Language exams for permanent residence applicants to begin next year

Under a new system presented on Thursday, foreigners who apply for either permanent residence or Czech citizenship will, from next January, have to first pass a compulsory exam in the Czech language. But why is the Czech Republic introducing this requirement? And will applicants from other Slavic countries find the tests relatively easy?

Photo: European Commission

As part of a reform of the Czech Republic’s foreigners law, those who apply for Czech citizenship or permanent residence will from next year first have to overcome the hurdle of an examination in the Czech language based on a Europe-wide testing system. Speaking at its launch on Thursday morning, Minister for Human Rights and Minorities Džamila Stehlíková explained the thinking behind the new system:

“Without language integration a migrant or foreigner cannot integrate into Czech social, cultural and working life. In the UK for instance they combine multiculturalism with a demand for a basic standard of English. By contrast, Germany for a long time underestimated the importance of the German language in integration – and the result is the segregation of some social groups, because of a lack of language communication.”

Minister Stehlíková, who herself comes from Kazakhstan, denied the language tests could be a kind of deterrent, aimed at keeping the number of foreigners in the Czech Republic down:

“To apply for permit residence you have to have been living here for at least five years. The A2 exam would be easy for anybody who has lived in the Czech Republic for five years, if they have not avoided regular social contact. People should be able to get by without an interpreter in every day situations – going to the doctor’s, looking for a job and other activities.”

Minister Džamila Stehlíková

It is not yet been decided whether applicants for permanent residence will have to sit the A2 test referred to by Džamila Stehlíková, or the easier A1. Vladislav Gunter of the Centre for the Integration of Foreigners says the latter might not be of great practical benefit:

“Nobody really knows how it’s going to work. But it seems this exam won’t be so hard to pass. Moreover, from my point of view there is a big risk that it’s going to end up like only a formality.”

Czech is of course a Slavic language and many of those applying for permanent residence come from other Slavic countries to the east. Will they have an advantage when the exam system comes in? Marie Hádková of the University of Jan Evangelista Purkyně in Ústí nad Labem was a member of the team which devised the tests:

“Or course they would be a bit easier [for Slavs], but it doesn’t only depend on the level of the exam, it would determine the length of studying…People from Slavic countries should study for a shorter time, of course, while it would be more difficult for people from other countries, which means more lessons.”

Meanwhile, the Centre for Integration's Vladislav Gunter says when it comes to learning Czech, Slavic origins are not always the advantage they may appear to be:

“I know several people from Russia, Ukraine who have terrible problems with Czech, not with understanding but with speaking, because it’s so similar that they have no motivation or they think it’s good enough, and they speak really bad Czech. And I know many Vietnamese, many Africans, Arab people, who speak really nice Czech. Because they took good courses they learned it very well and very quickly.”

Wherever applicants for citizenship or permanent residence are from, they will have to sit Czech language exams from January 2009. The Ministry of the Interior expects around 30,000 foreigners a year will sit the test.