PRAGUE - THE Czech Republic will start issuing visas to Vietnamese nationals again in January following a suspension in November over crime fears, a newspaper reported.

'It won't be on Jan 1, but we expect to resume the visas next month,' the Lidove noviny daily quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Zuzana Opletalova as saying.

The Interior Ministry said in November the police and the Czech secret service had gathered information on rising levels of counterfeiting, tax evasion and cannabis cultivation allegedly committed by members of the Vietnamese community.

Vietnamese applicants slammed the Czech visa system alleging that visas were only available in exchange for bribes to middlemen.

Marcel Winter, head of the Czech-Vietnamese Society, said earlier the middlemen collected about US$2,700 (S$3,877) for each visa, compared to the official fee of US$240.

The Vietnamese are the third-biggest minority in the Czech Republic behind Slovaks and Ukrainians. -- AFP