Today, at midnight, Czech republic and eight next countries will join the Schengen area, which brings an end to border controls. From tomorow you can travel from Estonia to Portugal without one border control. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7153490.stm But it will be a big problem for these Americans, who work in Czech republic illegaly on touristic visa. http://www.boston.com/travel/articles/2 ... us_expats/
It isn't impossible to get for a non-EU person to get a VISA - as stated by someone in the newspaper article. It takes a lot of work, but it is possible.
...and to think, on a cold winter's night (December 8th) in 1948, my family was forced to leave Czechoslovakia by the light of the moon through the woods into Germany and freedom from commnist rule. My, my, my, how things do change.
Thanks, I love small reminders of everything we have to be thankful for; especially around the holidays.
How great is that? Makes me want to get in the car and take off right now! Everyone who complains about the situation in the Czech Republic nowadays should wake up and realize what a long, long way we've come since 1989!
Regarding the "stamp", I understand the changes at hand, I called the borders and a few English schools and they tell me that by plane, to Germany for example, you may receive a stamp, is that true?.. I certainly am not traveling to Bulgaria, or Eukraine, Swiss is the only choice I guess.
Us citizens take a plane to germany from outside the Schengen States they receive a stamp, within,..no stamp, one entry point is made at a time. So to hell with my friends in Hiedelberg, it off to Switzerland. The airports in the Czech Republic fall under a technicality I can't explain, the pub calls. diky, cau
Do you still have to buy a road usage tax stamp when you enter the country? We used to have to buy them each year for the Czech Republic and Switzerland when we drove from Spain.
You need to buy the road use stamp only to use the highways or motorways (see map) (differs from Switzerland) if you go by a personal car. For trucks another policy is used, you must have special unit, which counts the distance. More precisely (in 2008): motorcycles - no payment cars < 3500 kg year = 1000 CZK, month = 330 CZK, 7 days = 220 CZK cars >=3500 and <12000 kg year = 8000 CZK, month = 2200 CZK, 7 days = 750 CZK over 12000 kg electronic road-toll
I should have been more specific about the highway difference. We had three years worth of Swiss stamps on the car and only 2 Czech. One of those years, we didn't drive to Prague we stayed around the Cheb area.
