Plans for help non-EU laborers to get to Czech Republic

The Czech government announced last week there are plans for the ‘green card’ system. It came as a response to the Czech economy booming, while there is not enough workers in many companies. Some of the employers are increasingly turning to foreign workers, though the process is often held back by lengthy and complicated bureaucratic procedures.

According to Labor and Social Affairs Minister Petr Necas, about 220,000 foreigners are now working legally in the Czech Republic, with many employers asking for more. The Czech economy is estimated to grow by 5.8 percent next year, which will come with even greater demand.

Petr Necas announced there is a lack of qualified labor, from manual laborers to university graduates, but as a matter of fact, there is also a lack of unqualified workers as well. As the Czech economy needs foreign labor at the current rate of growth, it cannot do without liberalization of the labor market.

The current procedure for getting a job in a Czech company is something quite complicated. First, a company has to offer the job for three months to Czechs and other citizens of the EU. Only after the employer can ask for a special permit for labor-looking abroad the EU. Furthermore, the non-EU job applicants have to get visa and work permits. This can be really lengthy.

The new ‘green card’ system would offer possibility for non-EU applicants to find a vacancy in the central job database. Than they could get the ‘green card’, which would serve as a job and residency permit, in a Czech embassy in their country.