🇨🇿 Prague · Paperwork

Registration, banking and utilities in Prague

A short, hard deadline with the foreign police, then a slower chain through the Interior Ministry's OAMP that every other registration hangs off.

Get started in Prague

The thing people get wrongThe three-working-day foreign police registration is the one Czech deadline that catches almost everybody. Hotels and serviced flats report you automatically; a private landlord usually does not, and the clock does not care.

Indicative figures

  • Foreign police registration3 working daysNon-EU arrivals, unless the accommodation reports you. EU citizens: 30 days.
  • Long-term visa, residence permit or employee cardCZK 2,500Application fee.
  • Employee card decision60 days90 in complex cases.
  • New residence lawFrom 1 January 2029Passed the lower house on 11 September 2026. Current rules apply until then.

Checked . Ranges, not quotes — your Insider confirms the current numbers in Prague before you commit to anything.

Reporting your address

Non-EU arrivals must report their place of stay to the foreign police within three working days of arrival unless the accommodation provider has already done it. EU citizens staying longer than 30 days must report their address within 30 days of arrival, again unless a provider has done it. This is a separate act from your residence permit and from any change of address later on — moving flat means telling the authorities again.

  • Bring your passport, your entry stamp or visa, and the accommodation confirmation from the owner.
  • Ask your landlord or hotel in writing whether they have registered you. Assume they have not.
  • If you hold an employee card or other long-term residence permit granted abroad, OAMP also expects you within three working days of arrival to give biometrics.

The Interior Ministry, and what it costs

Residence matters sit with OAMP, the asylum and migration policy department of the Ministry of the Interior, and appointments are booked in advance and can be scarce. Applications for a long-term visa, a long-term residence permit or an employee card carry a CZK 2,500 fee, and the legal deadline for a decision on an employee card is 60 days, or 90 in complex cases. The evidence file is stable: identity, accommodation, purpose of stay, funds and health cover, usually with official Czech translations.

  • Documents issued abroad are generally wanted with a court-certified translation (soudní překlad), and often apostilled.
  • Biometrics are taken for the residence card, which is collected in person on a later appointment.
  • The employee card attaches to a job listed in the central register of vacancies open to foreigners; changing employer needs OAMP to be told first.

A new law is coming, but not yet

A new Act on the Residence of Foreigners passed the Chamber of Deputies on 11 September 2026 and still has the rest of the legislative process ahead of it. It is intended to take effect on 1 January 2029, together with a new digital system, and will make registration compulsory for EU citizens. Until then the current law applies, so treat any guide describing the new procedures as describing the future, and confirm current requirements on the ministry's information portal for foreigners.

The rodné číslo and the paper trail

The birth number (rodné číslo) is the identifier Czech systems index people by, and it is assigned to foreign residents as part of the registration chain. Without it, health insurance, some bank products and most online government services either refuse you or fall back to a slower manual process. Where a system offers a datová schránka (data box), it is worth activating — official correspondence arrives there rather than by post.

Banking and utilities

The large domestic banks want a passport, proof of address and usually a residence document; several run accounts aimed at foreigners with English-language support. Electricity is contracted directly with a supplier in most flats, while heating and water normally run through the building's service charges. Confirm before signing which of the two arrangements applies, because it changes what you pay and what you control.

  • Bring passport, residence document and proof of address to the branch appointment.
  • Ask for the IBAN and set up the rent as a standing order (trvalý příkaz).
  • Electricity is switched into your name with the meter reading from the handover protocol.

In order

  1. Register with the foreign police within three working days of arrival if nobody has done it for you.
  2. If your permit was granted abroad, give biometrics at OAMP within three working days.
  3. Book any further OAMP appointment as early as the system allows.
  4. Get certified Czech translations of foreign documents before the appointment, not at it.
  5. Collect the residence card in person once biometrics are done.
  6. Open a Czech bank account and set up a standing order for the rent.
  7. Put electricity in your own name, and confirm what the service charges already cover.
  8. Report any change of address to the authorities within the deadline.