Immigrate to Czech Republic from Russia

Russian citizens can immigrate to Czech Republic from Russia only in certain circumstances. Certain immigration restrictions have been lifted starting with 1st of April 2022 and now a part of the regular immigration process is available.

The right to enter on the Czech Republic’s territory is temporarily suspended for Russian citizens after the war initiated by the Russian administration on the Ukrainian territory.

Many European countries have taken various punitive measures against Russia, and some of them were related to immigration matters.

At the same time, Czech authorities stopped the processing of the visas for Russian citizens as they had to focus on the large numbers of Ukrainian refugees relocating to Czech Republic.

However, even in this context, exemptions on immigration are granted for humanitarian visas requested by Russian passport holders.

For the current immigration procedures available for Russians, our immigration lawyers in Czech Republic remain at your disposal.

Please mind that these rules are still applied in 2026, with no end date set. Czech Republic still does not allow Russians to arrive here not even for tourism purposes.

However, Russians can obtain visas for humanitarian reasons and, therefore, they can apply for residency permits if necessary or for permanent residence in Czech Republic if they will meet the requirements of the applicable law.

Important aspects to know by persons who immigrate to Czech Republic from Russia

Although immigration to Czech Republic is possible only in certain cases, there are few aspects Russians should be aware of.

For instance, the Czech consulates in Russia are closed, the visa centres stopped operating on 30 September 2025 and only the Embassy in Moscow accepts limited categories of visa applications and this implies that Russians can address the Czech authorities in their home country only in limited cases.

At the moment, Russian passport holders may still be eligible to arrive in Czech Republic if they come here from other countries with the exception of Russia.

These rules are currently in force in 2026, although the state of emergency declared in 2022 has ended in Czech Republic.

What categories of Russians can immigrate to Czech Republic?

The possibility to immigrate to Czech Republic from Russia is available only for certain Russian nationals. Thus, it is possible to arrive and stay in this country only in the case of Russian nationals who were previously issued with a visa.

Holders of valid visas can immigrate to Czech Republic only if they were issued with visas that granted the right to a residence permit.

Starting with 1st of April 2022, the immigration procedure has been resumed and Russian citizens who are included in this category are now entitled to submit again the information requested by the Czech immigration authorities, so that they can receive the residence permit.

Other than the above mentioned scenario, Czech authorities allow Russians to immigrate here in the following situations: 1) Russians who are family members of EU citizens, 2) Russians who are family members of Czech citizens and 3) Russians persecuted by the totalitarian regime in their home country.

How many Russians live in Czech Republic?

Russians represent an important community when it comes to immigration in Czech Republic. Below, our immigration lawyer in Czech Republic has collected some data concerning this subject:

• in 2021, there were more than 44,000 Russians living in Czech Republic;
• the Russian community accounts for 7% of the foreigners who have received a Czech residence permit;
• Russians also represent the 4th largest community, based on nationality;
• Russian nationals represented the 3rd largest foreign community to apply for citizenship by naturalization (since 11 February 2025, most such applications by Russian citizens are suspended);
• a large proportion, of 60%, lives in Prague, the capital city.

If you need legal advice on how to immigrate to Czech Republic from Russia, do not hesitate to request in-depth details from our attorney.

Our immigration lawyer in Czech Republic can help you prepare the documentation required for each situation that allows relocation in this country.