This document was approved by the Government of the Czech Republic in January 2022 but has only just been published. It therefore does not reflect the current context in terms of recent arrivals of those fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In this document the Czech government outlines its plan for the implementation of the country's 2022 integration policy. The document identifies several major areas in which the integration policy should be applied, defines concrete measures for doing so and designates the authorities responsible for these measures.

The document begins by noting that the total number of foreign residents in the Czech Republic is on the rise: 415 762 third-country nationals were legally residing in the country on 31 August 2021. They comprise the main target group for Czech integration policy, and represent the majority of the total number foreigners living in the Czech Republic (621 876). Immigrants from 'third' countries most often are from Ukraine (187 591 people on 31 August 2021), Vietnam (64 581), and Russia (45 506), followed by Mongolia (10 842), the USA (8 103), China (7 938), Belarus (7 941), Kazakhstan (8 062), Moldova (6 682) and India (6 226). Their most frequent purpose of stay is employment (53.6 % of the total number of residence permits issued), family reunification (24.4 %), entrepreneurship (3.2 %), and study (13.7 %). 

Key areas of focus of the plan include:

• improved knowledge of the Czech language through language teaching for both adults and children, as well as provision of methodological support for teachers;
• economic and social self-sufficiency through various programmes, job advisory services and re-qualification courses as well as up-to-date information of employers;
• social orientation of foreigners through provision of pre-departure information, integration and adaptation courses, as well as socio-cultural courses;
• building bridges between immigrants and the majority population through cultural events or intercultural and inter-religious dialogue, supporting foreigners' activities and providing community interpreters, intercultural workers, etc.;
• integration at the local and regional level through support for regional integration centres, funding opportunities for municipalities, and support for the political participation of foreigners in local policy-making processes;
• access to healthcare;
• legal and social protection for children;
• information campaigns aimed at both the majority population and foreigners, to improve mutual communication;
• strengthened professional competencies of relevant civil servants.

The government allocated 54.29 million CZK (approximately 2.07 million EUR) within the state budget to implement these measures in 2022.