The entire legal dispute originated from an application by a foreign national who had originally resided in the Czech Republic for the purpose of university studies in Brno. After being expelled from his studies for failure to fulfil academic obligations, he applied for a change of the purpose of stay to the category “other”. The newly declared reason for remaining on the territory was participation in a one-year English-language course at a private language school amounting to twenty teaching hours per week. Both the Ministry of the Interior and the appellate Commission for Decision-making in Matters of Residence of Foreigners rejected the application. The administrative authorities concluded that English-language instruction does not constitute a purpose justifying long-term residence in the Czech Republic, as it is not an activity linked to the Czech environment and the foreign national may complete it anywhere in the world - typically with a far greater benefit in English-speaking countries.
Conflicting Interpretations Within the Supreme Administrative Court
The subsequent review produced a split within the Supreme Administrative Court itself. The Regional Court in Brno and the referring Second Chamber of the Supreme Administrative Court sided with the applicant, arguing that the statute does not require a unique or close link to Czech territory and that it is sufficient that the instruction actually takes place in the Czech Republic. This liberal interpretation, however, directly conflicted with earlier case law of the Seventh and Ninth Chambers, which in similar cases involving applicants from Ukraine and Belarus had upheld the Ministry’s refusals.
The Extended Chamber definitively resolved the conflict in favour of the stricter interpretation. It emphasised that the power to regulate the entry and stay of foreign nationals is a direct expression of state sovereignty and that long-term residence is, in principle, a non-entitlement institution.
A key role in the reasoning was played by the traditional legal principle of eiusdem generis (of the same kind or class). This interpretative rule provides that, in open (demonstrative) enumerations, items not expressly listed must correspond in meaning and character to those that the statute names directly. The Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals regulates in detail a number of specific purposes - for example employment, accredited study or scientific research - all of which without exception require a qualified and strong link to the territory of the Czech Republic. The category “other/another” cannot depart from this logic and must likewise require a comparably significant connection with the Czech Republic, so that it does not serve as a back door for circumvention of the statute where the requirements of another category are not met.
World-Language Courses Alone No Longer Suffice
The decision has far-reaching practical consequences for residence proceedings as well as for commercial educational establishments. Ordinary courses in world languages - unlike instruction in the Czech language or preparatory courses for university study under Section 64 of the Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals - will no longer in themselves suffice as a basis for obtaining long-term residence.
The decision of the Supreme Administrative Court has established a firm legal foundation for refusing applications whose principal aim is merely to formally bridge the loss of a previous residence authorisation and to extend the possibility of lawful stay on the territory of the Czech Republic. An exception may be formed only by isolated and specific activities exhibiting a qualified link to the domestic territory.
For applicants from third countries themselves, the ruling brings a fundamental change in strategic thinking. Formal enrolment in any world-language course or similar activity can no longer be used as a safety net in the event of the loss of a previous residence authorisation. If an applicant chooses the category “other”, the application must clearly demonstrate wherein the connection of the specific purpose with the Czech Republic consists.
The decision also has a fundamental impact on commercial language schools and educational agencies. They may no longer offer foreign nationals the intermediation of English or other foreign-language courses as a reliable guarantee of obtaining or extending long-term residence in the Czech Republic.