Hire someone to do this for you, because it can be absolutely incomprehensible, frustrating and mindboggling, especially if you do not speak Czech.We advise to start the visa entension and Trade License renewal process at least 2 months before the expiration date of the visa / residence permit. An application for visa- or residence permit renewal can be filed earliest 3 months and latest 14 days before expiration of the old visa / residence permit, so contact us in time!
Why Business Visa applications get rejected
Unfortunately the Ministry of Interior has become very strict for 3rd-country nationals from a non-western country (Pakistan, India, Iran, Iraq, Far-East, Asia, Africa, South-America etc). In practise, getting a Business Visa on basis of a Trade License can be quite challenging. Getting a trade license registration is not the problem. You always get it. Getting an apartment (remotely) can be a problem because of the housing shortage, but it is still doable.The real problem is convincing the embassy / Ministry of Interior that you have such a business that you have to be personally present in Czech Republic. If you do (only) remote work and/ or your clients are not based in Czech Republic there is no need to live in Czech Republic, so most likely you will get a rejection.
True, you can theoretically appeal against such a visa rejection decision, but in most cases that does not help (especially when the reason is something like 'the Ministry does not believe the alien will leave the territory at the end of the visa' - there is no arguing against 'a believe').
We provide a service for trade license registration and prepration of documents for Visas and Residence Permits. We have done so for 20 years, this is why we can guarantee you will get a trade license. But we want to explicitly point out that we (or anybody else - even a fancy lawyer) can not guarantee you will get the Business Visa. It is *always* a decision made by the Ministry of Interior, based on your documents, answers to their questions and internal (unpublished) criteria.
Opening an SROs company is also not a guarantee for getting a Business Visa. In fact, you can expect a whole lot more questions about the business plan, the location, the functioning, the personnel etc. There are 1000s of abandoned SROs of people that did not get a visa - and the embassy / Ministry knows that too.
As with all visa applications, a good preparation, providing all requested documents and a good explanation of why you want / need to start a business in CZ (ideally with a letter of intent stating a cooperation with a CZ client / business) will increase your chances. However, the decision is to the embassy personnel and ultimately the Ministry of Interior. A visa application depends on the applicant, no two cases are the same.
You may think this last section is overly negative, but it is not. It is realistic. Some agencies promise golden mountains and everything will be easy and smooth - but that is not always the reality, even with expensive legal services.
In the end, it is the same application form and the same documents that need to be added to the application. Paying more to a (self-proclaimed) immigation lawyer does not necessarily translate into a better chance for getting a visa. What is decisive is you and your credibility for starting successfully a business based in Czech Republic.
Our core business is accounting and taxes / tax optimization for self-employed. If anybody is able to help you to start and run a business abroad - it is most likely an accountant and an expat (who went through all difficulties himself).
For more information Book a Business Consultation
Back / Continue to: the Registration Steps