Return - IOM Publications - International Organization for Migration

Return Migration: Policies and Practices
residence of foreigners and on asylum, and the initiatives engendered by the approximation
drive.
1.2 LEGISLATIVE INSTRUMENTS AND PROVISIONS
The Foreigners’ Residence Act No. 326/1999, (Chapters 10, 16 and 17 on the Stay of Aliens
on the Territory of the Czech Republic; and Chapter 11 Article 124 to 129 for detention conditions;
the Act also introduces carrier sanctions) entered into effect in January 2000. This Act
gives precedence to international treaties regulating the stay of third-country nationals on
Czech territory over national provisions. The Act was amended in 2001.
Refugee Law 498 of 1990, following the country’s accession to the Geneva Convention in
1989, amended by Acts No. 317 of 1993 and 150 of 1996.
Asylum Act (Act 325 of 1999) entered into effect on 1 January 2000, introducing the “safe
third country” principle and the “tolerated status” for unsuccessful asylum seekers appealing
to the High Court of Justice. Significant amendments to the Asylum Act came into effect in
February 2002, under which asylum seekers can apply and then stay in the country; most
notably, a one-year interval must occur from the time of submitting their application to when
they are allowed to work in the Czech Republic.
Between April 2002 and summer 2003, decisive steps were taken (mostly by the Ministry of
Interior, through the Department for Asylum and Migration Policy) towards fully harmonizing
the whole Czech legal framework on migration with that of the EU.
Removals
In the Czech Republic there are two types of expulsion: administrative and by Court of Law
(usually issued for criminal offences (Act 140/1961)).
An administrative expulsion of a foreigner is provided for in Chapter 10 of the Act on Residence
of Aliens. It refers to the termination of an alien’s stay in the country, including the specification
of a time by which he/she must leave the country and the length of time during which the alien
cannot re-enter the Czech territory. The police terminate an alien’s stay by issuing an exit visa. If
such a person is then found (through e.g. identity checks) not to have complied, de-facto
“obstructing the execution of an administrative authority’s decision”, an administrative expulsion
procedure is undertaken, or a fine imposed. The expulsion may include administrative
detention.
During the procedure, the alien is notified of the possibility of resorting to voluntary return.
Those subject to administrative expulsions are transported by the Aliens and Border police
(according to Section 128 of Act 326/1999) to a border crossing and expelled. In 2002, the
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