CZECH REPUBLIC 498 1. Statistical Data The exact number of Palestinians seeking asylum in the Czech Republic is unknown. The Ministry of Interior lists Palestinians who applied for asylum in the Czech Republic as stateless persons (together with other stateless persons). According to the Czech Statistical Office, on 31 December 2012, there were 1346 stateless persons staying in the Czech Republic with a long-stay visa (with stay for over 90 days) or long-stay residence permit (with stay for over 1 year). However, these are not all Palestinian refugees. Also, according to the same statistics, the number of foreigners from the Occupied Palestinian Territories with a long-stay visa or long-stay residence permit in the Czech Republic was 145 on 31 December 2012.499 UNHCR statistics for the Czech Republic appear to be inaccurate (they show 1 Palestinian refugee in the Czech Republic in 2012, and no data for 2013). 2. Refugee Status Determination: The Process Asylum seekers in the Czech Republic must express their intention to apply for international protection in the form of a declaration made within the country.500 The declaration may be made to the Alien Police at any of the following places: Aliens Police Regional Headquarters, a border crossing, a reception center, or a detention center, or the Ministry, if the alien is hospitalized or held in custody.501 After declaring an intention to seek protection, aliens will be required to go to a reception center within twenty-four hours to file an application for protection.502 At the reception center, the alien’s fingerprints will be taken and he or she will be photographed503 and required to have a medical check-up.504 After filing an application, if there are no identity or verification issues, aliens will be permitted to leave the reception center and stay at an “accommodation center.”505 A decision to require an alien to stay at the reception center is appealable.506 At the beginning of the refugee status determination procedure, asylum seekers 498 499 Beáta Szakácsová, lawyer at the Czech Organization for Refugee Aid, reviewed and contributed to this section. Information provided by Beáta Szakácsová. Official statistics are available at Czech Statistical Office, “Foreigners by Citizenship,” accessed November 18, 2014, http://www.czso.cz/csu/cizinci.nsf/ engt/B900334BBE/$File/c01r02.pdf; however, the figures for Palestinians and stateless persons should be treated with caution. 500 Czech Republic, “Act No. 325/1999 Coll. of 1999 on Asylum and Amendment to Act No. 283/1991 Coll., on the Police of the Czech Republic, as Amended [Asylum Act],” November 11, 1999, http:// www.refworld.org/docid/4a7a97bfc33.html, Chapter II, Section 3. 501 Ibid., Chapter II, Section 3a. 502 Ibid., Chapter II, Section 4a(1). 503 Ibid., Chapter II, Section 4c(1). 504 Ibid., Chapter VII, Section 46(1)(b). 505 Ibid., Chapter XI, Section 79(2) and (3). 506 Ibid., Chapter II, Section 46a(3). Survey of Protection at the National Level 103