Czechia: Lex Ukraine ZDP Biometric Registration Opens October–December 2026

What changed

The April expression-of-interest window (vyjádření zájmu) for Czechia's special long-term residence permit (zvláštní dlouhodobý pobyt, ZDP) under the Lex Ukraine programme closed on 30 April 2026. The next stage is now underway: the Czech Ministry of the Interior is checking whether applicants meet the required conditions and publishing the result in each applicant's account on the Information Portal for Foreigners (Informační portál pro cizince). The portal has said it will give advance notice of the exact date results are published.

The assessment covers seven condition categories, each marked green (met), yellow (partially met) or red (not met). If conditions are fully or partially met, the applicant can move on to the next step — registering to actually obtain the permit.

Registration for the ZDP permit itself opens in October and runs through 31 December 2026. This is no longer just an expression of interest — it is a concrete action: the applicant books a visit to a Ministry of the Interior office, where conditions are checked again and, if everything is in order, biometric data is collected.

Who this affects

This article is for people who already submitted an expression of interest in April 2026 and are now waiting for the assessment result. If you did not apply back then, this round is closed to you — the next window is expected in April 2027.

For context: in the first round in 2025, only around 15,000 of 80,000 applicants met the conditions. That is not a guaranteed outcome for this year's round, only an indication of how strictly the conditions are checked.

Registering for biometrics requires more than a positive assessment result. On both the day biometric data is taken and the day the card is collected, you must:

• remain a continuous holder of temporary protection — from 1 April 2026 all the way through to receiving the ZDP card;
• hold a valid travel document;
• have your place of residence properly registered (not at the address of a government institution).

In other words, even a confirmed pass in spring does not settle the matter — the status has to hold through the whole gap until the card is actually issued in autumn or winter.

What to do now

Registration for biometrics has not started yet (as of early August 2026), but there is preparation you can do already:

1. Check your account on the Information Portal for Foreigners regularly — that is where the condition assessment will appear.
2. If any category is marked yellow or red, first verify independently whether the assessment is actually correct, then contact the relevant authority directly (for example, your health insurer over an unpaid balance) — do not simply resubmit your application.
3. Make sure your temporary protection stays valid without any gap all the way to the day you collect the ZDP card — this is a separate condition running in parallel.
4. Check the expiry date on your passport or other travel document: it must be valid both on the day of biometrics and on the day the card is issued.
5. Confirm your registered place of residence is correct and not tied to a government institution's address.
6. Set aside the administrative fee: CZK 2,500 for an adult, CZK 1,000 for a child under 15. Biometric data collection itself is free; the fee is paid when you collect the card.
7. Once registration opens in October, book your appointment promptly — available slots at Ministry of the Interior offices can fill up quickly.

Common mistakes

The most common mistake is assuming a positive spring assessment automatically guarantees a card in the autumn. In fact, the conditions — especially continuous temporary protection and a valid travel document — are checked again at the Ministry appointment itself.

A second mistake is confusing ZDP registration with renewing temporary protection. These are separate processes: temporary protection is renewed on its own schedule (in 2026, online renewal registration ran from 8 January to 15 March), and skipping that renewal is not an option even for people who already passed ZDP screening.

A third mistake is waiting for the official registration date before checking anything. If the portal flags a condition as unmet, sorting out the cause and fixing it — for example, clearing an insurance balance — can take weeks. It is better to deal with that before October than after.

Rules change frequently — before taking any action, always check the current requirements on the official government source listed above.