Czechia
Digital Nomad Visa / Long-Stay (Živno): health insurance requirements
Yes: health insurance is required
Yes, with a strict local-insurer rule. For a Czech long-term visa, whether the traditional Živno freelancer route or the newer Digital Nomad Programme, you must hold comprehensive health insurance of at least €400,000 per event with no cost-sharing, from an insurer authorised in the Czech Republic. A home-country or travel policy is not accepted for the long-term stage. The Digital Nomad Programme is open only to a set list of nationalities (including the US, UK, Canada and Australia).
The requirements at a glance
| Minimum coverage | €400,000 |
|---|---|
| Minimum policy duration | Full duration of stay |
| Local-licensed insurer required | Yes: international IPMI alone is usually rejected |
| Accepted proof | Comprehensive health insurance with a limit of at least €400,000 per insured event and no cost-sharing, issued by an insurer authorised in the Czech Republic. Home-country and travel policies are not accepted for the long-term visa. (Until 20 September 2023 only PVZP could provide it; now any Czech-authorised insurer can.) |
Two routes: (a) the long-term business visa on a trade licence (živnostenské oprávnění, 'Živno'), with proof of funds of about 156,500 CZK; (b) the Digital Nomad Programme (2023, expanded February 2025), open to a set list of nationalities (including the US, UK, Canada and Australia), requiring three years of IT experience or a STEM degree and income of at least 1.5× the Czech average salary. Both require the Czech-authorised comprehensive insurance above.
Who qualifies for the Czechia nomad visa
The income bar is what decides most applications, and it is the number people look for first. Here is the current one, with the conditions that come attached to it.
- Income required
- CZK 60,530/mo (≈ €2,420 / $2,680)
- Length of permit
- 12 monthsrenewable
- Who can apply
- Employed remotely, Freelancer, Business owner
- Nationality restrictions
- Dedicated program limited to a set country list (incl. US, UK, Canada, Australia, Japan); a separate trade-licence route is open to all.
Requires qualifying IT or marketing work plus experience or a STEM degree.
Tax
Self-employed pay Czech income tax (15–23%) plus social and health contributions.
That is a summary of the rule, not tax advice. Residence for immigration and residence for tax are decided separately, and the second one tends to arrive quietly, usually after you have been in the country long enough to stop thinking about it. Take proper advice before the year you need it.
What the income bar really means
Two things get people rejected on income even when they earn enough. The first is proving it: consulates want a documented, repeating history, usually bank statements and contracts covering several months, not a screenshot of a good quarter. Irregular freelance income clears the bar on average and fails on paper. The second is dependants, who almost always raise the threshold, and by a percentage of the base figure rather than a flat amount.
Treat the number above as the floor for the paperwork, not as a comfortable income for living there. It is set by the country’s own cost of living or minimum wage, which means it moves, and in several countries it is re-set every year.
A Czech long-term visa requires comprehensive health insurance of at least €400,000 per event with no cost-sharing, from an insurer authorised in the Czech Republic (home-country and travel policies are not accepted); the PVZP monopoly on this cover ended in September 2023.
Our take
Czechia is the strictest in this set on insurer identity: your international plan will not satisfy the long-term visa, you must buy a Czech-authorised comprehensive policy at €400,000.
Budget for it, and keep international cover separately for medical evacuation and travel outside Czechia, which the local policy is not built for.
What happens if you get it wrong
Submitting a home-country or travel policy for the long-term visa is rejected outright; it must be a Czech-authorised comprehensive policy.
A policy below the €400,000 limit, or one with cost-sharing, does not qualify.
Interactive
Verified pricesWhat would it cost in Czechia without insurance?
The textbook traveller emergency. It cannot wait, it cannot be treated at a pharmacy, and it ends in an operating theatre.
| Emergency room, on arrival | $240–$550 |
| A scan to confirm it | $377–$424 |
| The operation | $3,257 |
| Three nights recovering | $426–$567 |
| You pay, out of pocket | $4,300–$4,798 |
Priced as one lump instead of itemised, a serious admission in Czechia runs $6,000 to $11,000.
That is the bill you carry alone. Insurance exists for exactly this.
See what cover costsTypical private-care estimates for illustration, not a quote. Actual bills vary by hospital, city and severity.
FAQ
Comprehensive health insurance of at least €400,000 per event with no cost-sharing, from an insurer authorised in the Czech Republic. A home-country or travel policy is not accepted.
For the long-term visa, yes. Until September 2023 only PVZP offered it; now any Czech-authorised insurer can, but it must be a Czech-licensed comprehensive policy.
Nationals of a set list of countries (including the US, UK, Canada and Australia) with three years of IT experience or a STEM degree, earning at least 1.5× the Czech average salary.
The long-term business visa on a trade licence (živnostenské oprávnění), used by freelancers for years, with proof of funds of about 156,500 CZK. It carries the same Czech-insurer rule.
Not for the long-term visa, it requires a Czech-authorised policy. Keep your international plan in addition, for evacuation and travel outside Czechia.
How to apply
- Processing time
- Fast-track Digital Nomad Programme about 45 to 120 days depending on the embassy; the standard long-stay visa is similar or longer.
- Government fee
- Long-stay visa application about CZK 2,500; trade-license registration about CZK 1,000; biometric residence-permit card about CZK 2,500.
- Where to apply
- At a Czech embassy or consulate in your country of residence (long-stay visas cannot be filed from inside Czechia). The trade license is registered at a Trade Licence Office in Czechia after arrival.
- 1
Pick your route. The fast-track Digital Nomad Programme is only for citizens of Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan, the UK and the US (plus Brazil, Israel, Mexico and Singapore since 2025) working in IT or STEM (marketing added in 2025). Everyone else uses the standard Zivno (trade-license) long-stay route.
- 2
Gather documents: passport, proof of monthly income of at least about CZK 69,836, accommodation in Czechia, a criminal-record check, and health insurance covering at least EUR 60,000.
- 3
Apply for the long-stay visa for the purpose of business at a Czech embassy or consulate in your country of residence. Long-stay visas cannot be filed from inside Czechia.
- 4
Pay the visa application fee of about CZK 2,500.
- 5
After you arrive, register your trade license at a Trade Licence Office (about CZK 1,000) and collect your biometric residence permit card (about CZK 2,500).
- 6
The initial permit runs one year and can be extended up to three years. Fast-track processing is about 45 to 120 days depending on the embassy.
Fees and processing times move, sometimes without announcement, and a consulate can add a document the published checklist does not mention. Treat the above as the shape of the process rather than a guarantee, and check the current requirement with the mission handling your application before you book anything.
What policy actually satisfies this visa
Czechia publishes a figure, which makes this simpler than most: your certificate has to show at least €400,000 of medical cover. Clear that and the paperwork is satisfied.
The hard constraint here is the insurer. This visa is only satisfied by a policy from an insurer licensed in Czechia, which disqualifies international plans outright, however comprehensive they are. Check this before you buy rather than after, because it invalidates the whole purchase rather than requiring a top-up.
Repatriation is not named as a condition, though it is the benefit you would most want to have if the worst happened, and it costs very little to add.
The dates are the other thing that gets applications rejected: full duration of stay
Ask your insurer for a certificate of cover that states your full name as it appears on your passport, the exact policy period, the territory covered, and the benefit amounts. That is a normal request and any decent insurer issues it without fuss. The insurance being real and the paperwork still failing is a more common way to lose an application than being uninsured.
The visa tells you the minimum. It does not tell you what to actually carry. Those are different questions, and the paperwork minimum is nearly always the smaller of the two answers.
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