Legislative changes are being prepared in the Czech Republic that will enshrine in law the practice of denying temporary protection to Ukrainians who have previously obtained such status in another EU country, which has been challenged in court. These are amendments to the special Lex Ukrajina law initiated by STAN MP Petr Letocha. The draft law has already passed the second reading in the lower house of parliament and is awaiting final approval.
In practice, Ukrainians who have arrived in the Czech Republic with temporary protection obtained in another EU country have already been refused. However, in April 2025, the Czech Supreme Administrative Court ruled that such refusals were illegal. The court stressed that the state does not have the right to automatically refuse to consider an application, even if a person already has protection in another EU country.
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Nevertheless, the Ministry of Internal Affairs disagrees with the court’s position and seeks to resolve the situation at the legislative level. According to the initiator of the changes, the main priority is to help those who arrive in the Czech Republic directly from Ukraine. The reason for the change is also the high level of workload on the reception system – currently, 397,750 Ukrainian refugees with temporary protection reside in the Czech Republic. This is almost 36.5 people per thousand inhabitants – the highest rate among EU countries.
According to the new proposals, if the Czech Republic reaches the limit of its refugee reception capacity, the Ministry of the Interior will inform the European Commission. After that, the country will be able to officially refuse to grant temporary protection to Ukrainians who already enjoy this status in other EU countries.
At the same time, the changes will not apply to Ukrainians arriving in the Czech Republic directly from Ukraine and who do not have visas or temporary protection status in other European countries – the procedure for obtaining protection will remain unchanged.
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