COVID-19 travel restrictions for non-EU citizens in the Czech Republic

We assume that “non-EU citizen” means an individual who has neither a long-term residence permit nor a permanent residence in any of the EU states or the Czech Republic. The rules for Czech/EU long-term and permanent residents are less strict. Also, the Ministry of Health announced that they are planning on loosening the restrictions in light of the upcoming summer holiday (July-August). The new rules are not available as to date. The rules outlined below capture the currently applicable state.

The Czech Republic currently allows non-EU citizens to enter the Czech territory based on the non-EU vaccination passports if:

• the passports are recognised by the Ministry of Health (the full list can be found here) and a minimum of 22 days have passed since the 1st dose;
• non-EU citizens are entering from either ORANGE or RED risk countries (i.e. countries with either medium or high risk of contracting the COVID-19 virus) – the list of countries according to the level of risk available here;
• the vaccine is recognised by EMA for use in the EU, such as Comirnaty, Spikevax (previously COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna), Vaxzevria (previously COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca – excluding the Indian batch) and COVID-19 Vaccine Janssen – the list is available here.

If a non-EU citizen fulfils the above requirements, their only remaining obligation to enter the Czech Republic is to fill in a mandatory health form, which can be found here and to ensure that the reason for their visit falls under one of the exceptions from the general prohibition of entry to the Czech Republic for foreigners. (Short-term visa issued after 11 May 2020 is one of the exceptions, which covers business trips from Ukraine).

The Ukrainian vaccination passport is currently NOT on the list of recognised vaccination passports and Ukraine is considered a DARK RED country (i.e. country with a very high risk of contracting the COVID-19 virus).

As of today, Ukrainian citizens can enter into the Czech territory only upon:

• presenting a PCR test not older than 72 hours or an antigen test not older than 48 hours prior commencement of the trip to the Czech Republic;
• a PCR test made no earlier than five days and no later than 14 days after the arrival; and
• self-isolation until negative PCR test results made in the Czech Republic are acquired.