The number of applications for Czech visas has been increasing steadily for the past few years. In 2018, Czech foreign missions received 722,000 visa applications, which was the most in the country’s modern history. This year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expects the number to exceed 800,000.
The increase in visa applications is connected mainly with more available travel all around the world and with short-term work migration, says David Nový, head of the Visa Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“There are several reasons behind the growing number of visa applications. First of all, it is a continuous and increasing popularity of the Czech Republic as a tourist destination.
“We can currently see a significant growth of the number of tourists from India and China, as their buying power increases.
“There are also economic reasons. Entrepreneurs are coming to the Czech Republic for business trips and business meetings. And we can also see a rapid growth in the number of short-term work stays.”
The Czech diplomatic mission that received the highest number of tourist visa applications during the first six months of 2019 was the embassy in Moscow, with over 100,000 requests, followed by the embassy in Beijing (38,000) and the consular office in Shanghai (20,000). Most short-term work visa applications were received by the consular office in Ukraine’s Lvov (51,000) and at the embassy in Shanghai (50,000).
Via Radio Praha