Over 473,200 Ukrainian Refugees Received Visas For Stay In Czech Republic In 2022 - Prague

PRAGUE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st January, 2023) More than 473,200 refugees from Ukraine received visas for temporary stay in the Czech Republic after February 24, 2022, including over 8,700 people in December, the Czech Interior Ministry said on Sunday.

"(A total of) 473,216 Ukrainian refugees received visas for a one-year stay in the Czech Republic in 2022, with more than half of them during February-March. The number of refugees decreased in the following months; 8,746 people received visas in December in particular, including 1,293 in the last week of the year," the ministry said in a statement.

Temporary visa holders are entitled to receive health insurance, education and work in the Czech Republic. Approximately 20% of refugees in 2022 returned to Ukraine or moved to other countries, the ministry said, specifying that there is no exact data on this, since there are no border controls within the Schengen area.

The vast majority of refugees are women, children and the elderly.

The ministry noted that the number of Ukrainian refugees did not increase with the onset of winter, contrary to expectations.

According to the Czech Labor Ministry, about 115,000 Ukrainian refugees found work at enterprises and firms, while 35,000 children study in Czech schools.

On February 24, Russia began a military operation in Ukraine, responding to calls for help from the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. The crisis has provoked massive flows of refugees from Ukraine to European countries in search of asylum. According to the United Nations, nearly 7.9 million refugees from Ukraine have been staying in Europe.