Czech digital nomad programme: a Czech long-term visa or permit held in the past year rules you out, whatever you earn
Czechia · Digital Nomad Visa
Income required
CZK 73,823 per month
Gross monthly pay of at least 1.5 times the Czech average wage, the figure for 1 May 2026 to 30 April 2027, for employees and freelancers alike
Also on file
CZK 156,500
Money a freelancer must hold when applying for the business-purpose long-term visa, fifty times the Czech existence minimum
Government fee
CZK 2,500–5,000
Government fees on file, main applicant, initial application
Official source · Threshold checked 26 Oct 2026 · Last rule change in force: Eligibility criteria, 1 May 2026 (6 months ago) · Figures read from the official rules on file at the time this page was served.
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Anyone who holds a Czech long-term visa or residence permit, or held one at any time in the year before applying, cannot join the programme, however high their pay. For everyone else the bar is gross monthly pay of 1.5 times the Czech average wage, published for one year at a time.
Someone already living in Prague on a student visa or a long-term visa for business is turned away. The trade ministry admits only applicants who have not held a Czech long-term visa or long-term residence permit on the day they apply or within the preceding year.
Who can join
Only citizens of 13 countries qualify: Australia, Brazil, India, Israel, Japan, Canada, South Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States and Taiwan. The work must be highly qualified IT or marketing, either for a foreign employer or as a freelancer holding a Czech trade licence. Family members must be named in your first application and apply alongside you, at an embassy where they themselves may apply.
How the pay is measured
The figure above is gross monthly pay: 1.5 times the average annual wage the labour ministry announces, divided by twelve. The published figure covers 1 May 2026 to 30 April 2027 only. A freelancer proves it with a client's contract or a sworn statement. For the business visa, a freelancer must also hold savings of fifty times the Czech existence minimum.
Steps that cannot be swapped
A freelancer first registers the trade and waits for the trade office's invitation. Only then does the application go by email to the trade ministry, which has no duty to admit anyone and whose refusal cannot be challenged. Admitted applicants get a fixed embassy appointment; a good reason earns one alternative date, and a missed date is lost.
Fees to the Czech state and to a firm
To the Czech state:
- Nothing for joining the programme. The embassy's long-term visa fee is shown above as the government fee: the lower end for employees, the higher for a freelancer's business visa. Embassy fee pages say it is not returned if the visa is refused. A freelancer also pays to register the trade.
To a firm:
- Its own fee, separate from the state's.
Questions to settle first:
- Have you held any Czech long-term visa or residence permit in the past year?
- Is your nationality on the list, and is your work highly qualified IT or marketing?
- Does your gross monthly pay reach the figure for the period you apply in?
- If the visa is refused, or the programme's rules change after you pay, what happens to the firm's fee?
For a firm's fee quote for this programme, answer yes at the box's first question, and it is read line by line against the published rules. An employment contract is not something the box reads: answer no, enter your gross pay and choose the monthly period. The check compares a document or a figure with the published rules, and does not look at your application or advise on it; for advice on your own case, speak to a qualified immigration lawyer.
General information, not legal advice.
