As of July 1, foreign workers from the selected states ‒ Australia, Japan, Canada, South Korea, New Zealand, the UK, the US, Israel, and Singapore ‒  will no longer need employment cards or work permits in Czechia. According to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, there are currently close to 818,000  foreign workers in Czechia and employees from the nine selected countries only comprise about 1.2 percent of the Czech labor market (approximately 10,000 employees). However, 80% of them are in highly skilled positions, and the country is in dire need of such foreign experts to fill vacancies in the labor market.

The move will not only help employers, but also administrators who were tasked with laborious paperwork when admitting foreign workers. The process of getting an employee card, which is the document Czechia uses most frequently, can take up to 3 months. Even without a work permit, there are still few conditions to be met, namely evidence of an employment contract or an agreement on employment and a minimum of 15 hours of work per week.

Source: Czech Radio

Prepared by the team of foreign offices CzechTrade Osaka and Tokyo