Current options of employment for third-country foreigners in the Czech Republic

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it is still ordered to decline all the visa and temporary or permanent residence applications on Czech embassies in foreign countries. There are only a few exemptions set from this rule. This situation makes it incredibly difficult for employers to carry out their plans for hiring new employees from abroad who usually need an employee card that entitles them to reside in the territory of the Czech Republic and to do the job for which the employee card was issued.

According to the currently valid measure of the Czech Ministry of Health from 4th of January 2021[1], it is prohibited to apply for visas and temporary or permanent residence on Czech embassies in foreign countries. The light at the end of a tunnel for potential employers of the third-country foreigners is the few exemptions that provide them a chance of applying. The main exemptions that are considered eligible for employers to use are applications for:

• Short stay visa for the purpose of seasonal work.
• Short stay visa for the purpose of employment of a foreigner employed in food produce, healthcare, or social services.
• Short-stay visas for the purpose of employment, if they are filed in Ukraine by Ukrainian nationals, provided they do not exceed the maximum number of such applications stipulated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs upon discussion with the Ministry of Health,
• short-stay visas for scientific, key and highly qualified staff, provided that the conditions set out in the Key and Scientific Staff Program and the Highly Qualified Staff Program, and critical infrastructure service staff are met.
• Short stay visa for critical infrastructure staff.
• long-term visas for the purpose of seasonal employment.
• extraordinary work visas.
• temporary residence, if they are submitted by foreigners included in government programs in order to achieve an economic or another significant benefit for the Czech Republic (Program qualified worker, Program highly qualified worker and program key and scientific personnel).
• Long-term residence permit for the purpose of scientific research.
• Employee card if submitted to Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Lviv by Ukrainian nationals, who were granted a date in between 16th of March 2020 and 25th of May 2020 for the application for employee card.

In the context of these exemptions, it is necessary to point out that they will be applied only in the cases of appliances on the Czech Republic´s embassies in countries which´s measures enacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic allow such applications to be accepted. A list of those countries is published by the Ministry of foreign affairs[2].

When an employer concludes that any of the above exemptions might apply to him and thinks that it is time for resolving all the application documentation for the third-country foreigners and submission of the application itself, it might be too soon to celebrate. It is very much possible that even if the embassy is mentioned on the official list of the Ministry of foreign affairs and therefore it should be able to accept the applications in the light of measures enacted by the Ministry of Health, it might not do so. The reason for that could be either fulfilling the set quotas for applications for the employee card laid down by government regulations[3] or all the dates set for submission of applications being gone on that given embassy which is therefore forced to stop accepting the applications. It is recommended to follow the web page of the given embassy where you should be able to see all the current information.

It is clear from everything mentioned above, that the current situation is far from ideal for employers who want to hire newly arrived third-country foreigners’ and the sole option of doing so is very limited. Sadly, there is not much to do, but to hope for better days.