Is it easier to apply for a student visa to the Czech Republic: for courses or for university studies?
Which Czech visa is easier to apply for: for courses or for university studies? During the pandemic, students wait six months or longer to get a visa. And while the whole world is waiting for the restrictions to be lifted, let's try to understand the issue together with Asya, a student of the Prague Education Center.
In the Czech Republic, visas are designated by numbers. For studying at university you can get a 23 or 24 type of visa. This type is called a student visa. It is issued for studying at universities or for some language courses.
During the pandemic period, this type of visa was issued only with a university confirmation of study.
A visa with the number 99 is issued for language courses in the Czech Republic. Its official name is long-term visa with other purposes or visa other. Students commonly refer to it as a language course visa.
To apply for a language course, you will need the following documents:
- A completed application form
- A valid passport
- Learning agreement
- Proof of residence
- Bank statement of account status
- Certificate of no criminal record
- Insurance
- Photos
The process of applying for a visa to study at a language school is quite simple. First of all, you need to make arecord of submitting your documents.
The visa application process is quite lengthy and can take several months.
At the consulate you will be given a date for an interview. It can be held immediately or invited in a few weeks. Having passed the interview with the consul, your documents will be considered and after a satisfactory answer, it remains only to paste the visa in your passport.
Now, unfortunately, to apply for a visa for language courses, the consulate does not enroll students to receive documents and does not even paste the already considered visas. But there is an alternative option - distance learning courses in Czech language and preparation for university entrance from the Prague Education Center. After that you can already apply to study at a university and on the basis of this you can get a visa.
To apply for a student visa you need to prepare the following documents:
- A completed application form
- Valid passport
- Proof of study at the university
- Proof of residence
- Bank statement of account status
- Certificate of absence of criminal record
- Insurance
- Photos
The process of applying for a student visa or a language course is very similar. There are two important differences:
- the processing time
- attitude on the part of the Czech Republic
It is important to realize that you need to have a certificate of Czech language proficiency at level B2 or even higher in order to be admitted to university. It must be a state certificate. Not all language courses issue such certificates.
Which visa is easier to get?
At the moment you have two options:
- you can wait for a change for the better, after which you can come for language courses
- you can apply for a distance learning course without wasting time.
Prepare yourself, learn Czech and apply to one of the universities in the Czech Republic. The choice is yours! It is worth noting that even when studying remotely, if your situation changes, you can always come to the Czech Republic and continue your offline studies without losing time.
