Citizenship comes about ten years after arrival. There are also documented cases of permanent residence revoked on classified national security grounds.
between leaguesThe Czech Republic needs workers: unemployment is among the lowest in the EU, the salary threshold equals the minimum wage, a spouse on a family permit gets free access to the labour market at once, and children attend state school free of charge. If you file your renewal on time, you may keep living and working until the decision, and a bridging visa covers travel.
Entry is where it breaks. The main route starts at a consulate with quotas on applications, and it is the appointment, not the decision, that eats months. The state publishes no refusal statistics. The family of an employee card holder waits longest: the holder must have lived in the country for more than 6 months, and the consulate takes up to 270 days on the family's application, about 15 months in all.
We found no pressure on legally working foreigners over the past year. But since 1 January 2026 there is a new ground to cancel a long-term visa or permit: three offences in the register within 12 months, and it applies to permits already issued, with no transitional rules. There are also isolated cases of permanent residence revoked on classified national security material; in 2024 the courts upheld the practice. A new Foreigners Act has not been passed; its main parts are planned for 2029.
If you lose your job, since 1 October 2025 you have 90 days (previously 60) to find a new employer and apply; meanwhile you can register with the labour office, receive benefits and stay in public health insurance. You can change employer no earlier than 6 months after your first card, notifying the Interior Ministry at least 30 days before starting the new job.
Day to day: you must report your address within 3 working days of arrival and take an 8-hour orientation course within a year of getting a long-term permit. Some banks will not open an account without a confirmed address.
The index score ignores nationality. This is what changes for citizens of specific countries.
No visa for up to 90 days within 180, as across the Schengen area. Eligible for the Digital Nomad programme with 3 years of IT experience or a STEM degree.
Also eligible for the Digital Nomad programme on the same terms; India has a quota of 48 places a year.
No permit needed at all: EU free movement rules give the right to live and work.
EU temporary protection is extended to 4 March 2028. Since 31 July 2026 new applicants must show they left in line with their military obligations; people who already hold the status are not affected.
Czech embassies do not accept residence applications from Russian citizens for most types of stay: Government Regulation 55/2024 sets which statuses certain groups may apply for, and it applies even to dual nationals. People already living in the Czech Republic with a status are not affected: renewals and changes of status remain possible. A 2025 law froze citizenship applications from Russian citizens (except minors and members of the opposition) and requires giving up Russian citizenship, including for people who have lived in the country for over 10 years. Sanctions restrictions apply at banks.
The same Regulation 55/2024 restricts residence applications at embassies, including for dual nationals. People already living there with a status are not affected: renewals and changes of status remain possible.
The place interval 26-46 shows where the country lands when the data is nudged and the index is recalculated. One place of difference in the table means nothing; a difference of a league means something.
Between leaguesThe league holds in fewer than half of the recalculations. Read this country as sitting between two leagues, not as a member of the upper one.
The thin mark on each bar is the average across 97 countries
The strongest category here is Pressure on newcomers: 83 out of 100, against a 97-state average of 65.2. The weakest is Agency processing: 43 against 48.7. Above the world average: 4 out of 7.
All 97 states are calculated for one applicant: 35 years old, income of $2,500 and $3,856 a month before tax, passport not counted, the most accessible route that is actually in use.
Your passport, your income and your family do not change the table. They change which of its lines apply to you. A different income makes entry read differently, a family makes the family category read differently, and your passport makes everything read differently.
By law the employee card takes 60 days, 90 in complex cases, and 2-3 months in practice. But first you need a consular appointment, and because of quotas that can take months.
Yes, through a trade licence (živnost) and a business visa, but it runs into the same consular quotas. The Digital Nomad programme is open to about 13 nationalities and requires IT experience or a STEM degree.
1,000 CZK to apply for the employee card at the consulate and 2,500 CZK to issue it. Mandatory health insurance for non-working family members comes on top; we could not compile a five-year total from official tariffs.
If you lose your job you have 90 days to find a new employer. Since 2026 a long-term permit can be cancelled for three offences within a year, and courts have upheld isolated revocations of permanent residence on classified security grounds.
Permanent residence after 5 years with an A2 Czech exam. Citizenship 5 years after that, about 10 years in total, with a B1 exam and a test on Czech life; dual citizenship is allowed.
Workers are welcome: a low salary bar, a spouse's right to work from day one, free schooling. The difficulties are consular quotas, slow family reunification and rules that since 2026 are stricter on offenders.
97 states, 26 indicators, seven categories, 2,522 scores. Every score has a source and a source class: primary means the texts of laws and government portals; reliable secondary means reports by international organisations, tax reviews by audit firms and specialist legal publications; weak means community posts and single secondary sources. The classes add up to a confidence level for the country, and a country with low confidence gets neither a score nor a place.
Every indicator is scored against a fixed ruler, not against its neighbours. Adding new countries therefore does not move the old ones, and a change in a score means a change in policy and nothing else.
A high place does not mean a good country. It means one thing: the state machine treats newcomers predictably and by the rules. Living there may be expensive, dull or hot; that is not our question.
Checked 01/10/2026. Facts come from the country's index card and official websites.
We make mistakes and we will go on making them: policy changes faster than any database. Our answer is not a pose of infallibility but a visible trail of corrections. Every correction is published: what it was, what it became, the source and the reason for the error. The corrections log opens with the second issue, together with the first block of changes.