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Ministry to ease transition of visas

Memorandum would give U.S. citizens till June to get paperwork

By Markéta Hulpachová
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
March 5th, 2008 issue

More than 100 expatriates gathered at the Municipal Library. March 3 to better understand visa policy changes resulting from the Czech Republic’s Dec. 21 accession to the Schengen zone.
Under the new regulations, it is no longer possible for those who reside in the country on 90-day tourist visas to renew their visas by simply crossing into a neighboring country; now they must exit the Schengen zone for a full three months out of a six-month period.
According to Mario Mesquita, deputy consul general at the U.S. Embassy in Prague, all U.S. citizens have until March 19 — three months after the Schengen agreement went into effect in the Czech Republic — until their current tourist visas expire.
This, however, does not solve the problem for foreign nationals who have applied for residence permits since Dec. 21. Because the local visa application process may take up to four months, these foreigners risk residing here illegally if their tourist visas expire before long-term visas are issued.
To accommodate foreigners who find themselves in this gray period, the Interior Ministry is currently considering a memorandum recommending that police officers be lenient when dealing with foreigners with pending visa applications.
“Essentially, Americans who have applied for residence permits will not be deported just because their tourist visas expired,” Mesquita said. “Interior Minister [Ivan Langer] is expected to sign something that will give them a grace period until June.” Mesquita expects such approval to take place this week.
While it will still be up to police officers to determine the level of punishment for illegal residence, the memorandum strives to “give those people who have been here for a long time, who have families here, and who have suddenly woken up and had to deal with the new laws time to get their affairs in order,” said Robert Solich of the Interior Ministry unit for Coordination of Schengen Cooperation.
The Interior Ministry estimates the number of Americans residing in the country without a visa to be in the thousands. “Americans represent the largest community of foreigners without valid visas, partly because they do not need them to get into the country,” Solich said.
If approved by Langer, the memorandum will be published on the U.S. Embassy Web site, Mesquita said.

Markéta Hulpachová can be reached at mhulpachova@praguepost.com


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