The Prague Post Online: News: NGOs protest new residency law

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July 7th, 2008

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NGOs protest new residency law

Proposal tightens rules for foreigners and asylum seekers

By Jana Donovan
For The Prague Post
May 9th, 2007 issue

Human rights organizations are up in arms over proposed amendments to the foreigners’ residency and asylum law that they say will make life a lot harder for non-Czechs seeking to live here.

The amended laws would lengthen the amount of time it takes for foreigners to obtain residence permits and require language tests before they are issued. Asylum seekers, meanwhile, could see already long detentions extended while their applications are processed.

Parliament, on its first reading, passed the amendments April 25. That same day, 10 nonprofit organizations including Amnesty International and Bridge for Human Rights lambasted the modifications, saying they would have adverse fallout on foreigners and asylum seekers in the Czech Republic.

In a joint declaration, the human rights groups said Czechs have a moral obligation to show a friendly face to political refugees because Czechs themselves were in a similar situation less than two decades ago, when many of them sought asylum abroad from communist rule at home.

“One gets the impression the law was made to make it easier for the police — so that they don’t have to consider and investigate each case individually. Instead, the law simply makes suspects of all foreigners,” says Pavel Čížinský of the Advice Bureau for Refugees and Human Rights, which signed the declaration April 25.

Critics have focused on a new rule that introduces a two-year waiting period for foreigners who marry Czechs to receive permanent residency. Previously, spouses of Czechs had been eligible to receive permanent status immediately.

“Because of that, many young mixed marriages will be in a difficult situation,” says Magda Faltová, a lawyer from the Center for Migration Questions.

According to the Czech Statistical Office, every year about 9 percent of new marriages are between Czechs and members of other nationalities. The foreign spouses mostly come from Slovakia, Ukraine, Vietnam and the United States.

As a result of the law, foreigners who don’t work will no longer have health insurance and social support payments during the two-year waiting period. And, should a foreigner have a baby during the first two years of marriage, she would have to pay the expenses for the delivery and other health care out of her own pocket.

“Ironically, spouses of foreigners coming here for work reasons will be in a better situation than, for example, a [nonworking] Slovak woman who marries a Czech,” Faltová.

The Interior Ministry, the law’s sponsor, says concerns about the increase of foreign marriages prompted the changes.

“According to our information, the number of ‘business’ marriages — when a Czech marries a foreigner in order to help him or her obtain permanent residency — has been growing. In any case, two years is a common period in other EU states,” says Petr Vorlíček, Interior Ministry spokesman, who adds that the main purpose of updating the law was to meet EU standards.

Čížinský admits most EU countries have stricter rules than the Czech Republic has, “but why change something that works well?” he asks. “In Germany, for example, the rules are even more benevolent. Foreigners can obtain German citizenship after just three years of being married to a German, while here it takes seven years.”

The 10 human rights groups also criticized the asylum law amendment, especially the part that orders the detention of asylum seekers.

“It means some people can be held for as long as four years. In some cases, that’s how long legal procedures take,” Faltová says.

Vorlíček argues that, by law, asylum seekers coming through international airports cannot be detained longer than 180 days. But Faltová points out that this limit does not apply to people who cross the borders on foot, by train or car, and that they can be held much longer.

“The law says that anyone who enters the country illegally or who cannot prove their identity must be detained in the center. That is about 95 percent of all immigrants,” she says.

Roughly 4,000 people sought asylum in the Czech Republic in 2005, according to the Interior Ministry.

The NGOs claim such detentions violate basic human rights. “The center for immigrants in Ruzyně is a cellar with barred windows,” Faltová says.

Despite the criticism, Faltová says she sees a few good things in the new amendments. One of them is the new obligation for foreigners to pass a Czech-language examination in order to receive permanent residency. “I see it as an important thing for being able to adjust,” she says.

The laws will go through two more readings in the Chamber of Deputies and then to the Senate, a process that can take anywhere from months to more than a year. Once approved by the Senate and the president, the laws could take immediate effect.

Faltová predicts the amendments will pass. “I don’t see much chance the amendments won’t pass the way they are. In my experience, whatever the government approves is pretty much agreed to in Parliament. And, on the top of that, these laws are so complicated and hardly legible that nobody really understands them nor has the time to go through them properly,” Faltová says.

Čížinský, however, holds out hope. “I still hope there is the chance to change the amendments,” he says.

Jana Donovan can be reached at news@praguepost.com

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