Permanent residence is the first residence status that is not tied to a purpose. You do not have to prove work, study or business. That is why it is sought after, and that is why every day counts: the condition is five years of continuous residence on the day the application is filed.
What counts towards the five years
Time on a long-term visa and on a long-term residence permit, yes. Time under asylum or subsidiary protection, yes. Time under the fiction, that is, waiting for a decision on an application, yes, but only if the application was ultimately successful. If it was refused, the waiting does not count, even if it lasted three years. The Supreme Administrative Court confirmed this in the case of a man who applied for residence for the purpose of business, failed, and then found the missing months short of the five years.
The application includes proof of a Czech language exam, proof of means, of accommodation, and an extract from the criminal register no older than six months. A clean criminal record means no record of a final conviction, at home or abroad.
Revocation of permanent residence
Permanent residence can also be taken away. The typical grounds are a final conviction for an intentional crime, a stay outside the EU of more than 12 months without serious reason, or a finding that the residence was obtained by circumventing the law.
With convictions, the courts distinguish the typical seriousness of the crime. Crimes against life and health or serious drug crime are considered serious. In March 2026 the Municipal Court in Prague set aside a decision of the Ministry that had ignored this distinction. And the Supreme Administrative Court has long said: even where the law does not expressly require proportionality to be examined, the authority must assess the impact on family and private life when the foreign national raises such circumstances. But anyone who stays silent in the proceedings and does not respond to requests will find it hard to raise it later in court.
Defence
An appeal to the Commission within 15 days, a court action within 30 days. State everything about your family, children, work and length of residence already in the appeal, not only in the court action. The court examines what the authority had on the table.
What this rests on
No advice on this page is an opinion. Each one has a section of the law and a court decision behind it. Click through, the full text is on Europaius.
Statute
- § 68 zák. o pobytu cizincůpermanent residence after 5 years of continuous residence; what counts towards the period
- § 70 zák. o pobytu cizincůrequirements of the application for permanent residence
- § 75 zák. o pobytu cizincůgrounds for refusing the application: forged documents, untrue information, listing in the register of undesirable persons, criminal record, means
- § 77 zák. o pobytu cizincůrevocation of permanent residence: circumventing the law, a stay outside the EU of more than 12 months, conviction and other grounds
- § 174 zák. o pobytu cizincůclean criminal record: no record of a final conviction; extract no older than 6 months
- § 172 zák. o pobytu cizincůcourt action within 30 days; a missed deadline cannot be excused
Case law
- 4 Azs 13/2026 (Nejvyšší správní soud, 26. 1. 2026)even where the law does not expressly require proportionality to be assessed when revoking permanent residence, the authority assesses it if the foreign national raises relevant circumstances; anyone who stays silent in the proceedings cannot complain of it later
- 4 Azs 8/2026 (Nejvyšší správní soud, 19. 1. 2026)on revocation of permanent residence the court reviewed the interference with family life with a partner and children; in that case it stood
- 5 Azs 190/2023 (Nejvyšší správní soud, 2. 8. 2023)the time spent under the fiction after a refused application for long-term residence does not count towards 5 years of continuous residence
- 27 A 1/2026 (Městský soud v Praze, 18. 3. 2026)when revoking permanent residence after a conviction, the typical seriousness of the crime must be weighed; the Ministry's decision set aside
A different situation?
- Employee card: refusal, expiry, change of job
- Long-term residence: extension, refusal, fiction
- An administrative expulsion has arrived
- Citizenship: conditions, refusal, security grounds