Interview For a Student Visa to the Czech Republic

Applying for a long-term visa often involves a short interview. This fact makes many of our future students nervous. Not only do you have to go through a big bureaucratic procedure for the first time in your life, but you also need to say something.

In this publication, we will tell you what topics could be addressed during that interview. We hope this will help you relax a little, or at least not be too nervous.

First of all, you need to remember that no one in the consulate is going to bite you. People who work there are just like you. Relax and calm down. But do not take any substances or drink alcohol. This is almost one hundred percent likely to cause interview failure.

Do not forget about the basic politeness rules. A greeting and a smile will almost certainly win the favor of a consular official.

Calmly and clearly state that you have come to apply for a long-term visa with the purpose of studying, because you are going to study at the preparatory courses of the Institute for Language and Preparatory Studies of Charles University.

You will have a fairly large package of documents with you. Ask the consular official what is more convenient for him/her: to work with your documents, having received the whole package right away or having you giving one document at a time.

The task of the consular officer is to make sure your identity matches the documents and to verify their completeness and correctness. The consulate does not decide whether to give you a visa or not. So, once again: relax!

When answering the questions, speak calmly and clearly. Remember that you are also a living person and you can forget something. It is better to admit it right away than to be nervous, blush and mumble something indistinctly with shifty eyes.

Otherwise, the questions that will be asked are quite common. They can be divided into the following categories:

General questions

Can you name the difference between a long-term residence permit and a long-term visa (in case you are applying for a long-term residence)?

We recommend you to read our article: Long-term Visas: How To Avoid Getting Confused 

What do you do in your country?

What is your last completed level of education?

Why have you decided to study in the Czech Republic?

Feel free to name the real and obvious reasons: prestige, quality and relatively low cost of higher education; a considerable amount of information on the Internet, etc. You are not the first and not the last one to travel to the Czech Republic for these very reasons.

Have you considered studying in any other countries? Programs of which universities did you consider?

Do the educational institutions of your country have specialties similar to the one that you want to study in the Czech Republic? If so, why don’t you apply to study there?

When have you decided to go to study in the Czech Republic? Why?

Where and when have you been to the EU? What have you been doing there?

What do you plan to do in case you do not get a visa?

Do you speak any foreign language? Why don’t you want to use your knowledge of the language to continue your studies?

Preparatory courses

How did you find out about the courses you are taking?

You have answered this question in your application: recommendations from friends/acquaintances, YouTube, social networks, advertising, etc.

Can you tell what the process of the course enrollment was like? How did you apply for the course?

If you forgot how you did it, refresh your memory with our detailed step-by-step

Which  employee of these courses did you communicate with, and in what language?

Remember the name of the assistant, with whom you communicated via e-mail, almost certainly, in English.

How much is the course payment? Is there a non-refundable part of the payment? How much of the cost have you already paid?

The course costs 5940 euros (some types – 4430 euros). You have paid the full amount for the course. If you cancel the course, the non-refundable amount is 120 euros and 2% of the remaining amount.

What is the address where your course will be held?

What day does the course start and when does it end?

Preparatory course always starts on the first Monday of September. In 2022, it is the 5th of September. Studying ends with exams at the end of June. But it’s always a good idea to take a look at the Academic Year Schedule on our website.

How many hours a week are you going to study?

35 hours. From morning till noon you will be studying Czech, and in the afternoon – subjects for your specialty.

What special subjects are you going to study?

What are you going to do in summer?

We do not recommend counting on having proper holidays in your first summer in the Czech Republic. You will need to take entrance exams, enroll in a university, register in a dormitory, and apply for a visa extension. You might be able to go home for a couple of weeks, but there is no guarantee.

Is there going to be an exam at the end of the course? What is this exam like?

In addition to exams in special subjects, you will take a certified exam to determine your level of Czech (B2). The price of the exam is included in the cost of the preparatory course. You can find detailed information about what parts the exam consists of and its duration here.

Journey

Tell us how you are going to get from home to the study center in the Czech Republic.

You have already partially described your way of traveling in the application. There you indicated both the type of the transport and the border crossing point where you’ll set your foot on the Czech Republic’s land. But you need to decide by yourself how you will go from this point. You can order a transfer. To do this, you need to write to the consultant of your study center at least 10 days before your arrival, so that she can arrange a transfer for you. Another way is to study the instructions that your assistant will send you a month before the start of your course.

Tell us how you plan to get from your place of residence to your place of studying every day.

Basically, you will get there by foot if you are going to live in an ÚJOP dormitory.

But otherwise, we recommend that you open Google maps, explore the area, and wander around the neighborhood, in which you are going to live for about a year, virtually.

Accommodation and living expenses

Where are you going to live during the course? What is the address of the dormitory? What are the conditions in this dormitory like? How many people live in one room? What is the accommodation cost?

You can read more about your dormitory here:

• Dormitory of the ILPS CU center Poděbrady
• ILPS CU Dormitory Praha-Krystal
• Prague (Hostivar) – Accommodation

How much do you think you will be spending in the Czech Republic per month?

How Fast Will the ILPS Preparation Course Pay Off?

Who will be providing for you during the course in the Czech Republic?

We remind you that you are not eligible to work while studying at the ÚJOP UK preparatory courses, so you can only rely on your savings and/or the help of your parents.

Nostrification

How are you going to nostrify your school certificate, college/university diploma?

Many articles about nostrification have been published on our blog.

What is the nostrification procedure like? Who is going to take care of it?

We remind you that the nostrification consultant, whose work is also included in the cost of your course, will help you to manage your documents.

Higher education

All information about future studies at your university program can be found by searching the name of your specialty, plus the words “přijímací řízení” and the university website address (in the following format – site:fhs.cuni.cz) in a search query. Open this page in Google Chrome and translate it.

What level of Czech is needed to enter your faculty?

You are very likely to find this information on our website in the Table of universities that recognize our certificates.

Name the deadline for applying to the universities.

How to fill in a přihláška?

How much does a university application cost?

What university are you going to enter after the course? What will be your specialty?

What is this specialty like? What are you going to study? What do the graduates of this specialty do?

Do you know how many people apply for your program? Why do you think you will be accepted to the program?

How long does your university program last?

You can learn more about the higher education system from the articles on our blog:

• Bachelor’s Degree in the Czech Republic
• Medical degree in the Czech Republic

What entrance exams are you going to take?

What are the dates of the entrance exams?

What subjects are you going to study in the winter semester of your first year in a university?

In the search query, combine the name of your specialty, the words “studujní plán” and the university website address (in the  following format site:fhs.cuni.cz).

Do you know what the grading system in the Czech Republic is?

It varies depending on which faculty you study at. You will get your grades in either A, B, C, D, F format (where A is the highest mark), or like in a school 1, 2, 3, …, where 1 is the highest mark, and 5 is a complete failure.

How many credits do you need to earn to get your diploma?

What other conditions need to be met to get a degree?

Future plans

Of course, you can hardly know what will happen in 4-6 years when you finish your studies. Nevertheless, you may be asked  questions similar to the following ones.

What are you planning to do after your graduation?

Are you planning to stay in the Czech Republic to live and work there?

You don’t need to come up with anything. If the future is uncertain, describe it in that way: distant and involving several quite obvious options.

Czech Republic

It is expected that, preparing to go to the Czech Republic, you have studied this country a little. Although, you still cannot know the answers to all questions.

Do you know the name of the president of the Czech Republic?

Capital of the Czech Republic

Big cities in the Czech Republic

What countries share borders with the Czech Republic?

Difficult questions

These questions are designed not to test your knowledge but to find out your true intentions. If you are asked one of the questions below or something similar, just react the way you want: smile at a funny question, think about a difficult one. And if you don’t have an answer, say so straight forward.

What are you going to do if you fail to learn Czech or fail your entrance exams?

This will be a big blow. I will be very upset and go home.

What flooring is used in the classrooms of your future study center?

Haha! I didn’t think it was any important information. I will definitely check it out when I get there.

Don’t you think that you gave a very strange answer to this question? Should I write it down?

Yes, write it down.

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Good luck with your interview!

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