Integration of Foreign Nationals in the Territory of the Czech Republic
Policy for the Integration of Foreign Nationals in the Territory of the Czech Republic
The Policy for the Integration of Foreign Nationals was adopted by Resolution of the Government of the Czech Republic No. 1266 of 11 December 2000. It was based on the Principles of Policy for the Integration of Foreign Nationals in the Territory of the Czech Republic adopted by Resolution of the Government of the Czech Republic No. 689 of 7 July 1999, on the national legislation governing the status of foreign nationals in particular areas of the integration of foreign nationals and on international documents applicable to the given area. An updated Policy for the Integration of Foreign Nationals was adopted by Resolution of the Government of the Czech Republic No. 126 of 8 February 2006. By Resolution of the Government of the Czech Republic No. 979 of 23 July 2008, the coordination role in implementation of the Policy for the Integration of Foreign Nationals in the Territory of the Czech Republic was transferred from the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs to the Ministry of the Interior.
From the very start, the Policy for the Integration of Foreign Nationals has relied on the involvement of a number of ministerial departments (the Ministry of the Interior; the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs; the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports; the Ministry of Industry and Trade; the Ministry of Health; the Ministry for Regional Development and the Ministry of Culture) as well as other partners (non-governmental non-profit organisations and foreign nationals’ organisations, regional and local governments, academic sphere, etc.). In this way, it responds to the fact that the integration of foreign nationals is a comprehensive problem concerning a number of areas. A Report on the Implementation of the Policy for the Integration of Foreign Nationals is presented to the government on an annual basis. In 2009, Resolution of the Government of the Czech Republic No. 183 of 16 February 2009 was adopted on the Report on the Implementation of the Policy for the Integration of Foreign Nationals in 2008; in 2010, Resolution of the Government of the Czech Republic No. 224 of 22 March 2010 on the Report on the Implementation of the Policy for the Integration of Foreign Nationals in 2009 (pdf, 392 kB) was adopted. The Policy was updated once again in 2011 – the government adopted Resolution of the Government of the Czech Republic No. 99 of 9 February 2011 on the Updated Policy for the Integration of Foreign Nationals – Living Together (pdf, 340 kB), including the Action Plan for the Year 2011. The Resolution of the Government of the Czech Republic of 4 January 2012 on the Procedure for Implementation in Implementing the Updated Policy for the Integration of Foreign Nationals – Living Together in 2012 (pdf, 125 kB) contained the details of the specific tasks for implementing the integration policy in 2012. The tasks for implementing the integration policy in 2013 were defined in Resolution of the Government of the Czech Republic No. 43 of 16 January 2013 on the Procedure for Implementation in Implementing the Updated Policy for the Integration of Foreign Nationals – Living Together in 2013 (pdf, 140 kB); the tasks for the year 2014 were defined in Government Resolution No. 60 of 22 January 2014 on the Procedure for Implementation in Implementing the Policy in 2014 (pdf, 137 kB); the tasks for the year 2015 were then defined in Resolution of the Government of the Czech Republic No. 20 of 14 January 2015 on the Procedure for Implementation in Implementing the Updated Policy for the Integration of Foreign Nationals for the Year 2015 (pdf, 205 kB). The Ministry of the Interior has been tasked to present a new updated Policy to the government by the end of the year 2015.
Starting from the year 2011, the reports on the implementation of the Policy for the Integration of Foreign Nationals have been published as a part of the "Report on the Situation in the Area of Migration and Integration of Foreign Nationals in the Territory of the Czech Republic". A list of supported projects and section containing tables are always attached to the Report. These Reports are presented to the government of the Czech Republic and to the House of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic for discussion on an annual basis.
Target group
The basic target group for the integration of foreign nationals consists of third-country nationals (i.e. the nationals of non-EU countries) legally residing in the territory of the Czech Republic who are neither applicants for international protection nor persons enjoying international protection. In exceptional critical cases, this target group may also include EU citizens. Specific measures of the State Integration Programme apply to the integration of recognized refugees.
Coordination of the Integration Policy under the Ministry of the Interior
The policy for the integration of foreign nationals is understood as an integral part of the legal migration policy and therefore it must respond to the migration trends. Henceforth, the policy for the integration of foreign nationals will continue to be focused not only on supporting the integration of legally residing foreign nationals into the society but especially on the prevention of possible problems within immigrants’ communities and their relationships with the majority. All the integration policy activities aim to avoid the formation of closed immigrant communities, social isolation and the social exclusion of foreign nationals. The goal is to maintain social cohesion and harmonic conflict-free coexistence of all inhabitants of the country.
Henceforth, the policy for the integration of foreign nationals will be based particularly on the following principles:
- practical cooperation of all those who can contribute to the successful course of the integration;
- efficiency of integration measures;
- improving the awareness of all parties involved in the integration proces;
- clear and tangible results of all integration activities;
- new tools (direct collaboration with municipalities, emergency projects of municipalities);
- supporting the development of civic society – particularly in regions in connection with the creation of regional integration centres.
Priorities in the Integration of Foreign Nationals
The targeted measures intended to serve as conditions of key importance for the successful integration of foreign nationals in the Czech Republic include:
- the foreign national’s knowledge of the Czech language;
- economic self-sufficiency of the foreign national;
- the foreign national’s knowledge of this country’s society;
- mutual relations between foreign nationals and the majority society.
Activities of Municipalities, Regions and Non-governmental Non-profit Organisations
Integration is a process taking place particularly in the places of the foreign nationals’ residences or work activities, i.e. on the regional and local levels. At the same time, municipalities and regions play an important role in providing central bodies of the state administration with feedback on how the integration policy is working, on the situation and the position of foreign nationals in a given territory and on the problems that need to be addressed in the process of the integration of foreign nationals. The efforts of the Ministry of the Interior to transfer specific measures concerning integration to the level of the regions are reflected in its support of establishment of regional Centres to Support the Integration of Foreigners (Centres). These Centres are operated on the basis of projects, partially funded from the resources of the European Fund for the Integration of Third-country Nationals (EIF) during the period of 2009-2015; starting from the year 2015, they will be partially funded from the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF).
The Centres commenced their activities in the first six regions (Region of Pilsen, Region of Pardubice, Moravian-Silesian Region, Region of Zlín, Region of South Moravia and Region of Ústí) in September 2009; since 2010, the Centres have also operated in in the Region of South Bohemia, Region of Liberec, Region of Karlovy Vary and the Region of Olomouc. In 2012, Integrační centrum Praha o.p.s. was launched; in 2013 the Integration Centre for Foreign Nationals in the Region of Hradec Králové and a branch office of the Centre in the Region of Pardubice – an office supporting the integration of foreign nationals in the Region of Highlands based in Jihlava – started their operations..
The Centres fulfil the role of an information centre for foreign nationals and a tool for setting and implementing the integration policy in regions. The Centres aim to provide, in collaboration with regional governments, consultancy for foreign nationals, educational courses and other preventive activities, to monitor the situation on an ongoing basis and to support development of the civic society as well as to create a regional consultation platform for integration. Complete information on the Centres has been published in the awareness-raising publication titled Together and Better (pdf, 1,3 MB) in two languages (Czech and English).
With respect to effective integration, it is necessary to involve the local level in making and implementing the policy for the integration of foreign nationals. The Ministry of the Interior initiated implementation of municipality emergency projects. These projects are funded predominantly from subsidies from the MoI. They are implemented by local governments particularly in municipalities with significant numbers of foreign nationals, in direct collaboration with the foreign nationals living in the municipality, with non-governmental non-profit organisations, schools and other integration actors in the location. The projects aim to provide comprehensive support for integration at the local level, to prevent the potential risk of or to mitigate the tension between foreign nationals and other inhabitants of the municipalities as well as to prevent the risk of formation of closed communities. They provide the local governments of the municipalities with the impulse and support to create their own integration strategies. During the year 2009, emergency projects were implemented in Pilsen, Havlíčkův Brod, Pardubice and in the city districts of Prague 14, Prague 12 and Prague-Libuš; in 2010, they were also implemented in the city district of Prague 13; in 2011, they were implemented in Havlíčkův Brod and in the city districts of Prague 12, 13 and 14; in 2012, they were implemented in Pilsen, Havlíčkův Brod, Jesenice, the city districts of Prague 3, 12, 13, 14 and Prague-Libuš; in 2013, they were implemented in Havlíčkův Brod, Pilsen and Chomutov and in the city districts of the Capital City of Prague – in the city districts of Prague 3, 12, 13, 14 and in the city district of Prague-Libuš. In 2014, the municipality projects were implemented in Havlíčkův Brod and in the city districts of the Capital City of Prague – in the city districts of Prague 3, 12, 13, 14 and in the city district of Prague-Libuš; in 2015, they were implemented in Havlíčkův Brod, Teplice and in the city districts of Prague 3, 4, 7, 9, 12, 13 and 14 in the city district of Prague-Libuš.
The conferences of statutory cities, which allow for sharing and transferring experience and mutual contacts between the municipalities implementing the projects and which are held on an annual basis, form an important part of the municipality projects. The conferences are always held under the auspices of the Minister of the Interior. As part of these projects, Pilsen was the venue of the First National Conference of Statutory Cities Addressing the Integration of Foreign Nationals at the Local Government Level, a conference under the auspices of the Ministry of the Interior held in the Czech Republic for the first time in September 2009. It was followed by the Second National Conference of Statutory Cities titled "Current Challenges in the Field of Integration of Foreign Nationals". This conference took place in Pardubice in 2010. The Third National Conference titled "Integration of Foreign Nationals from the Point of View of the Local Government" was held in Havlíčkův Brod in 2011. In 2012, the Fourth National Conference was held once again in Pilsen and was titled "Czech Immigration and Integration Policy – Challenges, Vision and Reality". In 2013, the city district of Prague 12 organised the Fifth Conference titled "Integration of Foreign Nationals at the Level of the Local Government" and in 2014, the Sixth National Conference of Cities and City Districts was held in the city district of Prague-Libuš and was titled "How to Support Coexistence with Foreign Nationals".
Non-governmental non-profit organizations (NGOs) play an irreplaceable role in the area of the integration of foreign nationals. In accordance with the Policy for the Integration of Foreign Nationals, establishment, activities and development of such organizations is supported and conditions are created for their active participation in the integration of foreign nationals. The activities of NGOs aimed at supporting the integration of foreign nationals are sponsored, among other sources, from the state budget funds (subsidies from ministries), from the funds of the European Fund for the Integration of Third-country Nationals (EIF) during the period 2009-2015; starting from the year 2015, they will be supported from the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF). Other funds of the EU or the EEC and foundation sources are also used to support the activities of NGOs.
Information about Foreign Nationals and for Foreign Nationals
Raising the awareness of foreign nationals and professionals who come into direct contact with foreign nationals is regarded by the MoI as one of the priorities of the integration process. In order to raise the foreign nationals’ awareness of the matters of residence, the MoI created the immigration portal (www.imigracniportal.cz), established an infoline for foreign nationals and published a number of informational leaflets. In cooperation with NGOs, the project of assistance to long-term foreign national residents continues directly in the offices of the Department for Asylum and Migration Policy at the Ministry of the Interior.
The Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs keep up to date their joint website Foreign Nationals in the Czech Republic, which provides the government employees as well as other institutions and organisations with access to the necessary documents, contacts and information supporting the coordination of the implementation of the integration of foreign nationals in the Czech Republic. The website is focused primarily on the integration of third-country nationals (non-EU nationals).
The Ministry of the Interior supported the creation of a three-tier information system for foreign nationals, which specifically consists of a file with pre-departure information called "The Next Stop – the Czech Republic", which is available at the embassies in the countries of origin; introductory adaptation integration courses "Welcome to the Czech Republic" (it is anticipated that these courses will be mandatory for all the new incoming foreign nationals in the future); and the instruction film and leaflet "How to do It", which is designed to make it easier for foreign nationals to take care of the formalities associated with their stay. Social-cultural orientation courses are also provided for the long-term residing foreign nationals. The MoI published and is continually updating a series of informational guides, each of which is available in 6-8 language versions. Informational publications for foreign nationals are published on the website of the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic.
The awareness of the majority society about the affairs of foreign nationals is no less important. The MoI supports events aimed to make the foreign nationals and the majority get to know better each other and aimed to mitigate the xenophobic attitudes to foreign nationals and the Ministry also systematically supports improvement of the professional and intercultural skills of the professionals who are in contact with foreign nationals.
The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports is responsible, in collaboration with the Ministry of the Interior, for implementing the System of Teaching Czech Language and Tests for Foreign Nationals as one of the conditions for granting a permanent residence permit. All the information relating to the taking of the test is continually updated on the website of the Czech language for foreigners at www.cestina-pro-cizince.cz.
Miscellaneous Information
Other miscellaneous information on the topic of the integration of foreign nationals can be obtained, for example, on the websites of other participating Ministries – www.cizinci.cz, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (integrated portal), Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry for Regional Development, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Health, on the website of the Czech Statistical Office and on the Portal of the Public Administration of the Czech Republic.