First Steps After Arriving in Czechia: Address Registration and the Basics

Sources verified 22 June 20269 min read

The most time-sensitive thing to do after arriving in the Czech Republic is to report where you are living. Under § 93 of Act No. 326/1999 Coll., a third-country (non-EU) national must report their place of residence (hlášení místa pobytu) to the foreign police (cizinecká policie) within 3 working days of entering the country. The big exception: if you stay in a hotel, hostel or other registered accommodation, the provider (ubytovatel) reports you automatically, so you do not go to the police yourself.

That first deadline is only the start. In your first days and weeks you also need to arrange health insurance (zdravotní pojištění), open a Czech bank account, register with a doctor and sort out practical basics like a SIM card and a data box (datová schránka). This guide walks through each step in the order that matters, what to bring, and the small mistakes that cost newcomers a fine or a wasted trip. It describes the rules as they stand in 2026 and does not change them. One point worth fixing in your mind now: the initial address report goes to the foreign police — not to OAMP, which handles residence-permit applications and later changes of data.

Key facts

First deadline: Report address to police in 3 working days (§ 93)
Who reports in a hotel: The provider via Ubyport (§ 102)
Late fine: up to 3,000 CZK (not 10,000)
Insurance: Immediately — not a single day uninsured
Bank account: Possible without permanent residence, CZ IBAN
Temporary protection: Register at KACPU, not the police

Report your place of residence (hlášení místa pobytu)

For third-country nationals this is the one hard legal deadline of your first week. Under § 93 of Act No. 326/1999 Coll., you must report your place of residence to the foreign police (cizinecká policie) within 3 working days of entry. You go to the residence-agenda department (oddělení pobytových agend) of the regional police headquarters that covers your address — in Prague, for example, that is Olšanská 2176/2, Praha 3. This is a different office from OAMP / the Ministry of the Interior (MV ČR), which deals with residence permits and biometric cards, not the initial address report.

You do not always have to do this yourself. If your accommodation provider (a hotel, hostel, Airbnb host or an employer-arranged residence) reports your stay, that filing discharges your own duty for that address. Registered providers report foreigners within 3 working days through the online Ubyport system (ubyport.pcr.cz), and hotels and hostels do this as a matter of routine. You only need to go to the foreign police yourself if you are in private accommodation and the owner has not reported you.

Bring these documents to the police when you report in person:

Your passport (original).
Proof of accommodation — a lease (nájemní smlouva), or the owner's written consent to accommodation (souhlas vlastníka) with an officially verified signature (úředně ověřený podpis), or a land-registry extract (výpis z katastru) if you own the property, or an accommodation confirmation (potvrzení o ubytování) from the provider.
Your valid visa or residence permit.
Sometimes one photo, 35 x 45 mm.

A standalone owner's consent form (souhlas vlastníka) generally needs an officially verified signature (úředně ověřený podpis) — verify it at a Czech POINT counter, a notary or a municipal office. A lease in which you are the tenant counts as proof of your right to use the dwelling on its own, so in that case a separate consent form is not needed. Missing the 3-working-day deadline is an offence (přestupek) with a fine of up to 3,000 CZK; OAMP may also note it later when you extend your stay.

Foreign police vs OAMP: who does what

Newcomers constantly confuse two authorities, and ending up at the wrong one wastes a trip. Keep their roles separate:

Foreign police (cizinecká policie): receives the initial hlášení místa pobytu, checks the legality of your stay and accommodation providers (Ubyport), and issues departure orders. It does NOT accept residence or citizenship applications and does NOT issue biometric cards.
OAMP / Ministry of the Interior (MV ČR): decides residence-permit applications, issues biometric residence cards, and records later changes of your data. Appointments for these matters are booked at frs.gov.cz/objednat-se/.
Later changes are split too: a change of your registered address as a long-term or permanent resident is reported to MV ČR within 30 days, while changes such as surname, marital status or travel-document data go to MV ČR within 3 working days.

Who / what	Deadline	Where
Third-country national (address)	3 working days	Foreign police
EU/EEA citizen (stay over 30 days)	30 calendar days	Police
Seasonal employment (address change)	15 days	Police
Address change (long-term / permanent)	30 days	OAMP / MV ČR
Name, status, document change	3 working days	OAMP / MV ČR

EU/EEA citizens have a lighter rule. If your expected stay exceeds 30 days, you report your place of residence to the police within 30 calendar days of entry. Holders of a seasonal-employment visa report a change of residence to the police within 15 days. Temporary-protection holders from Ukraine follow a separate track described at the end of this guide.

Changes of data in your residence card carry a fee of 1,000 CZK (500 CZK for under-15s). For family members of EU citizens, the application fee is lower — 200 CZK (not free). Changes can be filed in person, by post, through the data box ID 6bnaawp, or by e-mail to posta@mv.gov.cz with a qualified or advanced electronic signature.

Arrange health insurance (zdravotní pojištění)

Sort out health insurance immediately — you should not be uninsured for a single day. How you get covered depends on your situation:

Employees: your employer registers you with VZP or another public insurer; the contribution is handled through payroll.
Self-employed (OSVČ): you must register and pay the premiums yourself.
Temporary protection (Ukraine): you join public insurance (VZP) the moment the visa is granted, with full-scope care; the state pays the premium during the protective period. Order your VZP card via portal.vzp.cz.

Important 2026 update for temporary-protection holders: after 150 days from the grant of protection, the state no longer automatically pays for adults aged 18–64. Those adults must tell their insurer how their insurance is covered — through employment, self-employment (OSVČ) or self-payment. Children under 18 and people over 64 stay state-covered. (See our separate health-insurance guide for public vs commercial cover for other long-term residents.)

Open a bank account and set up the practical basics

You can open a Czech bank account without permanent residence, and for work or self-employment you will generally need a domestic account whose IBAN starts with 'CZ'. Revolut and Wise do not provide a CZ IBAN, so some employers and offices may not accept them. Most banks still require an in-person branch visit to open the account.

Documents typically needed: your passport plus a second ID (residence permit or driving licence), sometimes proof of address, and a document showing your purpose of stay (study confirmation, work contract or trade-licence extract).
Banks often described as foreigner-friendly include Fio banka, Air Bank and Raiffeisenbank — but each bank's eligibility rules change frequently, so confirm directly with the bank before you go.
Temporary-protection holders can usually open an account with their visa/DO document at several banks (for example Fio, ČSOB, Air Bank).

While you are at it, line up the other day-one essentials: a Czech SIM card so you can receive verification codes and calls; a check of your data box (datová schránka), which the state increasingly uses for official communication; and your birth number (rodné číslo) — verify whether one has been assigned to you, as it usually appears on your residence card. If you have children, watch the enrolment (zápis) dates for school or kindergarten, which are fixed and easy to miss.

Bank eligibility rules for foreigners are set by each bank, not by law, and change often — treat the names above as a starting point, not a guarantee, and check current conditions with the branch.

Register with a doctor and translate your documents

Once you are insured, register with a doctor. As a rule you want a general practitioner (praktický lékař) for adults, a pediatrician (dětský lékař / pediatr) for children, a dentist (zubní lékař), and a gynecologist (gynekolog) for women. Find one using your insurer's list of doctors (seznam lékařů) — VZP, OZP and others publish these online. Aim to do this within roughly 30 days, though there is no statutory immigration deadline for it.

Many practices are full (mají plno) and may legally refuse new patients. If that happens, remember that your insurer is obliged to arrange a registering doctor for you — if you are turned away repeatedly, file a complaint (stížnost) with the insurer, a right grounded in Act No. 48/1997 Coll.

For anything official, foreign documents must be translated by a court-sworn translator (soudní tlumočník / překladatel) listed at justice.cz. The translation is physically bound to the original (or a verified copy) with an official seal (tlumočnická doložka). The statutory tariff is up to 550 CZK per standard page (1,800 characters including spaces); market prices commonly run about 450–600 CZK per page. Commonly translated documents include birth and marriage certificates, criminal-record extracts, diplomas (for nostrification), medical reports and work contracts. If a document needs an apostille or superlegalization, obtain that before the translation.

For a long-term or permanent-residence application, supporting documents must as a rule not be older than 180 days when you submit them. Note too that third-country nationals do not submit a Czech criminal-record extract (výpis z rejstříku trestů) for a residence application — the Ministry obtains it itself; you supply the equivalent from your country of citizenship (and from any state where you lived more than 6 months in the last 3 years).

Special track for temporary protection (Ukraine)

Arrivals seeking temporary protection (dočasná ochrana) from Ukraine follow a separate path. Instead of the foreign police, you register at a Regional Assistance Centre for Help to Ukraine (Krajské asistenční centrum pomoci Ukrajině, KACPU) or an OAMP office, where you receive a visa sticker in your passport and a confirmation document (DO). Public health insurance with VZP starts the moment the visa is granted.

If you need free housing, register in Ostrava.
The humanitarian payment (Úřad práce) is conditional on registration and on your economic activity.
Temporary protection is not granted to people who already received it in another EU state after 2022.

Current temporary protection runs until 31 March 2027. The 2026 extension ran in two steps: online registration by 15 March 2026 (extending protection to 30 September 2026), then affixing the new visa sticker by 30 September 2026, which extends protection to 31 March 2027.

Deadlines and categories overlap, and the right authority depends on your exact status — third-country national, EU citizen, seasonal-visa holder or temporary protection. If you are not sure which deadline, office or document applies to you, describe your situation to the assistant Max in the Residento app: it works through your specific case and tells you what to do first and by when.

Need help with your specific case?

Max — the AI assistant inside Residento — walks you through your documents, deadlines and forms, tailored to your situation.

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Frequently asked questions

I just arrived in Czechia — what do I need to do in the first 3 days?

If you are a non-EU (third-country) national, report your place of residence (hlášení místa pobytu) to the foreign police (cizinecká policie) within 3 working days of entry, under § 93 of Act No. 326/1999 Coll. Go to the residence-agenda department for your area (in Prague: Olšanská 2176/2, Praha 3) with your passport, proof of accommodation (lease, or owner's consent with a verified signature, or an accommodation confirmation) and your visa or residence permit. If you stay in a hotel or hostel, or your provider reports you via Ubyport, that filing covers your duty and you do not report separately. Then arrange health insurance and, if you are self-employed, register with the relevant offices. This initial report is to the foreign police, not OAMP.

Where do I register my address as a foreigner and what documents do I need?

The initial post-arrival report goes to the foreign police (cizinecká policie), at the residence-agenda department for your region (Prague: Olšanská 2176/2, Praha 3), within 3 working days of entry. Bring your original passport; proof of accommodation (a lease, or written owner's consent with an officially verified signature, or a land-registry extract if you own, or an accommodation confirmation); your visa or residence permit; and sometimes one 35 x 45 mm photo. Late reporting is an offence with a fine of up to 3,000 CZK. Residence-permit applications and later data changes are handled separately by OAMP / MV ČR, bookable at frs.gov.cz/objednat-se/.

How much is the fine if I miss the address-registration deadline?

Failing to report your place of residence on time is an offence (přestupek) with a fine of up to 3,000 CZK. A higher 10,000 CZK figure sometimes cited online is the maximum for a different obligation (the Adaptation and Integration Course), not for the address report. OAMP may also take non-compliance into account when assessing a later residence extension, so register on time even though the direct fine is modest.

How do I open a bank account in Czechia as a foreigner?

You can open an account without permanent residence. Bring your passport, a second ID (residence permit or driving licence), sometimes proof of address, and a document showing your purpose of stay (study confirmation, work contract or trade-licence extract). Banks often cited as foreigner-friendly include Fio banka, Air Bank and Raiffeisenbank, but each bank's rules change often, so confirm with the bank. For work or self-employment you generally need a Czech account with an IBAN starting 'CZ' — Revolut and Wise do not provide one, so some employers and offices may reject them. Most banks still require an in-person visit.

Do I need health insurance immediately after arriving, and how do I get it?

Yes. If you are an employee, your employer registers you with VZP or another public insurer. If you are self-employed (OSVČ), you must register and pay yourself. Holders of temporary protection from Ukraine join public insurance (VZP) the moment the visa is granted, with full-scope care paid by the state during the protective period — but after 150 days adults aged 18–64 must tell their insurer how their insurance is being paid (state cover continues automatically only for under-18s and over-64s). You can order a VZP card at portal.vzp.cz.

Which of my documents must be translated, and by whom?

For official use, foreign documents must be translated by a court-sworn translator (soudní tlumočník / překladatel) listed at justice.cz. The translation is bound to the original with an official seal and costs roughly 450–600 CZK per page (statutory tariff up to 550 CZK per standard page). Commonly required: birth certificate, marriage certificate, criminal-record document, diploma (for nostrification), medical reports and work contracts. Obtain any apostille or superlegalization before translation. For a residence application, supporting documents as a rule must not be older than 180 days.

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