|Published on: 21st July 2026|Categories: News|
The AIDA Country Report on Czechia provides a detailed overview on legislative and practice-related developments in asylum procedures, reception conditions, detention of asylum applicants and content of international protection in 2025. It is accompanied by an annex which provides an overview of temporary protection.
This is the first AIDA country report on Czechia and it was written by the Czech organisation the Organization for Aid to Refugees (OPU).
(A) International protection
Asylum procedure
- Statistics: There were 1,197 applications for international protection in 2025 (1,363 in 2024). 70 people were granted refugee status (54 in 2024) and 127 people were granted subsidiary protection (149 in 2024). The overall recognition rate was 16.1% (13.4% in 2024). There were 627 pending cases at the end of 2025 (689 at the end of 2024) and the average length of the first instance asylum procedure was 147 days.
- National protection: The national form of protection known as “humanitarian asylum” was cancelled in October 2025.
- Syria: Proceedings for Syrian applicants were frozen for six months in 2025 and were only resumed at the end of the year.
Reception conditions
- Labour market integration: A significant integration project focused on the labour market (‘OPZ+’) was terminated in August 2025.
Detention of asylum applicants
- Statistics 216 asylum applicants were placed in detention in 2025 and the average duration of detention was 76 days (111 days in 2024).
- Legal counselling: In October 2025, there was a three-week gap in the provision of legal counselling in detention facilities due to administrative delays in funding.
Content of international protection
- Registered partnerships: In January 2025, a change in the law allowed two foreign nationals to enter into a registered partnership.
- Cessation of protection: Fewer than five cessation decisions were issued in 2025.
Implementation of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum
- An extensive amendment to the Asylum Act to implement the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum was adopted in summer 2025. It provides for a number of significant changes, including:
- Combined Decision on Protection and Return: If the Ministry of the Interior rejects an asylum application on the merits, it will directly decide in the same ruling on the illegality of the stay and the applicant’s obligation to leave the EU territory within a specified departure period (7-30 days).
- Limitation of refugee status: Asylum will be granted for at least three years instead of an indefinite period.
- Restriction of healthcare for asylum applicants: Adult applicants and those with “tolerated stay” status will only receive state-funded healthcare for necessary (emergency) care.
- Possibility of reducing reception conditions: The Ministry of the Interior will be able to reduce financial allowances to the existence minimum if an applicant submits a subsequent application, fails to co-operate in proceedings, engages in illegal secondary movements within the EU or grossly violates accommodation rules. Benefits will be reduced once a decision to transfer the applicant to another EU member state (MS) is issued.
- Shortening of the appeal deadlines: The deadline for denials of manifestly unfounded applications, border procedures, and detained people will be reduced from 15 days to 10 days. Deadlines for other cases will be reduced from one month to 15 days.
- Fixed court deadlines for issuing a decision: Regional courts must issue decisions within five weeks in border procedures, four months in manifestly unfounded/withdrawn applications, six months in cases with suspensive effect and 12 months in other cases.
(B) Temporary protection
Temporary protection procedure
- Inadmissibility: In early 2025, a number of significant judicial rulings addressed the inadmissibility of temporary protection applications by people with temporary protection status in other EU MS. Following a judgement by the Court of Justice of the EU in February 2025 (‘Krasiliva’), the Supreme Administrative Court ruled in April 2025 that rejecting applications from people who held temporary protection status in other EU MS was contrary to EU law. Despite this, a September 2025 amendment to ‘Lex Ukraine’ introduced a new inadmissibility ground based on capacity notifications to the European Commission. However, in December 2025, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled this new ground illegal.
- Extension of temporary protection: Temporary protection was extended through registration until March 2027.
Content of temporary protection
- Long-term residence permit: A special long-term residence permit which grants a stable five-year status to people who have held temporary protection in Czechia for at least two years and meet specific income and integrity requirements was introduced in 2025.
- Accommodation: The duration of free humanitarian accommodation was reduced from 150 days to 90 days and it was centralised at the Regional Assistance Centre for Ukraine (KACPU) centre in Ostrava. The humanitarian allowance for people in this type of accommodation is increased after 90 days.
- Education: Purely Ukrainian classes were abolished in September 2024 in order to foster better integration in 2025.
The full report is available here and the annex on temporary protection is available here.
For more information about the AIDA database or to read other AIDA reports, please visit the AIDA website.
