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Amendment could tighten residency requirements

Laws regarding marriage and language skills get tougher

By Kimberly Ashton
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
December 19th, 2007 issue

about the residency law changes

Who's affected?
Immigrants from non-European Union countries seeking permanent Czech residency

What's the change?
Non-EU residents who marry Czech citizens live here for two years and be married to a Czech for at least one year; unmarried applicants must prove Czech language proficiency

When does it takes effect?
All changes are pending President Klaus' signature; language requirements would take effect Jan. 2009

In an effort to bring its immigration laws in line with other European countries, parliament this month tightened requirements for permanent residency. The new measure is waiting for President Vaclav Klaus’ signature to become law. If enacted, it could pave a rocky path for foreigners who want to make their stay in the Czech Republic permanent.

The new amendment, passed Oct. 21 in the lower chamber and Dec. 6 in the senate, requires that non-European Union residents who marry Czech citizens live here for two years and be married to a Czech for at least one year before receiving permanent residency. These provisions would become effective as soon as Klaus signs the amendment.
Non-EU citizens not married to Czechs would need to prove that they speak Czech to get permanent residency. This measure would take effect in January 2009.
“Making stricter the conditions for obtaining permanent residency … was motivated by the rising number of fake marriages with Czech citizens,” Hana Malá, a spokeswoman for the Interior Ministry, said of the new marriage requirements. The wait period would also discourage those who claim paternity of Czech babies in order to get permanent residency, she says.
Marrying to give a foreigner permanent residency status is a crime.
Malá declined to say if the trend of so-called “fake marriages” is on the rise or when it started.
Some, however, feel the amendment goes too far and will only punish those following the law, not those seeking illegal fake marriages.
“Our major objection is that it is getting more difficult for honest people,” says Věra Polo, a social worker at The Center for the Integration of Foreigners. “The people who use the mafia to get this status – it doesn’t matter to them,” she adds, referring to the practice of paying for an arranged, illegitimate marriage through organized crime.
Polo says that this law will hurt families because spouses won’t be entitled to public benefits or health insurance. For example, if a Czech man marries a non-EU woman and they have a baby within the wait period, they would have to pay out of pocket for hospital fees since she wouldn’t be a permanent resident. The baby, however, would be Czech. Furthermore, she would not be entitled to money from the government while she stays home to take care of the child, as are Czech mothers.
The Center for the Integration of Foreigners signed a petition this summer to protest the new amendment. Their message: “Don’t punish everybody who wants to get married to a foreigner,” Polo says.
At least those who marry Czechs will not have to fulfill the new language amendment, which will require non-EU citizens seeking permanent residency to demonstrate some level of Czech proficiency.
“The amendment of the law also delineates other cases in which the knowledge of the Czech language will not be required,” says Malá. “For example, for children younger than 15 and foreigners older than 60.”
There is also an exception for those seeking asylum.
But the overall trend to toughen immigration laws is one that Polo says is sweeping across Europe to battle the tide of foreigners seeking to live here.
“I’m really mad about it,” she says. “They are making the laws more and more difficult.”
It’s odd, she says, because Europe, with its low birthrate, needs younger people.
Alien Nation
For the Czech Republic, a lot of those people are coming from Ukraine, Slovakia and Vietnam. According to Interior Ministry numbers, 125,635 Ukrainians were legally staying in the Czech Republic this year — that’s a 22.5 percent increase over the previous year. The numbers for Slovakian and Vietnamese nationals are 66,629 and 48,626, respectively.
Foreigners with the fastest growing rates are the Mongolians, who numbered 5,507 in 2007, up from 3,280 the previous year.
Moldovans (7,926), Germans (15,019), Russians (22,747) and British (3,661) also grew steeply in number over the past year.
“In 2007, we have registered a relatively high increase of foreigners legally staying in the Czech Republic,” Mala says, adding that about 40 percent of them have permanent residency and the rest are on long-term (a year or more) visas.
By Kimberly Ashton
Staff writer
In an effort to bring its immigration laws in line with other European countries, parliament this month tightened requirements for permanent residency. The new measure is waiting for President Vaclav Klaus’ signature to become law. If enacted, it could pave a rocky path for foreigners who want to make their stay in the Czech Republic permanent.
The new amendment, passed Oct. 21 in the lower chamber and Dec. 6 in the senate, requires that non-European Union residents who marry Czech citizens live here for two years and be married to a Czech for at least one year before receiving permanent residency. These provisions would become effective as soon as Klaus signs the amendment.
Non-EU citizens not married to Czechs would need to prove that they speak Czech to get permanent residency. This measure would take effect in January 2009.
“Making stricter the conditions for obtaining permanent residency … was motivated by the rising number of fake marriages with Czech citizens,” Hana Malá, a spokeswoman for the Interior Ministry, said of the new marriage requirements. The wait period would also discourage those who claim paternity of Czech babies in order to get permanent residency, she says.
Marrying to give a foreigner permanent residency status is a crime.
Malá declined to say if the trend of so-called “fake marriages” is on the rise or when it started.
Some, however, feel the amendment goes too far and will only punish those following the law, not those seeking illegal fake marriages.
“Our major objection is that it is getting more difficult for honest people,” says Věra Polo, a social worker at The Center for the Integration of Foreigners. “The people who use the mafia to get this status – it doesn’t matter to them,” she adds, referring to the practice of paying for an arranged, illegitimate marriage through organized crime.
Polo says that this law will hurt families because spouses won’t be entitled to public benefits or health insurance. For example, if a Czech man marries a non-EU woman and they have a baby within the wait period, they would have to pay out of pocket for hospital fees since she wouldn’t be a permanent resident. The baby, however, would be Czech. Furthermore, she would not be entitled to money from the government while she stays home to take care of the child, as are Czech mothers.
The Center for the Integration of Foreigners signed a petition this summer to protest the new amendment. Their message: “Don’t punish everybody who wants to get married to a foreigner,” Polo says.
At least those who marry Czechs will not have to fulfill the new language amendment, which will require non-EU citizens seeking permanent residency to demonstrate some level of Czech proficiency.
“The amendment of the law also delineates other cases in which the knowledge of the Czech language will not be required,” says Malá. “For example, for children younger than 15 and foreigners older than 60.”
There is also an exception for those seeking asylum.
But the overall trend to toughen immigration laws is one that Polo says is sweeping across Europe to battle the tide of foreigners seeking to live here.
“I’m really mad about it,” she says. “They are making the laws more and more difficult.”
It’s odd, she says, because Europe, with its low birthrate, needs younger people.
Alien Nation
For the Czech Republic, a lot of those people are coming from Ukraine, Slovakia and Vietnam. According to Interior Ministry numbers, 125,635 Ukrainians were legally staying in the Czech Republic this year — that’s a 22.5 percent increase over the previous year. The numbers for Slovakian and Vietnamese nationals are 66,629 and 48,626, respectively.
Foreigners with the fastest growing rates are the Mongolians, who numbered 5,507 in 2007, up from 3,280 the previous year.
Moldovans (7,926), Germans (15,019), Russians (22,747) and British (3,661) also grew steeply in number over the past year.
“In 2007, we have registered a relatively high increase of foreigners legally staying in the Czech Republic,” Mala says, adding that about 40 percent of them have permanent residency and the rest are on long-term (a year or more) visas.
—Nad’a Černá and Hela Balínová contributed to this report.

Kimberly Ashton can be reached at kashton@praguepost.com


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