Registering at the Foreign Police office
Location
****** PLEASE READ THE WHOLE THREAD - FIRST MESSAGE IS OUTDATED AND LEFT FOR HISTORICAL REASONS ONLY!!!! ******
The first question to bother any legal immigrant to Czech Republic or a tourist who wants to stay at his friend or rent an apartment for the period of stay is the registration at the Foreign Police office.
First, I must say that there are two foreign police offices in BRNO:
* one for general public (Kopecna 3),
* one for EU citizens (Cejl 62b).
Actually EU citizens are not the ones to worry on this topic. They don't need to register their stay in Czech Republic, and are not limited in any way by the law.
There are two types of registration:
- short term schengen visa basis
- long term czech visa basis
In both cases you must register at the FP office on Kopecna street. The set of documents is almost the same: if you have a short term visa, you bring your passport, insurance card and pozvani (czech official invitation letter you presented at the embassy), other way bring your passport together with insurance and the rent contract / any other proof of accommodation. In the first case your registration is electronic only (you will have no proof of the fact that your registered your stay) but in the second it is electronic plus a stamp in your passport.
Not registering at the FP may lead to rejects in future visa requests, or even a ban to enter schengen space (esp. in case of long term visas).
I came to this post from Google search, so maybe others can also benefit from this post.
I just came from the foreign police in Brno Hnevkovskeho 65 after TRYING to register there for a long term residence permit. The working hours are:
Monday,Wednesday: 8:00-17:00
Tuesday, Thursday: 8:00-14:00
Friday: 8:00-11:00 (with something else written in brackets)
This is the 3rd building in the compound, 1st floor.
But, DO NOT GO THERE without someone who knows Czech. That idiot lady who sorts people at the entrance DOES NOT KNOW ANY FOREIGN LANGUAGE (not English, Deutsch, Spanish, French, or signs - I didn't know any other language) and she definitely DOES NOT WANT TO HELP or even let you in. The other people there looks like they knew this and came in pairs. Looks stupid, right? International office and people speak only Czech. I would certainly fire some asses there!
I am an EU citizen. I have been living and working in Brno as a freelance English teacher for 4 years now. I registered with the foreign police department when it was located in Kopecna 3 and because I have recently moved to a different address in Brno, the tax office are telling me that I should tell the foreign police about my new address. As a EU citizen, should I go to Hnevkovskeho 65 or Cejl 62b ?
Also, I'm interested in Chaos's comment:
"Actually EU citizens are not the ones to worry on this topic. They don't need to register their stay in Czech Republic, and are not limited in any way by the law."
Is this true? Can anyone clarify this please?
Hi richard,
The first comment is there for historical reasons only. As most of it is wrong now, it might make sense and edit it tho. I just wanted people to see what is different now.
At this moment everyone needs to register his stay on Hnevkovskeho 65, only a residence permit is optional for the EU citizens.
Cheers,
Thanks Chaos,
do you know what the opening times are and is it necessary to speak with them in Czech?
This page states that the office hours are:
Monday 08.00-17.00
Wednesday 08.00-17.00
Friday 08.00-12.00
And yes, you need to speak Czech. Nobody is able to even understand a word you say in any other language I know (Russian, Romanian, English). Some people told me that they tried French and German too without any luck.
Hi guys!
Hope someone can help me with this info.
At first, next monday, I just need to go there get a paper saying I'm currently legal in Czech Republic. Does anyone ever needed to get such a paper? Any tips on how long it takes there at the office?
Thanks!!
Hi, I don't think there exists any paper that proves your legal stay except the residence permit you are applying for :) Do you have the Czech name for it?
I think they just wanted you to bring a confirmation from your employer to see that you have a contract with them, maybe also your rent contract to see that you have a place to live. The employer may also give you a paper stating that you work with them, for how long, etc. I had it when I applied for my residence permit.
In case you are a student - the same applies - but for the university or college you are studying in. They should give you a paper that you really study there, what year, faculty, speciality, etc.
In case the country you are coming from is not within the EU - you need a valid visa or equivalent - but I'm not sure about the details - I never did that.
All the information given in the above entry is outdated and incorrect. Following it will result in a colossal waste of time.
Be aware that in keeping with changes required in order to align the stodgy Czech bureaucracy with EU regulations and requirements, the procedures changed completely in January 2011. Now foreigners no longer go to the (empty) offices at Kopecna 3, but instead must trudge down to the inspectorate for foreigners at Hnevkovskeho 65 in Brno-Komarov. This holds true for those of us who are EU-nationals as well; the offices on Cejl no longer deal with us but are now instead dedicated to pursuing and finding illegal aliens, as a recent visit there (relying on the information posted above) confirmed.
Sadly, to make life even more difficult for those of us trying to comply with the new regulations, services have been reduced at the new location; office hours are now only 3 days a week! It would seem that this ministry and its services are throwing themselves full force into trying to revive and perpetuate the old stereotype of the lazy Czech bureaucrat.
Don't bother visiting the websites for any of these government agencies; they are either totally out of date (as in the case of the Czech Police website) or totally useless (as in the case of the Ministry's website), and will not only be useless to those of us with little Czech, but even to Czechs themselves as they contain mainly legal jargon and other exciting details such as the E.U. regulations forming the basis for their new system, bla bla bla. Sadly, the websites in question almost no necessary or consumer-friendly information such as where their offices are now, when they are open, how to find them, whether anyone there speaks anything but Czech, etc.
Generally, since joining the EU, the C.R. seems to be more xenophobic than ever before (except in Prague), which is a sad, backward development. Czechs should realize that as part of the E.U. it is their duty to learn other languages and break down the formidable barriers presented by a language as arcane and difficult as Czech.
Yeah, man, you're right. I completely forgot about this article I wrote 2 years ago.
They moved the office on Kopecna 3 to other location, and the procedure is now a bit more complicated. There is no difference between EU and non EU offices. They did the separation based on the purpose: Visas and invitations are issued on Cejl 62b and all kinds of residence permits are done on Hnevkovskeho 65.
Thank you for the update. Many people will appreciate that input.