Administration without Frontiers? European Migration Law: Czech Republic

Administration without Frontiers?
European Migration Law

Czech Republic

Richard Pomahač

Professor at the Law Faculty, Charles University, Prague

This report answers some questions about migration monitoring and legal instru­ments of national migration control. The Czech Republic is increasingly a destina­tion country with almost 400,000 legally residing foreigners. Information on illegal migrants in the Czech Republic has thus by far been sporadic. Individual estimates have more a character of guesstimates and range between 40,000 and 300,000 in­dividuals. The Czech migration and integration policies have mostly been driven by mandatory harmonisation with the EU legislation and practices. Czech legisla­tion does not give preferential treatment to nationals from specific third countries. The administrative authorities collect data on judicial and administrative acts on migrants and third-country workers concerning visa and asylum procedures, resi­dency and work permits, and incidents of illegal migration. As of the date of the Czech Republic’s accession to the European Union, the Dublin Centre Unit was established within the Asylum and Migration Policy Department of the Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic. According to the official Status Reports on Migra­tion, 60% foreign nationals who were detected as illegal migrants were effectively sanctioned.