The Czech Ministry of the Interior’s Central Information Systems Department has warned of a complete shutdown of the population-registry, passport and ID-card databases on Saturday 15 November 2025 from 13:30 to about 20:00.
The extraordinary maintenance window, announced on 5 November, will migrate the three critical registries to a new Informix database version. During the outage police, municipal offices and Czech embassies will be unable to issue or amend passports, Czech national ID cards or biometric residence permits. Online verification services used by airlines, banks and mobile-network operators will also be unavailable.
Officials are urging corporate mobility managers, relocation providers and travellers to move any scheduled appointments to earlier in the week and to advise assignees not to rely on last-minute document pickup on 15 November. Employers using the Foreign Police’s “Bedrunka” interface for fast-track work-permit validation will retain read-only access, but no updates can be sent until the system comes back online.
![Planned 15 Nov database shutdown to disrupt Czech passport, ID-card and residence-permit services]()
“The upgrade is necessary to keep the registries secure and to prepare for upcoming e-ID functionality, but we recognise it will create bottlenecks,” the Digital & Information Agency (DIA) said. Emergency help-lines will operate 24/7, yet only life-and-death cases will be processed manually.
Practical implications:
• HR teams should collect finished documents for inbound hires by Friday 14 Nov.
• Travellers needing an emergency passport should contact their embassy before 13:30 on 15 Nov.
• Expect delays in data feeds to airline check-in systems; non-EU passengers transiting Prague may experience manual checks.
The shutdown is the first visible step in the Interior Ministry’s wider digital-transformation project, which will ultimately let foreign residents manage address changes and permit renewals online. Companies that depend on real-time identity verification should test contingency procedures now.
The extraordinary maintenance window, announced on 5 November, will migrate the three critical registries to a new Informix database version. During the outage police, municipal offices and Czech embassies will be unable to issue or amend passports, Czech national ID cards or biometric residence permits. Online verification services used by airlines, banks and mobile-network operators will also be unavailable.
Officials are urging corporate mobility managers, relocation providers and travellers to move any scheduled appointments to earlier in the week and to advise assignees not to rely on last-minute document pickup on 15 November. Employers using the Foreign Police’s “Bedrunka” interface for fast-track work-permit validation will retain read-only access, but no updates can be sent until the system comes back online.
“The upgrade is necessary to keep the registries secure and to prepare for upcoming e-ID functionality, but we recognise it will create bottlenecks,” the Digital & Information Agency (DIA) said. Emergency help-lines will operate 24/7, yet only life-and-death cases will be processed manually.
Practical implications:
• HR teams should collect finished documents for inbound hires by Friday 14 Nov.
• Travellers needing an emergency passport should contact their embassy before 13:30 on 15 Nov.
• Expect delays in data feeds to airline check-in systems; non-EU passengers transiting Prague may experience manual checks.
The shutdown is the first visible step in the Interior Ministry’s wider digital-transformation project, which will ultimately let foreign residents manage address changes and permit renewals online. Companies that depend on real-time identity verification should test contingency procedures now.
